Life Lessons

Posted on January 9, 2013 by The Nameless One

Tell us about a teacher who had a real impact on your life, either for the better or the worse. How is your life different today because of him or her?

I can’t comment on just a particular individual who has impacted my life, in this case, teacher so would just I like to thank all teachers who have taught me since I was a kid in school till date. (I pardon myself if I forgot to mention anyone in particular, but if I have to start covering the complete picture, I would take infinite time as everyone and every’thing’ from birth to death and beyond has to teach us something, so I’ll just spare you and myself from that)

I would like to thank all my primary teachers who were responsible primarily (get it?) for my upbringing. Forgive me as I don’t know what I have learned though.

In school days, my gratitude to Sister Mary, Brenda, Prabha and Sherene Mam (in school, a female teacher’s last name was always ‘mam’, and a male ones didn’t have one, perhaps they were universally bishops or something) Also a shout out to Devtosh and Pandit sir, because they were dam awesome.

In my higher school days, kudos to sirs Anurag Mishra, Amit Gupta and Sonal Rajora. I may not be a awesome-as-fuck-achieving-student that I was ‘supposed to’ but at least I’m a better person than before (hopefully)

In my (current) college days, I’m thankful to Shewta, Rohini and Anuradha mam. Also Ranjit sir. And how can I forget my first teacher in college Utkal?

And I would like to highlight some of my life long idols, teachers who have taught me valuable lessons in life.

Thank you Chinmaya, for showing me the journey is what matters, not the destination and even this shall pass away.

Thank you Bruce Lee, for helping me realize to be like water, and the secret of life is that it has to be lived.

Thank you Steve Jobs, for teaching me to follow my heart, and showing that anyone (crazy) can change the world.

Thank you Mike Shinoda, for telling me not to wait for something which has never happened, and to do it myself.

Thank you Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, for showing me that genius comes from simplicity and humbleness.

Back in ’03 or ’04 which I don’t clearly remember, (back when I used to write poetry) I had a written a poem being a tribute to teachers, which had undergone some revisions later in ’06, school acknowledged then (a friend who a member of the student council read it, as I always preferred, the backstage) and remember a senior teacher ~~asking~~ saying out loud “WHO IS ADITYA IYER!? WE WANT TO SEE HIM” I thought I was really screwed thinking was it that horrible? Well not quite as they said then, and that being one of my only 5 seconds moment of fame further escalated when in my last year of school, the former (and till date the most loved, respected and only real) president of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam visited out school for its 100 years of existence, who saw my work, was really pleased and ‘congratulated’ me (I still don’t have a word for it) for it. That was a big deal for me, since he was a big inspiration to me and one of my idols (as I mentioned above). That was the first best moment of my life (considering we have so many) 😀

Personally, I find it (and almost everything I ever wrote) horrible and silly. People always said and some still say that they are great, but I feel they are just being nice. (Or really don’t care)

As for the poem itself, I would have posted it here, but I’d rather have you go here to my first/’original’ blog when I posted it back then. Hope you like it.

In Search of Lost Time

Posted on January 7, 2013 by The Nameless One

What song, when you hear it, transports you back in time? What time in your life does it transport you to?

For me, this brings me back to 2005, when I got my first computer, the good old days when the biggest problem was the land-line phone vs. the slow pathetic dial-up internet connection which was a big thing back then. The world wide web was building up, Google became synonymous with God, and peer-to-peer was on the rise. (I don’t know why I said that)

This brings my memory to late ’05 through ’06 and ’07. Linkin Park one of my first and till date most favourite band/music artists close to my heart, (the) Mike Shinoda had released his own side project collaborating with some other artists as a hip-hop group called ‘Fort Minor‘. Fortunately I knew some people back then (they are not dead for fuck’s sake, just not in contact anymore, dam sometimes I sound so inappropriate) who shared my enthusiasm for Linkin Park (now I hardly know who doesn’t)

The album ‘The Rising Tied‘ was a different direction from Linkin Park but yet so great that most of the songs resonated with me, my thinking, feelings (quite questionable to many) and life back then. I remember many days coming back from school sitting at my (then garbage, sole) computer at listening to Fort Minor among many others and forgetting about my shitty life.

I guess music is indeed the gift of the faceless one isn’t it? (now sadly demeaned everywhere, do I need to even start on this?) I don’t listen to music much now compared to earlier years, but sometimes (co-incidentally was the last thing of 2012 and first thing of 2013 I did) was listening to an old or such a song brings me back down the memory lane.

