The cat lived a long dull life.
"If ignorance is bliss why do we seek knowledge?", the contestants of Miss India contest were asked.
Oscar Wilde says, "It is a sad thing to think of, but there is no doubt that genius lasts longer than beauty. That accounts for the fact that we all take such pains to over educate ourselves. In the wild struggle for existence, we want to have something that endures, so we fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place. The throughly well informed man-that is the modern ideal. And the mind of the thoroughly well informed man is a dreadful thing. It is like a bric-a-bric shop, all monsters and dust with everything priced above its proper value."
As kids we are encouraged to have a healthy sense of curiosity. The kid with most questions is considered to have the more agile and sound of minds. As we grow older, people grow less tolerant of incessant questioning. Curiosity goes from an appreciated quality to an annoying one. Yet, you learn only if you are curious and ask questions. So, where do you draw the line when it comes to question asking and curious being?
Favor bank
One of the characters in the book Bonfire of the Vanities talks of how the entire criminal justice system works on a concept called "favor bank". Whenever a person does a favor for another, it is thought of as deposits made to this bank. One makes deposits whenever one can. That way, when the need arises, one gets to make withdrawals. I was lead to wonder if real life works this way as well. If the reason we make friends, care and do so much for them is so that they'll be there when we need them. It was a depressing thought.
Judge a person based on his brains and not his beauty?
Brains is as much a genetically acquired quality as beauty is. For that matter, any quality is probably genetically acquired. I guess the solution would be to stop judging.
A ghazal by Jagjit Singh goes, "Parakhna mat parakhne main koi apna nahin rehta". It translates to, "don't judge. No one remains your own in the process." This is a crappy translation but it pretty much conveys his message.
If you speak everything you think you must be seriously devoid of thoughts.
Period.
Currently reading Far from the Madding Crowd. The introduction to the book says, "Far from the Madding Crowd is the book that made Hardy famous, and it is the sunniest and least brooding of his great novels." Those are not exactly encouraging words. I told this to a friend. He said he would gift me Hardy's other works.
Marissa Mayer's keynote at Google I/O developers conference here. Nice insight into how they work at Google. Wiki says she was the first female engineer hired at Google. I'm envious.
