The evening’s promise

Sometimes, the sky is an irresistible blue,

and the breeze, a tempting embrace.

The silent noises from far away,

calling me to a long walk, a respite after a long day

The cool air, the sights and sounds- a beginning, a promise.

They promise me something, I don't know what,

but the red pump in me gains life from their unsaid words.

Maybe it is the promise of a sight unseen,

Or of a song, unequalled.

Maybe it is a person who I shall meet at the turn of a long road-

who shall change, with a magic sweep of his wand, the world for me.

A flower, a river, a breathtaking hour-

anything to fill this emptiness that swamps me.

 

Sometimes, I give in and walk and walk

but nothing but the orange sun would be.

Fairy tales promise well, but they were tales you see!

And the next time, when the evening invites me,

I give in again and embark in a quest for that hidden delight,

even when knowing what evening conjured for me was only a tantalizing dream.

Yet, I continue to hope

Some day, I will meet evening's prize

And maybe,

maybe, then, everything will be alright!

Inception

I had to write a review on inception. I had to, because, it is among the BEST movies I have ever seen. Even though it does not fall in my usual definitions of best. I could say I had to do this, even though I am very much stuck for time, because, it is a movie that makes me take my "hat off and bow and kneel before and say 'that was great!'" But the real reason is what "lightning strikes everyday" says on his blog- "It is a movie that treats the audience with intellectual respect"

It is a movie that is not only intelligent, but demands an equal intelligence from the audience (not equal maybe, but at least approximately so) to appreciate it. (Of course that doesn't include people who read Wikipedia explanations or fake an understanding of the movie.) But each person individually would know how much he understood of the movie, and also that that indicates a lot about his intelligence, which was in itself a great feat!*

In one word...

I discovered something today morning, Nothing like gravity or relativity. Just a small observation.

That every person has a basic flavor. Or essence (as Jonathan Stroud would have it). By this I mean each person can essentially be described by one word. Just one word. To describe all actions, thoughts, principles- literally everything- about the person.

I had tried to do this long ago- just to see if I hit upon anything- tried to describe each person I know in a single word. A word to describe what impression I had of that person. I wasn't all that successful at that time, but today's task, I think, should be possible. The difference here is that this one word should not be what that person reminds you of. It should be a word that explains his complete nature. 

For example, I know someone whose nature, in all its totality,  can be described as "Argument". This person would not listen to half a sentence of yours without arguing. In fact, even when he is talking, or writing a program, or any other such thing, you would see how his mind falls back to "argument" in every step.

Another person I know can be described by "I-don't-want-to-be-blamed".* This person, while having a lot of attributes, is always trying to ensure he is not wrong in anybody's eyes. I am not saying he tries to portray himself as good etc, he really is a good person as far as I know, but even while simply talking, or maybe even thinking his mind always goes back to this precept. Any stand he takes on any issue and any example he might give can be derived from, or at least, traced back to this.

I have a lot more examples- but the last I will mention here is someone I talked to yesterday. And I must mention this person because yesterday's conversation was what triggered my discovery itself. His word was "Action". Whatever you spoke to him, his mind would automatically go to what could be "done" about it. You could talk to him abstract philosophy and still his mind was continuously asking "anything to be done here?" However much u tried to divert it to concepts or theories, it always leaped back to action.

So, what do you think? Can all attributes of a person be described in one word? Try thinking of someone close to you... Or someone you know very well... And try to describe them in one word... You might discover a lot about their nature. And maybe even yours!!

*I know that's not really a single word... Writers' license u see ;)

P.S- Someone just asked me what word best describes me. I have found the word, but I don't think I ought to reveal it. Like they say, some mysteries of the world are better left unsolved! ;)

Link of the day...

Quick link...

It is on Tamil Nadu politics and tweeted by krishashok. I have a lot to say on the topic myself, but most of it has already been said in this article. 

(Especially on how the current government tries to appreciate only certain aspects of Tamil literature and ignore everything else! Thiruvalluvar being the epitome of this policy. I admit Valluvar's writings were very good, but he was not the only good writer of Tamil Nadu.)

Plus I like the style of writing- Point Blank. No beating around the bush. I wish our journalists wrote this way...

Team work- mankind’s prehistoric secret?

So continuing on that one about evolution....Well... There are all these theories about how man evolved. However, what is more interesting is not "how did man evolve", but "why". There are billions of creatures on planet Earth and some of them with really interesting features (like the ciliates, about which I started a post and never published!) and yet, none of them achieved what man did! (Or maybe they did, but that is a premise I don't want to talk about today).

WHY did man become the most powerful creature? What in him that wasn't there in other creatures made him invent computers and visualize robots, and make artificial cell cultures?