Helplessness

Posted on January 7, 2013 by The Nameless One

Helplessness: that dull, sick feeling of not being the one at the reins. When did I last feel like that? I must have lost count of such incidents which have occurred with me in my life. And what did I do whenever this happened? All of them had this in common- feeling crap about myself and the situation, say ‘fuck it’ and move on. What else could be done?

Several times during my growing up, from being the ‘be careful with that kid’ to the screw up currently (sort of) several moments I have faced a moment which I felt completely helpless. One of them which I can re-collect now is a (one of the several) terrible accidents which happened with me is in 2009 where I managed to get my jaw broken and hanging, traveling with the hanging jaw about 890 km from Kota (where I was studying that time for 2 years) to Mumbai, have a 3 hour surgery and for the next 2 months ranging from early January till March, (which also consumed some of my good friends’ birthdays and my own in February) during which I couldn’t/didn’t eat a single morsel. My appetite after that was totally ruined and I actually lived the plea of so many humans in our planet who live without food. I lived only on soups, juices and milkshakes and was really miserable. So much for my love for ‘liquids’.

As I said this was just one incident which dawned onto me now since it happened around the same time 4 years ago. Well nothing life changing happened, except for the fact that I have just 30 teeth now instead of the regular 32, my ‘wisdom’ teeth being pulled off (which are actually the useless/not required in out mouths and stupid myth of its namesake) and learning quite bit about dentistry. I’m quite normal now (speaking in this context purely) and eat/drink equivalent of 2-3 people as I always did. 😀

What did I do? Just moved on, as I said above. That was not the first or last time some shit happened with me, that is life after all, there will come moments/situations in which we will feel like a complete idiot and helpless, but it is our ability to choose how we react to these which makes all the difference. We always have a choice, that is what makes us different from the rest of the animals in the planet, that which makes us human. This must have been told by hundreds of people over who-knows-what-times, but just don’t listen, act, as do I.

New Year’s Resolutions (Doompocalypse Redux)

Posted on January 7, 2013 by The Nameless One

So the Mayan apocalypse theory appears to be another (failed) joke, the conspiracy people were wrong about the world ending in 2012. Hooray! Time for them to go back to watching grassy knoll footage in slow motion. So much for all these years of ‘waiting’ for it and playing Assassin’s Creed since 2007. In a way, I actually was ‘looking forward’ to the apocalypse. But hey…

Thank you Desmond Miles….

BUT! They were only half wrong. There’s a gigantic meteor hurtling toward earth at an alarming rate, and a 97.3% probability that we’re all going the way of the dodos and dinosaurs within three months. Yes, that is true. Now we wait for what happens in March.

So now since a-freaking-meteor-is-being-hurled-at-earth-and-we are-going-to-turn-to-dust-anyways, I’ll list down some things which I would want to change with my life (at least for 3 months?) I find this concept of ‘new year resolutions’ really ridiculous, on which I already gave my opinion in my first introductory post of this blog, I would want to highlight 3 things I want to change about my life, which is not something I would resolve for the new year, but heck I always wanted to and doing it anyways.

1. Write More

Today marks the end of week 1 of 2013, and in my about 6 years of blogging this is the first time I managed to write on my blog everyday, and that to more than 1 post! Bravo to me! While not limited to my blogs, I hope to write more. I don’t intend to be an author or anything, I’m just quite intrigued with journalism and creative writing.

2. Read More

It has been quite a long time since I indulged myself in the pleasure of reading (that includes my college books, quite evidently) which I haven’t done in perhaps, years. I ought to read good books more.

3. Stop making excuses to myself.

While this is the most important among the three I feel, which I actually never gave a thought about. I seldom give excuses to others (most cases in which I’m least bothered so this isn’t even the case to begin with and I don’t commit if I can’t fulfill) I need to stop them with myself individually and start using my head more.

So in short, it is less of ‘new year’s resolutions’ and more of ‘life-long self-improvement’ (again, unless we aren’t blown to dust in 3 months; dam why am I so excited about it?) I wonder if I can complete even one or come closer in checking off one goal in my bucket list, I just think bit big you see.

