Tags
#FirstWorldProblems
28 Friday Mar 2014
Posted Uncategorized
in28 Friday Mar 2014
Posted Uncategorized
inTags
18 Saturday Jan 2014
Ithuvarai enakkillai mugavarigal adhai naan kanden un punnagaiyil, vaazhgiren naan un moochile [Song: Mun Paniya, Nandhaa]
Posted by 350cc | Filed under Uncategorized
16 Thursday Jan 2014
Bang Bang, that awful sound. Bang Bang, I used to shoot you down. [Song: Bang Bang my baby shot me down, the Nancy Sinatra version from Kill Bill]
Posted by 350cc | Filed under Uncategorized
15 Wednesday Jan 2014
Pazhaiya maalaiyil pudhiya pookal dhaan seradha?
Vaazhkai oru vattam pol, mudindha idathil thodangadha?
Posted by 350cc | Filed under Uncategorized
13 Monday Jan 2014
Inko kho kar meri jaan-e-jaan umr bhar na taraste raho.
Posted by 350cc | Filed under Uncategorized
11 Saturday Jan 2014
Posted Uncategorized
inWhen considering a scenario where aliens are planning to contact life on earth, there are two major considerations (a) Which superpower/other country do the aliens wish to contact?; (b) Where will the aliens land and establish their base?. For the sake of preliminary shortlisting, let’s consider both questions together. Once we arrive at a shortened list, we can consider the questions separately.
Preliminary short-listing.
Assuming the aliens would want to land on land masses and not contact passing ships or ocean-life, they have the choice of landing at any place in (including islands near) Africa, Europe, Asia, North America, South America, Antarctica and Australia. Let’s look at the important factors now:
The aliens in all likelihood, would want to contact countries with a history of wanting to contact aliens, space exploration and research. They have the following options:
Allow me to examine each of these options separately:
First, I take OPTION B
OPTION A
OPTION C
From the above exercise, we ascertain that it would be best for the aliens to contact the European Countries, as a PRIMARY PLAN, and the United States of America, as a BACK-UP PLAN.
What the aliens need now is a good base from where they can execute Option C as PRIMARY PLAN A, and OPTION A as BACK-UP PLAN, or both simultaneously, in parallel, to see which works best. The need to be near enough to Europe, but also near enough to the United States of America, without entirely geographically committing to either bloc at the cost of being inaccessible to the other bloc.
For this reason, I think the aliens will land in Iceland. The geography and neutral political makeup of Iceland also supports my conclusion:
Where in Iceland?
Therefore, the aliens will first land and establish base at the Keflavík International Airport, and then look to establish contact with the European Union and the Government of the United States of America, with the help of the Government of Iceland (or not).
10 Friday Jan 2014
Posted Uncategorized
inSo firstly, because of tidal locking, it is likely that there are widely varying climate zones on the planet. If the planet is sufficiently distant from its star, perhaps the resulting temperature is just right to keep water in its liquid state on the surface, and this overlaps with the habitable zones on the planet. Else, one side is baking while the other side freezes.
If we are to assume extreme temperatures on the planet (such as that which exists on Gliese 581 g), as a result of high temperature on one side of the planet, it is also likely that it rains more on that side of the planet, leading to uneven erosion of the surface of the planet and resulting in the side with more light actually becoming the lighter side of the planet. Add to this varying degrees of influence from winds, atmospheric heat transfer, nature of the planet’s surface, etc.
Let’s limit ‘life’ to life as we know it and expect to find elsewhere in the universe. Geographically speaking, life may exist only the two extreme sides of the planet, which are not facing the star or facing away from the star (unless there are daredevils willing to bear the brunt of extreme weather conditions or we have invented other means to cope with such conditions). Limited to these narrow strips on either side, life would exist in a permanent state of twilight, neither day nor night. Or both day and night at the same time, as one half is permanently light and the other half is permanently dark.
On sleep patterns, perhaps hours would be designated as ‘awake hours/day hours’ and ‘asleep hours/night hours’. Perhaps houses would have rooms facing the darker side for designated night hours and rooms facing the light for designated day hours. Energy generation may work differently, with mechanisms for harnessing power being placed on the lighter side to serve power needs in the darker side.
18 Wednesday Dec 2013
Posted Uncategorized
inThe minutes are long, but there is hardly any difference known between one day and the next. The conscious flits from weekend to weekend, with the occasional interlude of parched thoughts. Lyrics are the links in which dreams are lived. When that city sleeps, perhaps thoughts are thought of its skies bereft of the blue of mine. Many unseen eyes, many unspoken promises. Like lies adorn poetry, yearning adorns purposeless existence. What if they never meet?
30 Saturday Nov 2013
Posted Uncategorized
inI am waiting for R at Arbor Brewery and I am excited. I miss my friends. All the more when we make plans to meet in the near future or like today, when I am barely minutes away from meeting one of them. Not that I was not fond of them when we were together in college. Perhaps I am fonder now, because I realize it may be months, or years before I see them again. Precious.
Arbor is a nice place. It is spacious, has wooden benches and stools, which are not at all placed close to each other. Music serves as a gentle background to the persistent buzz of conversation. I am thinking how much I love Saturday evenings. I like having Saturdays off. I walked from Garuda mall to Arbor in the rain, wearing a hoodie I had just purchased. There is a past life connection between me and black hoodies, I think. Something that goes very deep. As far as I can remember, I have always had a black hoodie in my wardrobe, at all times. This one has white stripes on the inside of the hood and is very warm. Maybe it is the warmth of my drink. Or maybe it is the sight of warm wood tables and the vast grainy floor.
There is a couple on the table to the side. The girl part of the couple is eyeing me suspiciously as though people sitting by themselves are capable of walking up to strangers and stealing the umbrellas from their drinks, at any given moment. Metaphorically, of course. Arbor does not put umbrellas in the drinks they serve. The ice has nicely melted into my drink and it has turned from the colour of rusted apple to tap water. I have been reading Maps for lost lovers. The book has such lovely similes. There is one that likens a train travelling through tunnels to a needle threading a necklace of beads. No wonder it took him eight years to write this book. I should call up R and find out where she is.
11 Monday Nov 2013
Posted Uncategorized
inThe darkening sky has cast its shadows on the top half of my book. A vivid purple on the horizon of my downcast lids makes me look up from the fluttering pages on my lap and my hands attempt to still them against the breeze. I try to shut the window; it does not budge. I close the book and choose to look at the sunset instead. The windshield is bordered with intricate floral patterns, like paisley angels stunned mid-flight. The driver is a khaki blot against a sea of indigo, staining the horizon pink as it spreads downwards around his silhouette. The row of bars behind the driver’s seat cuts my view into neat rectangles, like strips of used litmus paper. Behind the driver, supine frames and heads rest in their seats like spread-eagled limbs of tripods – askew. The bus snakes its way past the occasional truck on NICE road, and the heads bobble in concerted unison, in the weary sea of dusk.