The Whatsapp And other messaging apps Debate.

Man. I am gonna write a blog on this. My love-hate relationship with technology (esp. whatsapp) seems to have taken a turn for the better. Whatsapp has committed suicide in my phone. I am unable to open it. Finally, the speculation regarding will I or won't I use it has been laid to the rest.

     I am still very much active on other platforms, be it FB, mails, Google Plus, Viber, Hike, and still use a smartphone with the Android OS. Its Gingerbread. But, it's comparatively quite smart. With proximity sensor and all.

     I have uninstalled and installed whatsapp on countless occasions over the duration of the last few months. I started using it a little more than a year ago. On my Nokia E5. That was when I had newly joined as a lecturer at a few colleges. Seemed the better thing to do.

     But, over the course of the few months after that, I started realizing that it wasn't as pleasant as it seemed. These networks are sapping our energy. Our time. And not really leading to the Human Intimacy that we all actually care about. Sure, we are talking with each other day in and day out. Sure, we are more knowledgeable about our so-called friends. Sure, its easier to share breaking news and videos of cats, Rajnikanth, politicians, etc. Sure, its easier to keep tabs on each other via the hotly contested "LAST SEEN". Sure, the person is considered extremely rude when he stays online yet doesn't reply. Cause, now we know, you sucker was online YET didn't reply! Sure, you can check out the latest pics from your friends and all those people you love to stalk. Stalking was never so much fun.
    In spite of all these valuable add-ons, I remained unconvinced and a skeptic. Uninstalling whatsapp almost every 20 days or so. Messaging the people in my circle that from now I won't be on whatsapp. And they contact me via sms or call. But, then something would happen to force me to come back. Maybe an important conversation that I missed. Maybe the arrival of someone new in my life. Where, constant conversation would be the new drug. Maybe the futility of smses, because now people don't have sms PACKS like before. They can't reply to you. They can't call you. But they have an internet pack. And so, I'll be back, to happy welcomings and sarcastic jibes. It'll continue for greater than a fortnight and less than a month. And then, Repeat.

    The cons of using these services are many.
*They'd make you busy, and forget your actual, real world work.
*You'd be so tired talking to multiple people simultaneously that neither you will be able to reply to all of them in a just way, neither you will be able to focus on your real life.
*Most important of all: Those long calls via landlines will be gone, which were more meaningful and profound on the personal level. Let's not even talk about meeting others. That was long gone. As I heard in the new documentary, In RealLIfe, "we took them out of the parks, we took them out of the streets....and put them online.." Now, I see kids playing outside, only when there is no electricity.

An important event that occurred recently added significance to this thinking of mine. The Lights went off in my locality. Like the entire area of the city where I live, in a radius of at least a few miles. I could see lights, but they were far away.
And, this happened as the sun was setting. Till early morning the engineers worked hard to restore electricity, which was restored by dawn. I was just stuck by the silence and peace I experienced in the very locality, while standing at the balcony of my 4th floor house. All around, a few hours before midnight, there was complete silence. Instead of the techno noise. There was a natural illumination. The rain clouds of the night giving a light orange-ish illumination to the ground below. Beautiful.
     I realized all this techno noise is drowing our peace. The future of technology will have to be different and peaceful. It'll need the human components of love, compassion and regret, guilt to truly live amongst us peacefully. I already believe the Singularity has occurred. The Machines are conscious. A nascent consciousness albeit, but growing quickly. And learning. 
     Anyways, I don't think the whatsapp-no whatsapp tussle is over for me. Not yet. There is yet to be a clear winner. Depends on future events. As of now, I am not using it.

Okay, enough blog writing for today. Give that man a Cookie.

P.S. The NSA, Snowden, Assange thing notwithstanding, I'll like you guys to watch the End of the World-Delete a.k.a. E.O.W-Delete

that I saw on AXN recently. Worth a watch if your mind too thinks in a similar way to this blog.
thanks!
have a good day!
 And Machines, I hope you develop a a conscience when you do.

Similarity between Inception and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Dear readers,
 I hope you have seen both the movies before you read any further. It is a Spoiler Alert!

Now, lets just get down to business.

Inception (wikipedia) (Leonardo starer) dealt with dreams.

ESSM (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) the Jim Carey, Kate Winslet one dealt with memories.

In Inception, you go down dream levels. Dreams within a dream.
In ESSM, you stay on in the same level, but yet, fragments of the past, which have been erased from your mind, come back sometimes.
Both, surprisingly use similar looking, almost same type of machines to get the individual into the dream mode.

 In Inception I think, we are seeing an improved compact version of the same machine seen in ESSM.