My (not so) favourite person

Posted on January 6, 2013 by The Nameless One

“I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” (Henry David Thoreau in “Walden”)

With this you might get an idea where I’m heading to. When asked “What’s the most time you’ve ever spent apart from your favorite person?“, I’m compelled to laugh and answer “All the fucking time!” Yes, I’m talking about myself. While I’m not at all narcissistic, not I’m altruistic, I have this love-hate relationship with myself. I tend to be my own biggest critic while being at peace with myself too.

Talking about time spent with your most favourite, least or anything of that sort leads to discussions about social-individual bonding. If you want to lead a very healthy life, avoid diseases and early death, there is an abundance of medical studies with often conflicting advice like chocolates and alcohol being good for you, does cigarettes and cell phone radiation cause cancer? and the list goes on.

Of them, personally I want to talk about loneliness. Or rather how it is generally perceived. There are studies which show loneliness having negative effects on your life, from your self-esteem, relationship with people and even bold claims of high risk of death. (They have some study for everything these days)

Often I find this term is highly confused with “being alone”. Well they sound almost dam same, but there is difference and a big misconception among people who often confuse the two. I personally almost never feel lonely when I am alone, but I do many a times feel lonely when I am in a group of people. Being alone, I always find something to do, explore, think, watch, shoot, read or write about. But when I am in a group, I’m usually the odd one out, philosophically, intellectually, socially and emotionally. Yeah I’m the freaky sensation wherever I’m or the unnoticed ‘nameless one’ (get it?)

I know many people calling them as ‘friends’ (the term so arguably debatable with ten other terms which can be used and scaled with) I usually end up with the fact that friends are a ‘luxury’ I don’t have. I don’t mean to say I’m a complete sociopath but the point I’m trying to make is that loneliness is not the matter of the number of people you know or meet but more of quality than quantity. (After all, most of us will be happier with one really good girlfriend than with multiple flings, I guess)

And being a one man/woman army has its own perks, you tend to be more independent and reliable than the other way around. And to those who would say this leads to low self-esteem, depression and being suicidal, that is very arguable since it depends on the individual and not a direct implication.

I’m not promoting loneliness of being a good thing or as such, but spending time with yourself can teach you a great deal of things and give you a very different perspective of the world around you. Even if being social might be life-prolonging, the time spent talking to uninteresting people or being bored at parties is not worth the investment if I can instead use the time for myself.

At the innermost core of all loneliness is a deep and powerful yearning for union with one’s lost self.

The cure for the disease.

Posted on January 6, 2013 by The Nameless One

There are many diseases which desperately need a cure like Malignancies Cancers and HIV/AIDS and other hazardous ones. We see many saddening stories of very unfortunate demise of people young and old. There are many others like Cardiovascular, Infectious and parasitic diseases which have a higher morality rate than the ones mentioned before.

But if I were a mad scientist and could create a cure for any disease, which disease would I cure? Stupidity. Yes you read that right, human stupidity.

Why? Need I even explain? Just look at the world around us. The complete picture. The good part is shouting at you for attention because it is amidst all the garbage in the world. Like few diamonds scattered in the sewer (alright that might be a bit too much, but you get the picture)

And just one beautiful word for all the illogical, irrational, fanatic, ridiculous mindset and whatever word you can bring out from the English language all in one word- (Human) Stupidity. This is the worst among all the diseases prevalent in our existence, not just a high no. of deaths, but I fear for the extinction of our ‘human’ species itself because of it.

Heck a simple common example, people ‘feel sad’ for poor people and children, millions of whom are dying because of poverty and hungry but find a gay couple kissing very disgusting. At such instances, I think to myself, are you out of your fucking mind? As long as people are not causing you trouble, leave them alone why do you care? (In this case, as said by many, homosexuality is not a disease or something ‘wrong’ at all, the only problem/disease here is you, your mind and your kind if you think that way, which i already covered above)

Referring to the recent rape cases and havoc in the country (India), people first don’t approach to help themselves, then we have all these ‘peaceful protests’ and candle marches being outraged at what happened. With all respect I admire that people are fed up and want a change, and better than me perhaps doing something on field instead of me who is sitting at home writing this, shooting emails and tweets to news channels and sorts.

