random walk

The next real social revolution is happening right now. Not the NGOs, not the politicians (god forbid!). It's the linux brigade that's quietly, efficiently changing the world. Because nothing matters more on this earth of ours than information (ok, maybe oil). And they're doing it their way, and making money while they're at it.
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It wasn't that politicians were more honest in the 60s or rockstars more genuine in the 70s. It's just the sheen of nostalgia.
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The only way to really change the world is to align altruism with self-interest. (Is that possible?)
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The World According to Garp is the first real feminist novel written by a man.
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Compulsively honest is the way to be. In a relationship, especially. No matter how much grief it causes you.


I love the fact that this was all part of the same conversation. :)

some things don't change.

My apologies to those Bangalore people who have stared at these posters many, many times.

Upstairs to the loo, downstairs for cigarettes. No wonder our regulars are so fit.

Money can't buy me love.
Paul McCartney, 1964
Money can't buy me love. I'll take your credit card.
Paul of Pecos, 2003

from the inbox.

I've always thought that being candid was admirable. Then some where along the way I realised that being candid could perhaps be a defence mechanism in itself - say something "candid" and that often distracts the "masses" from where that came from. Or that it could even be a smokescreen.

chase those blues

When I walked into NCBS this morning, half-asleep and grumpy and completely monday-morninged, the guy at the reception looked up from his books and greeted me with this huge warm, spontaneous grin.

Made my day.

need i say more?

just.

I concluded yesterday that rock music has changed in primarily two ways since the 80s.

1. They were making real music back then.
2. They had long hair then and long hair now. The difference is, back then no matter how long their hair was it never ever covered their faces.

cogito, ergo sum?

Windsor Pub, wednesday evening. Is there something unique that drives someone to be a scientist- and a good one? These days the three of us ask ourselves questions like these with increasing regularity. Cynicism is thriving, fueled daily by petty lab politics, vindictive (or incompetent) bosses and mafioso journals.

So over beer we search for answers- if I may be melodramatic- to bolster our crumbling beliefs in the power and beauty of science. O and I argue that to be a good scientist, you need an inherent sense of curiosity. Curiosity about the world around us, a burning desire to understand. Without that, you'll never be the real deal, hell, you wouldn't even have picked this life in the first place! And this spills over into our 'real' lives as well. Question beliefs. Challenge dogmas. It could be religion or politics, it might be my own relationship with someone- but I always try to really get under the skin of things and figure them out. Isn't it this which makes me what I am? Scientist and person?

IR counters though- devil's advocate always- wait, he says. What is a 'good' scientist? Is good= success= good? For success, you don't need curiosity. You just need to play it by the book, grease the right palms, do the experiments the journals expect from you. Just like any other job. And success will be yours. And people will say, oh yes, he's good. You might be the most creative person around, the most curious, but success may elude you. And in the eyes of the world, so will greatness.

Hold on, I say. I don't believe that. I don't believe you can truly be a scientist if you don't have that spark inside you, eating you up, egging you on. Despite the politics and the rat race and god knows what else. It has to be that way. Otherwise I'm driving in the wrong lane.

I don't think IR really believes what he said either.

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A few weeks ago D told me (following a long monologue on my part about my life and my choices) ,"so... you're a creative person, who has simply chosen to express that creativity through science". That must be one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.

I hope I deserve it.