Mapping out life so far

Posted on January 10, 2013 by The Nameless One

Using Google Maps for the first time in a post thanks to this week’s writing challenge, while still trying to figure it out would like to talk about 3 places being a big part of my life and this being the area where I practically grew up so far.

A. St. Francis D’Assisi High School

My school where I studied for 12 years of my life right from the start to grade 10. Biggest perk being I lived just nearby my school and now college (below) I also wrote a post about my school in my last year which you can have a look at. Lot has changed since then.

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B. Fizzy

There are many places where I hung out around where I stay and in the entire city, but this one stands out for me. Back in ’03 or ’04 (don’t exactly remember when) I was in 6th grade when this small cafe opened which now is a big joint there today. I was there when it first opened back then and still go regularly today, from a small shop to big happening cafe. Fizzy might be just a local thing here (there are 4 of them in the north part of the city) but they might also be another home to many like me.

C. SFIT/University of Mumbai

My university where I’m studying currently (highly debatable) 😛 Again biggest perk I live close by. Studying Computer Science & Engineering and doing some other stuff.

So basically I grew up in this ‘grid’ and waiting to get out and see the world (permanently, not the occasional basis) I’ll keep writing about more places of significance in time, and hopefully I’ll be able to write form all around the world one day.

Fear is not afraid of you

Posted on January 10, 2013 by The Nameless One

It’s interesting to think if someone was locked in a room with what they fear and how their reactions will be. What is more interesting, is what that fear will look like, especially if it’s not a ‘real world object’. Please note, there is a difference between having a certain phobia and having a fear of something (or someone)

So what if I was locked up in a room with my greatest fear? How would the room be?

I try to think about it. The room would be full dark and void. As I would look around I would see pieces of floating, moving images… of various points of my life. Like video clips of certain parts of your favourite movie(s). That would be my room of fear.

Choices, which I could have made, but never did.

I’m no way the type who would tend not to cling on the past but there comes a time now and then where I’m reminded of many of the (countless) choices I have made, but for some reason I never did. Things I could have done but didn’t. Which I’m supposed to but I’m not doing it. Perhaps changing my life over and/or of others’ but didn’t. That is my fear.

Not as interesting like seeing someone afraid of insects shrieking out when seeing a spider or someone pissing themselves over heights, but well that is my story.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Resolved

Posted on January 9, 2013 by The Nameless One

So as the title says, although I find ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ silly which I said already, it would be hypocritical of me if I say I didn’t think of doing something to make my life better, where I’ll use the old fashion a-picture-says-a-thousand-words thing as given by this week’s photo challenge.

The latest addition to my vast books collection is the (new edition) box set of the universally acclaimed A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, which is also adapted into the most amazing tv series run on HBO and the best thing on tv (and my most favourite) I spent nearly 2 hours cleaning my entire house just to make some space for this. You can see a lot of Batman and few others in this section too. As I said in my weekly writing challenge post I want to get back into reading more.

What happened now? The Internet that is. Although my indulgence in too many things apart from these two also is, but that is not really a bad thing right? Time to get back into avid reading as I once was and also a balance in life.

And as bonus, let me show you the song of my people. For all the existing fans, here is something which we actually hope the author sees and does something. 😛

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

“Society has taught you how to fail, not nature. Believe in yourself and your instincts, and that will help you succeed.”

Did I ever tell you… the definition of Insanity?

All of the worlds infinite possibilities rest within one simple circle.

Posted on January 4, 2013 by The Nameless One

This is a brief (add- epic) scene from a episode (S02E11 to be specific) of one of my favourite shows and perhaps the best network show out there- Person of Interest. This gives so much insight on perspective and personally I have been in the same lot most times, and this simple scene is like a eye opener. Don’t worry no spoilers and I recommend you see this show, I’m sure you will be sold.

Finch: (to students) ‘Pi’. Can anyone of you tell me what it means?
(after silence and looking at disinterested students in their own worlds)
I’ll settle for an intelligent question here.

Girl: My friend has a question here. What is any of this good for and when do we ever use it?
(all laugh)

Finch: (smiling) Let me show you. Pi. The ratio of a circumference of a circle to its diameter. And this [3.1415926535… ] is just the beginning.

It keeps on going. Forever. Without ever repeating.

Which means that contained within this strings of decimals is every single other number.

Your birth date, combination of your locker, your social security number.. (continues to write more decimal digits)

It’s all in there somewhere.

And if you convert these decimal digits to letters, you would have every word that ever existed, in every possible combination.

The first syllable you spoke as a baby, the name of your latest crush, your entire life story from beginning to end. Everything we ever say or do… All of the worlds infinite possibilities rest within this one simple circle (pointing to the circle on board)

Now what you do with that information… What it’s good for… Well that will be up to you.

Before kicking the bucket

Posted on January 3, 2013 by The Nameless One

Although there are a lot of things I want to do before I kick the bucket, (See “The Buried Life” a very cool MTV documentary TV series) I never really thought about it as a list. So thanks to the daily prompt, now finally I’ll just jot them down, may be random and in no order of importance, although what comes first to my mind as I write it down may give a faint idea. So here is my bucket-list:

~~Travel~~ Keep traveling around the world. At least 20 different countries
Summit Mount Everest
Scuba Diving.
Eat at the best and most expensive restaurant in the world (both may quite obviously not coincide)
Make a film/documentary. Hopefully a very good one.
Write a movie script.
Become self-employed/Entrepreneur.
See Linkin Park live, and at least once in my own country. Actually bring them here myself in some capacity.
Own a Harley. Before that, learn how to ride. 😛
Meet Christopher Nolan and tell him how awesome he is and how much I respect him.
Do Paragliding.
Witness something truly magnificent.
Pay tribute to Steve Jobs and Bruce Lee at their respective memorials.
Get my graphic novels signed by Frank Miller and Alan Moore.
Visit and document at least 100 exotic locations.
Travel a long distance, say 2 countries on the sea in a boat.
Kiss the most beautiful girl I’ve seen/known.
Learn Swimming
Swim with Dolphins
‘Pat’ a whale.
Learn how to play 3 different instruments.
Buy a house (not just a flat/apartment)
Get at least 2 dogs. Not pets. Family. Friends.
See all the artwork mentioned in Dan Brown’s books.
Go to Disney World and behave like a kid.
Rafting in the Amazon.
Visit Niagara Falls.
Visit CD Projekt Red, Warshaw and Ubisoft Studios, Montreal and give them personal kudos.
Pen down a script for a video game, perhaps an RPG.
See a Broadway show in New York.
See a film at the Sundance Film festival.
Learn 3 foreign languages and be fluent in atleast one of them.

(phew!) I’ll keep adding more as I can think of what which just comes and goes in my mind but present somewhere. So coming to the prompt:

What’s the 11th item on your bucket list?

So let’s see:

Do Paragliding.

Yeah I always wanted to do that! Especially seeing it in movies, video games and every other dam place. Hopefully will cross this one before most others.