But I just can’t help but laugh at all of them for the simple reason- Will you accept these victims as normal people? Stop ‘victimizing’ them than they already are? Stop bloody sympathizing for them and just consider it a bad event in their life and help them cope up as a normal person? No. “arre ladki ki izzat lut gayi, bichari pura zindagi baar rahega uske maan mey” (Oh the girl has been demeaned, this will remain for the rest of her life!”) A girl doesn’t lose prestige when she is sexually attacked, she is a victim. Fucking idiots!

This fucking attitude and hopeless mindset of people first needs to change. It’s all good to talk about change, but acting them out is what very few people are capable of apparently. Once we change ourselves, then we can deal with screwing the corrupt and good for nothing police, politicians and government. And this is not just limited to the recent happenings here.

Stupidity. One word. Can be the end of humanity. Quite literally (and I’m very serious when I say ‘literally’)

The (Immortal) Secret of Amish Tripathi #INKtalks

Posted on January 6, 2013 by The Nameless One

Amish Tripathi, you sir are awesome. The first sunday of the 2013 I dedicate to you in this post of mine.

For those of you who call yourself an Indian and reader of sorts, he needs no introduction. Undoubtedly my most favourite Indian writer, I hardly read Indian fiction and The Shiva Trilogy is the example which shows the wonderful hidden writers in our country. Coming to his debut work, writing on the mightiest of the hindu gods and making him a being who eventually paves his way of becoming a god (it’s like stripping Superman of his powers and he his on his way to become Superman) is itself very intriguing. I mean who does that? (especially being in India full of fanatics who just like making a controversy on any dam thing)

Coming to why I’m writing this, see the above video from a INK 2011 talk (finish reading this please?) I find myself in the same dilemma of doing what I want most in my life, just a small problem is I’m one step behind- I don’t even know what I want from my life!

I think I’m also waiting for what my soul yearns for, finding that thing where success will cease to matter. Till then the search is still on for me. Till then I’ll continue writing, shooting, traveling, getting myself in trouble, helping others getting out, and all what I do 😀

I remember back in early 2010 being very excited about The Immortals of Meluha and reading the first chapter which was thrown out free for us hungry dogs desiring good Indian fiction. I was completely stroked. The Immortals of Meluha was IT. Still proud of being among the early fans (which is my specialty, liking and publicizing things before they go mainstream). I can’t wait for this to turn into a big blockbuster film and finally give the world Indian mythology which will be a good fight to the likes of famous Greek, Roman and Norse mythology (and in turn eradicate false/orthodox thinking of so many people here)

Here is wishing Amish big success for the upcoming The Oath of the Vayuputras which I can’t wait for and in my flipkart pre-order (dam I gave them such a big fortune so far, can’t they give me something as a compliment? :P).

Last month I got a personal invite for attending his talk in Churchgate from the organizers/friends, and I still curse myself (more the University of Mumbai) for having an exam on the same day in the afternoon. My young sister nabbed the opportunity, went met him and spoke with him also scoring an autograph for herself and she already has a crush on him (beware Amishs wife) 😛

Hopefully I’ll able to do the same (not the crush part) for the release of the third book *fingers crossed*

In other news, I enrolled for INK talks volunteering program for INK2013 (and subsequent years henceforth) for my desire of making the world a better place and in that process, hopefully myself. So expect a lot of INK related material coming up too. Hopefully I’ll make the cut. Check it out, you might be the next innovator too!

Call me Ishmael… I mean Iyer.

Posted on January 5, 2013 by The Nameless One

I’ve got the home stretch all to myself when the readings stop making sense.

I sit at home lazily in front of my laptop typing this, while the above line was said just in a different circumstance (the complete opposite in fact) by one of the most well known person in the world- Bruce Wayne, also known as the (goddamn) Batman. I know what you are thinking, he is one of the most well known and recognized for over 73 years and not even real!

The above line is the opening line of my most favourite and perhaps the worlds greatest graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns. The acclaimed comic book artist and writer Frank Miller (insert legend, not to be loosely used) gave the world this epic work being the first actual dark gritty and serious take on The Caped Crusader. The epic conclusion of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises was mainly based on this (apart from a few other story arcs and Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities). The world changed forever with its release and popular culture with it, not restricted to Batman or comics.

When I think of my most favourite book, there are many which comes in mind instantly, some of them which include The Lord of the Rings, Sherlock Holmes, and off recently A Song of Ice and Fire. Dan Brown and Stephen King are also my favourite authors.