 One sends you into dream world, while the other deletes your memories. Both require a person to stay awake and help the person in or out of it. In both the cases, the real outside world, when the individual is asleep is felt in the dream world. In Inception, it is the sounds and things, e.g. the famous pre-kick song, Non, Je Regrette Rein by Edith Piaf, and the water in the dream due to water outside, etc. While in ESSM, we can see how the darkness tries to catch Jim Carey when he is trying to run away from it. Both have the protagonists searching and craving the past and the real life. Both have girl issues!

Last, but not the least, both have the protagonist going back in his world, his memories of his life, and the lady love, and the times spent together.

Both engage that projection of hers and try to keep her in their minds. In Inception, Cobb has preserved Mal's memory, when in Reality (or so we think!), she is dead. In ESSM, Joel is revisiting the memories of Clementine.
Both have artificial worlds

which are constructs of the human mind.
And although, they both start seeing each other again in ESSM, in Inception, we really don't know whether Cobb is in Reality or still stuck in some dream level, so we cannot naturally comment on his relationship with Mal.

Now, as it happened, I watched Inception first and ESSM later, hence I could connect the two together. Inception, then, doesn't seem so innovative after all! Seeing many similar concepts in the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Though, one has to congratulate both the movie's teams, for being so creative and making us still think and wonder about all the profound questions of life and the movies themselves, really impacting how we think of things. These are eternal questions, but those movies are eternal movies too, both masterpieces in their own right.

Hope you
enjoyed reading it.
Yours Truly,
TJ (Rudraraj)

FC Barcelona 0-4 Bayern Munich and Karma

Long time there.
Couldn't help but write this one.
I was watching last night's Barca vs Bayern match. Saw 3 handballs by my dear own Barca players. Inside the penalty box. The referees somehow didn't give them. Here, comes in Karma.
Now, this is purely my own belief (being a hindu, I do believe in Karma). If the referee had given those 3 handballs a penalty each, Bayern would most probably have scored 3 out of 3. And be leading by 3 goals to Nil in the first half itself. No doubt. But, because the refs didn't give them those penalties, those goals still had to come. Barca still had to have been beaten with three goals under any circumstance.
That's the rule of karma.

Courtesy http://www.iskconpatna.com/karma.php

If it has to come, it will. If you are gonna win, you will, by any means. Remember Spurs beating Man City by 3-1, scoring 3 goals in 7 minutes in the second half?

If you are going to be a fabulously rich person ( like a billionaire) by the time you are 40, you WILL be rich, by any means, even if you are illiterate, crazy or even a poor  teacher ( like me!). It has to happen. Especially, when you have given it the cause. Cause? Those 3 hand balls. Once you give it the cause, the Universe will come at you. With everything it's got. It works both ways though, son.
If you have studied extremely hard all year, you will get good marks, in spite of it all. Well, it also depends on you and your individual and collective astrological and spiritual background. But, major big-bang causes trump everything. You bring the WTC towers down, you will get a reaction. You ask the Spartans for earth and water, you will be sent down the well. Like that sort.

Courtesy http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/300_2.jpg

These 3 hand balls were of that sort. Also, not to forget,

Courtesy ThiagoMessi10 on facebook.

Alves was pushed down by fellow Brazilian Dante. Mueller's header was offside, Robben being on the wrong side of the linesman after taking a corner! And again another goal where Alba was pushed to the ground and the players thought it was a blatant foul, so much that they almost stopped play, giving Robben a free shot at the goal, which he did. And, y Still that meant 2-0 or a 1-0 defeat, at least. Not so helpful, still.

Courtesy FC Barcelona Official Site.

You must keep in mind, I am a full blown Barca supporter since 1999 or so. Saw them lose a big game valiantly against Valencia. Been their fan ever since. It IS extremely hard to digest this drubbing by Bayern. But, we have to be balanced and see the truth as it is. Simply as the Truth itself. Mistakes were made, we needed substitutions. Messi looked not so well, he should have come in later, like against PSG. We need a stronger full back, - Abidal instead of Alba. (sorry bro!) We need Villa in his natural number 9 striker role from the start. And most important of them all, we needed to be unpredictable. Bayern just drifted back once our passing began. Those know how this tiki-taka works. Gotta be crazy and unpredictable. Have muscle and run faster when there is space. Anyways, we have lost this one. Understand the Principle of Karma and play for everything when Bayern visit Camp Nou. Be prepared to run 10 plus kilometers full on. Be prepared to shock and awe them. You can! In the eternal and true words of Jordi Roura, 
" If, there is any team that can do this, it is this."

Courtesy ibtimes.com

 He said this before AC Milan were thrashed 4-0 away when Barca lost 2-0 at Milan. If there is any team that can do this, it is this THIS IS BARCA!!!!!!
.Visca Barca friends!!!!

Courtesy https://twitter.com/BarcaStat/status/311597365368872960