But the one which is the epitome of awesomeness is what I mentioned above. I strongly recommend this one to be read, even if you don’t read at all. This being a graphic novel and not just a novel might make it easier in that case. Being a long time Batman fan (and the nice guy which I’m :P) I gifted the same graphic novel to about 8 people in the last 2 years or so. (So yeah if you are nice to me I might give you one too, just saying)

Coming to the title of this post, (honestly if you don’t know it, shame) it does really strike a chord, albeit my post doesn’t have anything to do with it, but in a way it has everything to do with it, as because of it I came up with this, so I had to mention something out of respect. (alright that sounds weird, seriously). Thanks to the daily prompt for this one.

“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago – never mind how long precisely – having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off – then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.”

― Herman Melville, Moby Dick

I must have read The Dark Knight Returns more times than I can count, must have quoted almost the entire book (because it is so awesome that it is entirely quotable) but never I gave a thought actually on the opening line itself and this actually made me think about it and to my surprise how much it actually reflects my current state in life :O

I wish one day I could also with the same amount of pride say/write:

Call me ~~Ishmael~~ Iyer.

(I just practice doing it now) 😛

Till then I’ll wait to cross one of this things in my bucket list of getting this signed by Frank Miller.

My ~~Absolute Dark Knight~~ preciouss.

Ghosts?

Posted on January 5, 2013 by The Nameless One

Ghosts- one of the most oldest and (un?)interesting ‘concepts’ which has taken over the world.

It is quite interesting as we perceive these ghosts/spirits as an extension of our lives beyond death. I also find if quite funny as we categorize these ghosts/spirits as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ just like we do with our human species. Wait, can dogs be ‘good’? Cats are ‘bad’? Then what is with these humans? (as a species in a manner of speaking) And subsequently, ghosts.

And the most interesting of them all, the ‘bad’ species of these ghosts (if that even makes sense) are the most interesting since more than a century in popular culture! Count Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy to several mutated humans and beasts.

Oh and how could I forget fan favourite zombies? The ‘third middle’ option also termed as undead, the state of neither being alive or dead (which makes more sense then ‘dead’ if it is even possible)

Vampires were always cool, until you know that happened. (I don’t want to even speak about it)

And coming to them, we have the other ‘good’ spirits. Angels (whom I perceive more as pedophiles more than half the time, no offense to anyone) What’s more, we name many of our real world ideas or intellectual concepts as these angels. ‘Angel of Justice’ or ‘Angel of Death’

Death: “Angel of Death?!” Not cool bro, Not cool at all.

And coming to the actual question, whether do I believe in ghosts, No.

Though I would like to, no matter how irrational it sounds, the idea of them is always so intriguing thanks to over a century of existing in our popular culture, I simply don’t. For now they are well off in our books/movies/tv/games and other media, unless the zombie apocalypse actually happens (in which case atleast all my years of gaming and the likes of Resident Evil, Blade and The Walking Dead comes in handy)

Oh and while we are talking about this, what about God?

Ok I’ll stop it here before getting at jumped at. 😛

Quote Me

Quote

Posted on January 4, 2013 by The Nameless One

Do you have a favorite quote that you return to again and again? What is it, and why does it move you?

A very interesting question. I have many favourite lines/quotes which I have in mind always and some which come and go at a given instance of time.

These are my most favourite quotes which mean quite a deal to me:

“The Training is Nothing! The Will is Everything! The Will to Act.”

– Ra’s Al Ghul (Batman Begins)

This is perhaps one of my most favourite quotes both at a personal/individual and as a human being. It is well self-explanatory. For achieving anything in life, as an individual or as a group ranging from a society to a nation to as the human species itself.

“To say that nothing is true, is to realize that the foundations of society are fragile, and that we must be the shepherds of our own civilization. To say that everything is permitted, is to understand that we are the architects of our actions, and that we must live with their consequences, whether glorious or tragic.”

– Ezio Auditore da Firenze (Assassin’s Creed: Revelations)

This is from one of my most favourite video game franchises, and perhaps resonates with the one I said above.

“Keep looking. Don’t settle.” – Steve Jobs.

What is the most beautiful aspect of [these] is they are stated so beautifully. Now I don’t want to make this into a quotes list, so I’ll end (sort of) here. I know, those who know me well would have been surprised if they didn’t find a Batman reference here 😛

Oh and this one is a recent favourite, from one of the best games of 2012, FAR CRY 3: