10 Things You Can Blog About

Do you have a blog? And, are there days when you don't know what to write about? Here are some ideas from what I have written about and explored in the last 194 days of blogging everyday across various subjects- books, movies, stories, art, life, law, and more!

1. Write about a hobby, or something that you learnt to make/do recently.

2. Review a book, movie, game, product, service, food, or anything at all that you used, watched, or read. 

3. Elaborate on a thought inside your head. 

4. Write about the favourite people you admire (with or without names).

5. Write about places. 

6. Write a poem.

7. Write a story, or you can run a chapter series with 1-2 chapters of your story every week. I'm thinking about trying this out. 

8. Pitch an idea. If you want to collaborate on something, then let people know how to contact you so that anyone who reads the post, and is interested to work with you, can ping you!

9. Share anything interesting that you came across in the recent past. Or, share the interesting resources that you use/come across with your readers.  

10. Rant. And, provide actionable solutions, if you can.

There are so many other ideas, and once you get that small hitch, it's happy writing till you hit that publish button. Keeping an editorial list ready to publish on your blog can take your writing a long way, because then you'd have something to go up anyway, and you would be stressing about what to write for what would go up on another day! This will make sure you aren't writing for the sake of just putting up something. 

If you enjoy reading my posts you can subscribe and read them in the comfort of your inbox!

Also, I have a series of chapters ready to roll out as an interesting short tale for you all, with two chapters coming out every week! I am very excited to have my first chapter up tomorrow! 

So stay tuned, and see you tomorrow!

The Muse Mode (And, Mood)

Art: by me :)

The environment you are in plays a big role on what thoughts come to you when you sit down to write a story. Essentially, to write a good story, you slip into what I'd call the 'muse mode' (or, muse mood- whichever way you like it!). 

So, what's the muse mode? The muse mode is when you stare into infinity, irrespective of whether it's an ocean or a wall in front of you, and you are lost in the deep muse of what your protagonist(s) sees and does. You live the experience as you write it. Though we write a novel, we actually see the events playing out as we write it and even when we read it. And, most often than not, you become the protagonist and see it through your eyes when you write the story. 

That has always been my experience. Whatever form of story it is- a novel, a play, a short story, whatever- the best pieces written are the ones where you lived them through while writing. That is why the setting that you are in can influence a lot. What you can write from your heart in a fresh, open space one serene morning, is different from what you can write in a cab stuck in traffic jam. There is no hierarchy in standard with respect to them, as long as they are written from the heart, living that moment. Sometimes, we may carry the feeling from the serene morning, and live through it again to write about it in a cab stuck in traffic. The muse mood is still about the morning! A virtual muse mood, without an actual setting that demands it, is also very much possible, at least for writers who love the story they are writing. But, it is not possible for me to write without creating this mood. 

So, identifying your muse mode and writing genuinely is what can make a story actually reach out to people. Anyone who writes would definitely understand what 'muse mood' that I am talking about. And, if you don't understand what this whole post is about, I have an interesting exercise for you. Write 3-4 pieces, preferably stories of about 500-1000 words each, and write them each in different settings, different times. Then, go back and reflect on where you were and what you wrote!

Note: The drawing is inspired from a scene from the movie Whisper of the Heart, where Shizuku sits looking outside the window - deep in thought! Hope you get the mood I am talking about from the picture!

Ans, happy writing this weekend!

The Power Of Starting Something Stupid

Title: The Power Of Starting Something Stupid

Author: Richie Norton

“If you really want to do something, no one can stop you.  If you don’t want to do something, no one can help you.” - James A. Owen

Do you have some ideas and think that you must be crazy to think of something like that? Do you think your idea is just stupid and impossible? Well, Einstein once said: “If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” Richie Norton, in this fabulously easy-to-read book, attempts to break some of the mental barriers that stop you from living your crazy dream!

So, what does this book teach you? Alternatively, on what things can you can look forward to getting insight and clear your misconceptions about?

• One, as the sub-title suggests: how and why to crush your fears, to dream and make your dreams come true, and to make sure you don't regret  not following them later. 
• Two, how to stop blaming and, rather, overcome lack of time, lack of money, lack of education, or pretty much anything else that you want to blame on lacking. 
• Three, differentiating and the need to differentiate future goals from present actions, and looking at the future as the accumulation of your actions that you do today.
• Four, how to stop under-valuing your ideas, and discarding them off as 'stupid'.
• Five, acknowledging flaws and vulnerabilities (in both yourself and your idea), as the first step to overcoming/rectifying them- so that you can successfully convert your 'stupid' idea into one that wins. 

The Power of Starting Something Stupid is more about having the courage and confidence to acknowledge an idea inside you, to work on it, to build on it, and to make sure that your commitment lasts till the very end to see it emerge as a success. The book is highly conversational in tone, and it feels like Norton is giving out advice that is actionable. It is an easy flowing read, that may seem simple and apparent at the face of it, but contains many actionable insights that can make you think better about the ideas in your head.

The book emphasizes the need to have determination, avoid procrastination, and be steadfast on your idea. While it asks you to be confident, it also asks you to do away with unnecessary pride that would hinder the implementation of the idea. It asks you to think rationally and beat your fears to dust. Norton asks you to own your ideas and make sure they win, through planning, and execution. The anecdotes and the real-life accounting that you find all over the book makes it a very interesting and smooth narrative for the reader!

It is an interesting read that will lead you to your stupid ideas, and tell you how to lead them both to success!

Slow Shift: From Paperback to E-books

Credits: art by Mom

The physical presence of the book in our hand, the scent of the time-tested old copy wafting to our senses as we caress the worn out jacket with so many creases, which seems like the copy wants a crease for every fond reader who read it, the tinted print paper with words crafted in Garamond, an old-school appeal of the paperback and hard-bound: we all love it. 

Or, for some of them, a fresh, crisp copy- with no scribbles, no creases, no bent pages, the fresh scent of new print where the ink can still be smelt, a copy that's theirs and only theirs- is something to be loved, adored, and cherished. 

Nothing can replace it. Agreed. Yet, we have to slowly shift to the world where we buy more e-books than physical copies. Why? Here are three good reasons.

1. Save paper. The more you are willing to buy, the more they are willing to print. And, tens of thousands of people buy it, and they print tens of thousands of more copies. And, that's a whole lot of paper, there. The world is inching towards less and less resources every single day, and you can do your bit to reduce such wastage. When you think from this angle, even the most ardent fan of physical copies tend to pause and think for a moment. Do that: pause, and think a bit.

2. You never have to give away your books. You'll have them with you, and you don't have to think about a space for them. It's definitely more efficient in terms of how you can manage your books! No more do you have to worry and bother about your books not fitting within you air baggage allowance, voila!

3. Notes, Highlights, Quotes- the three best features of e-books. You can save all of them in a manner that you just need to do a key-word search to get them out in a jiffy. This can be really useful to those of us who write regularly. Vaguely remember a quote from The Little Prince on life? You'll have it ready. This is such a beautiful thing, and I really enjoy looking through these highlights and notes of the e-books I read. Amazon Kindle is great, and it neatly arranges the highlights and notes under a tab for each book. I also really like how Google Play Books creates a drive folder, and makes all the highlights and notes in a document, with each book having a different document. Such arrangement is a huge repository of wonderful, ready insights and key-points when you need them!

We are all human, and we all love to flaunt. If you sit in the class reading an Anthony Powell, it is sure to attract eyes and amp up your social image, while reading the same as an e-book won't really bring that much attention. We all love that attention, even if we aren't reading the book because of the attention. Even otherwise, we love to collect, display what we read, have a wall full of books, and all that- but times change, and the need of the world changes, and we must change, too. 

Buy from a sale of old-stock of books, but try avoiding a fresh copy. If your grand-dad has a great library, that's wonderful! Keep it. But, try to shift slowly into more e-books when you plan to buy something anyway. The supply will go down if the demand does, and that's definitely in your hands. If you still want a physical copy of something, get it, but don't make it a habit. 

I have started reading more through e-books now, and I have actually grown a liking to it. Take your time, shift slowly, but shift- because it definitely helps!

What To Read: At A Time Of "Social Distancing Due To Virus"

COVID-19, for familiarly known by all as Coronavirus, has pushed us all into our homes and now is not the time to step back out. Probably (or, definitely?) not for a couple of weeks at least. You can't have one single activity to do, that is going to bore you out. So, may be it's time we shake things up, mix things up, and keep ourselves and others entertained. 

One, of them can be to read books.Read books. Oops, I am biased on this one. Finally, we have the time to tick that un-ticked bucket list of pending books. If you're not a reader, this social distancing exercise may just push you to the edge of boredom, and you might just have to grab a book to make sure you don't fall. So, check out and pick one that seems interesting to you. And, what are you waiting for? Give yourself an unputdownable ride.

Maybe, at times like these, you'd want to check out the adrenaline pumping rides with Jack Stapleton in Robin Cook's Contagion? Or, how about you give company to Brian as he wades through life for 53 days in a forest by himself in Gary Paulsen's Hatchet? Also, check out other titles by Cook, that'll give you all the medical thrillers you need.

If you want to binge some good, unputdownable series this couple of weeks, check these out: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, Foundation Saga by Issac Assimov, Ponniyin Selvan by Kalki. R. Krishnamoorthy (English translations), Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke, Lord of The Rings by Tolkien, A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L' Engle, and check out my blog Index for more.

And hey, I gave you a few examples assuming you have read Harry Potter, Hobbit, Chronicles of Narnia and the rest! If not, finish them off this break before they pile up more work on you!

If you want some cool animated films, I have a list under the movies tab!

Stay indoors, chill at home, try out things you've always wanted to try out, read and write (a lot), finish writing a book, or making a music album maybe, but don't go out! Social distancing is important, and it is not without reason that the greatest doctors from all over the world urge you to stay at home! 

Stay safe, and keep yourself engaged!

How Many Characters Should A Book Have?

Image from pexels

Have you ever read a book and thought- woah, woah so many characters! And, have you read a book and felt there are way to less characters? So, how many characters should a book have? There really is no answer. Here are two examples to understand.

Hatchet. Gary Paulsen weaves for you a story that is bounty with adventure, thrill, and leaves you mindblown and spellbound. A city boy named Brain goes in a plane with a pilot. He is the only passenger in the plane. His plane crashes, and the pilot dies in a heart attack. He learns to survive alone by making fire, catching fish, building a home in the forest. After his 53rd day alone in the forest, he makes a hole in the plane which had crashed and takes out the survival bag from it. The same day he sees a plane land and come his rescue. But by then, he learns to live alone and save his life. That's it. Yeah, that's a full blown adventure with just one single, small kid as the only and main character. 

Bleak House. It is an elaborate, family drama involving around twenty main and impacting characters, and more than forty supporting characters, who also have a key role in how the story moves. 

This is just an example. There are other books, with a set of characters that is not unusually low or high. But, even though there is no definite rule to find how many characters a book should have, here are two rules that I follow as a general concept, more out of common sense than anything else, to guide me: 

1. Every character in the book must have a role in the story or the plot.  If you want to know what is the difference between them, and what they mean, check out my earlier post on a Screenplay and Story Ideas. 

2. Every character you introduce must have an ending. It is easy for writers to get lost in the story so much that they forget about certain characters that they introduced in the beginning. A simple way to look at this is run the book in your mind like a play. Every character who enters the stage needs an exit. They cannot be left standing without a purpose in the story. 

Depending on the timeline, tone, story, plot and scope of the novel, the number of characters that can satisfy these conditions vary. And, no number is too less or too much, as long as they have a purpose, and they have an ending in the story. 

Now, what if your whole purpose is to leave the character without an ending? That's creativity, too! No doubt. If your whole plan is to purposefully to leave a character hanging to let your readers take on it, that clearly doesn't violate the rule because that exactly is the purpose and the exit of the character. 

You can write a gigantic epic, or you can write a short story, but the same two rules apply with respect to characters for any form of storytelling. So, next time you read a book, why don't you observe if these rules play out! Are there any other visible patterns? Or, does some brilliant book break this pattern? It's all about creativity, and it's best when they keep evolving!

And, hey, have you ever read or heard the stories of the Indian epic Mahabharata? Finding out the number of characters, their role in the story, their entry and exit would be an interesting exercise! 

Screenplay Writing

Image from Powtoon

Stories have always captured my attention. Fiction has been the sweetest, most precious gift in my childhood. So naturally, I went around making up stories in my head all the time- some of them heavily influenced by what I read, and some of them just plain original born from the grey cells of my brain. But, it has mostly been novels. When I tried writing my own stories, they were also in a novel-type format, with conversations and long drawn detailed descriptions, and I loved it.

Several years back, my dad sent a link to an article on No Film School which talks about (Big Spaceship) Victor Pineiro’s crash course on how to write a screenplay. And, since that day, that one article has constantly been on my bookmarks bar. And, I’ve looked at it every time only to want to try it out.

So, during the December holidays in 2019, I started trying it out, and it’s pretty cool. Here is why the crash course is brilliant.

1. Gives insights. It beautifully gives you a way to structure the idea that wafts around in your head. It gives you a way to tame your wild imagination in order to actually write it out, especially if you are writing a screenplay. 

2. Insights are actionable. I hate people who advice in an abstract manner when something needs a concrete solution. So, when giving insights on how to write a screenplay, Pineiro sticks to insights that are actionable, and step-wise follow worthy advice. I loved them. 

3. Page-line(like timeline). One of the most important things is to introduce characters at the right time, and bring right events at the right time. You own your story and how you want to say it, but the rough page-line, as I'd like to call it, just gives you an absolutely sensible perspective. 

4. Words with meanings. Plot, theme, logline, story, scene, sequence, acts: there are so, so many words that we use when we think of the components of a story. But, do we clearly and exactly know what they are? The crash course gives you that, and personally I really liked that. 

5. Examples. It doesn't just explain things, and give you an insight. The slides give examples that we know, and can easily relate to and understand. 

Nothing is set in stone. You can bend rules, you can make rules, and you can own your style. I myself experiment a lot with story writing in different styles and perspectives. All said, I still loved the universality of this crash course that fits almost every story. 

Do check it out! Also, I hope soon you'll get to read a completed screenplay from me!

How Do We Write In The Present World Of TL;DR

The world today is driven by audio-visuals. Paintings, photographs, films, music- they rule the game. When people claim to have read an article or a book, I can bet they have not most of the times. It is a world where very few love descriptive, lengthy texts. Its is a world fast-paced, and one that required the impact of words to match their pace. 

So then, are words powerless? Of course, they are not! But, words now need to fit within a square box. 100 words; 200 maximum. I don't believe anybody who is not specifically there for it would read it otherwise. I see comments saying TL; DR to blog posts. They aren't even ready to write the long of it: too long, didn't read. So, that's how the world runs today, nobody wants to read a long post. What started as a brilliant  concept of Twitter is now the norm of the brain in today's world. Is it sad? Not really. Writing evolves, and styles do too. It is a happy challenge for those who court words and want to create an impact. Random thoughts, but valid ones. What do you think?

Gift A Sapling

Image from Pinterest

As kids, we never really thought too much about having to get someone a meaningful gift. A 5 Star or a Silk chocolate for my best friends stood out from the eclairs that I gave to the rest, and it the was the best gift. But now, we receive gifts, we give gifts, and as much as chocolate is still special, we feel the need to give something that the other person can retain and use. Fancy gifts may look fancy but after a point they make no difference, and nor are they of any actual use. So, what do you gift someone?

If it's me who is to be gifted something, books are the best and simplest option. There are so many genres, so many collections, and so many new releases that keep coming up. And, a reader never stops reading. So, books are a one-stop-all-time solution to gift to those who read. What about the rest? You can still get them books, hoping they might start reading, but sometimes you want to make them happy and also gift something that they will use. Some gifts are a no-no for some people. For example, I know a lot of people who'd hate to get clothes for gifts, or accessories, as it has a high personal taste to it, and cannot be used if it doesn't fit in with their profile or taste. 

For sometime now, I've always thought that it'd be a great idea to gift somebody a plant or a sapling. Such a gift would be thoughtful, meaningful, fond, and something to retain and remember- which is precisely what a gift is meant to be. My friend and I were researching on what plants we could buy if we did buy, and we found so many varieties with respect to shapes, sizes, properties and prices! There are flowering and non-flowering, fragrant and  non-fragrant, those that need sunlight, those that can grow indoors without direct sunlight, those that require very less water, those that repel insects, and so on. I'm sure there are a lot of plants available according to the situations of those you are going to gift. 

Not just would you be gifting them a sapling, you'd be gifting them an opportunity to be disciplined and more responsible because a plant needs to be tended to. An act as simple as watering it every other day would suffice, but it still needs to be done responsibly. I think it would be a gift that would make the giver and the receiver feel full in heart. And, you'd be gifting them something you'd always be remembered by. 

So, this 2020 when you need to gift somebody, think about whether it is possible to gift them a plant! Or, you can start by gifting yourself one, and getting to know more about them. I think they are a wonderful idea for gifts, amongst many other wonderful ideas. So, if you feel like you've run out of ideas on what to gift to a loved one, here you go!

How A Story Idea Wins

Image from everypixel

One thing sure to say was that my life as a kid was pretty imaginative, and heavily influenced by the books I read. And, I read them all day, everyday. The more you read, the more you start thinking. And, somewhere inside you a story is born. Then another, and another, and before you know you have idea after idea, making you struggle with choosing one to actually continue writing with. That’s what happened to me at least.

I have so many 20-40 page writings on ideas of stories that I began with but never completed. They didn’t make the cut. But, what makes an idea for a story win?

There are two aspects here: a story, and a plot. One without the other is pretty much useless, and the idea will not materialize. The ‘story’ refers to the strong need of something by your protagonist character that will move the story forward. And, the ‘plot’ refers to the protagonist wanting something. 

So, the idea must have a theme that can be expressed in one word (like Realization, Revenge, Family, etc.) with the Hero wanting something, needing something, and having a flaw that he/she would learn to overcome through the story. Then there’s a villain, who can take advantage of the Hero’s flaw. And, there’s a setting, timeline, climax, action, low point, and triumph. That’s what will make your story. 

Not only are these important factors that will help in an idea actually materializing, these loglines and general themes help in a more structured way to present a story. However, everybody has their own way. Whatever way one writes, there are some simple good traits to a great story:

1. The central idea is simple and clear.
2. All the main characters are introduced within the first-third of the the book.
3. All the characters have a role/purpose, and have relevance in the story.
4. All the characters have an ending, just like they had an entry. No character is left hanging without the readers understanding why they vanished, and what happened to them.
5. There are strong sub-themes/sub-plots in the form of mini goals that the characters want to achieve through the story. These take the story forward smoothly, giving valuable insight into the characters.

These are some of the basic elements that I’ve always found in stories which I have thought to be brilliant. And, while writing and developing my ideas, I always make sure I give meaning to what I bring on, be it themes or characters. That’s how an idea wins. 

All the stories that are lying incomplete with me are either because I had a story without a plot, or a plot without a story. One day, maybe, I’ll get to finishing them up!

But hey, I’m already teeming with new ideas! What about you?

What Makes Us Human

What makes us human?

Knowing there is good,
choosing the bad.
Knowing there is light,
hiding in the dark.
Knowing there is hope,
choosing to sulk.
Knowing there are some who care,
not heeding to them.
Knowing we all die,
trying to live.
Knowing the truth,
but loving the lie.
Knowing our mistakes,
and not being sorry.
Knowing it all, yet canvassed in ignorance.

Some of these, if not all.
That’s what makes us human.

And the moment we set ourselves free from the canvas,
we shall be something else.
Beast, or God?

Do You Write A Checklist?

Image from Clipart

The January to March phase is one of the busiest phases in the semester at the University. There are intra-moot rounds, and internship applications for the summer, and classes that you can't bunk, and sports fest, and mid-semester exams, and what not! With too many dates, tasks and deadlines, one thing that comes to help is a checklist. 

Checklist is a quintessential component in most professions. Be it medicine, law, piloting, engineering, art forms, anything at all- checklist saves our face at the end of the day. Have you read The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande? (That's a definite review post for another day, but do read it!) A Checklist basically makes your life easier, and brings down the amount of mistakes possible, if not nullifying them completely.

A surgeon essentially has a checklist for pre-surgery, through the surgery, and post-surgery. A pilot has a checklist for take-off, landing, emergency situations, each and everything!

From my mom trying to run the household, to big companies undergoing corporate mergers, everything runs on a checklist. I recently prepared a checklist of all the compliance a listed company needs to do before merger when it's a related party transaction. Haha, too much jargon? I did it on purpose- simply put, it's a corporate decision that can affect the economy of a company, and subsequently the economy of India if it's a big enough Company!

So, when I draw out a checklist, I have a broad view of what needs to be done by when to avoid unnecessary complications and headache. Some people think you need to write a checklist everyday to effectively use your time. It's not like I haven't tried it, but personally it doesn't work very well for me. So, while I believe absolutely in the power of checklists, I make a broader one with provisional deadlines spanning for an entire week or so. I am more comfortable dealing with such checklists as they fit in more realistically into how I go about getting things done. 

So, do you write your checklist? If yes, that's great, keep going! If not, do try it out. You'll know its power when you see it in your execution. Also, don't go rigidly by what you read about daily checklists, or weekly checklists, or whatever version. It is what works for you best that you need to do. And, you'll know that only by trying them out. After all, if it solves the purpose it is meant to, then even if it is a new method that isn't followed, it's great for you!

Guys, get your notepads out, and jot down all that pending work. Get them done!

A to Z: On How To Create A Sustainable Change

Image from Sustainability Illustrated

Apple fell on Newton's head, and then suddenly we all realized the concept of gravity. 

But, gravity had always existed, and continued to exist. 

Can we draw a parallel, and say that be it discoveries or imagination it always derives its source from what already exists? 

Do you think humans have the capability to create something that in no way existed before? 

Every object we know, though the object might have been new at some point, is made up of stuff that we know and exists. 

For instance, let's consider the creature of imagination: unicorns. 

Given the fact that we know of the existence of horns and horses, we pieced together two elements that exist to imagine something that doesn't. 

How and what, then, do we pride ourselves to have discovered?

Is the various combinations, of what already exists that we piece together, something to feel accomplished about?

Just a few seconds of thought is enough to realize that humans can just shape what is given to them, and not create anything novel. 

Knowing this, is it fair for us to deplete the resources that we have?

Life would come to a standstill, if the resources we have are not used effectively.

Mankind is an intelligent species, and such intelligence is a double-edged sword. 

Not so long ago, our ancestors seemed to have lived in a world that was replete with resources, and within the short time, we have managed to cause exponential depletion in the name of development.

Our duty, as responsible citizens of, I will not say the world, our own locality, is to make sure that our neighbourhood understands the impacts of irresponsible behaviour, and starts to pay heed to the environment and its resources.

Panacea to this ill is to use the well known principle of 5 R's.

Question your neighbourbood on their practices, and promote small changes for a better future.

Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, and rot- all possible products in your neighbourhood.

Stay within your neighbourbood, that's where you can effect a change and actually contribute. 

To help the world, you first need to help yourself, so don't just preach sustainability, you also need to follow it.

Unless every neighbourhood feels the need to change, and also implements change at small levels, there is no way a change can be seen at a city level even, forget the world level.

Very effective ways to help people get into the groove of the 5 R's of sustainability is to start them at schools, work spaces, hotels, restaurants, where there is a lot of scope to do so. 

Where there is a will, there is a way, after all. 

Xerox of documents and unnecessary printouts can be avoided in today's world of technology, so do it only when necessary. 

You need to be the change you want to see.

Zeal is all that is required!

I Am A Handbag, And This Is My Story

Image from Clipart

I am typing this out in my lady’s old smartphone. So, if you come across any typos, please IGNORE.

Well, you already know who I am, right? The title says it. I am a handbag. And, what am I writing about? It is my story so far. I’ve mentioned both of these in my title because my previous owner, an English teacher, always insisted her students to give a “suitable” title to their writing. And over the years, after witnessing many a fatal red-ink circles over the titles, I have come to understand that here “suitable” means a title that explains and conveys to the reader what your writing is about. 

Moving on to my story, and I am going to start right at the very beginning.

I was born on 20 June, 2000. I was a dark blue baby with comic designs all over me. I was the most beautiful of the whole lot. So, naturally, I was immediately shipped along with a dozen others to the city’s leading fashion bag store- The Bagstore. I gazed at the big mall entrance, from where I was trolley-ed three floors up to the store. Among hundred other shops, I spotted the board stylishly written: The Bagstore.

Well! That was my destination. I was one of the show pieces. That suited me well because I could observe everything from my seat instead of being in a dark dungeon of a storehouse! But I faced one particular problem- nobody bought me. 

First, it was all very fine. I made good friends with the other bags, and we really did have a fun time. But soon, each and every one of them found their owner. I was left alone to wait for what seemed like an eternity. 

When women stopped to gaze, or even passed pretty slowly, I gave my best enchanting smile, hoping that they would notice. Yes, they did notice. They even came near me, examined me, and exclaimed about how very cute I was. Most of them, kindled my hope by hugging me and tugging me in their arms, while looking at the full-length mirrors of the store. Yet, none of them ever bought me. 

‘Why is it so?’- that was the question that racked my brain. Then, I began to notice a pattern in their behavior. All of them, at the end, looked at my price tag; they sighed audibly. They placed me back in my original place. All of them, invariably, glanced longingly at me and then left, never to return that way. 

So! The reason must be my price. Isn’t it unfair that we Bags ourselves cannot decide our price? After all, the money doesn’t even come to us! What is important for us is a nice owner, not the money. And, in this case, they had set a very, very high price for me since I was the “cute bag”. I realized that being too beautiful was also a problem, being a bag. Not being cute is also a problem- you might never get sold, but at least they had that chance among those who prefer the less expensive! 

I was anxious about finding an owner soon, before I became “out of fashion”.

Then came Neela. She was the boon to my prayers. A middle-aged, stern looking lady, clad in crisp cotton saree, and with round spectacles lodged loosely on her nose, clearly way out of the target-audience I was trained to smile at, purchased me. It was a dream come true! I was so faithful to her, and gave the brightest, most enchanting smile I'd ever given to make sure that passers-by had a compliment for her about me. She always smiled softly when she received them, and gave me a few lovable pets every time somebody complimented. I was never happier.

Several years rolled by. I learnt many things about Neela. She was an English Teacher, and a proficient one at that. She corrected her students' answer scripts sincerely, and I got to learn much of the English I know from her. I also got to read so many interesting novels that she carried around with her in me. She particularly was a fan of the plays of George Bernard Shaw, and read and re-read most of them. She carried a generous amount of cash, and stored all her bills meticulously. She also carried with her chocolates, safety pins, a lip balm, her spectacle box and her phone charger always. Most of my inner-side came to be stained with read ink and scratches.

I was a very happy Bag, until one day there came a decisive turn in the fate of my life. She had left me at home one day, and when she came back, there was a new Bag, shinier, bigger and seemed to be of a new fashion. My panic grew as she slowly started shifting her stuff out of me on to the table. I knew it then, the stuff wasn't coming back to me. She picked me up as she opened her cupboard. Trying hard to stay with her, I slipped from her hand and fell to the ground, hoping she would not discard me into the forgotten parts of the cupboard.

But, she picked me up back and gently placed me in the corner of the cupboard, and shut me into the dark. For a few minutes, I couldn't understand. It was all over, in less than a minute. 

"Feeling bad?" I heard a voice. I turned to see the other bags, most of them really old that I didn't even recognize their fashion. 

"Yeah, she threw me out," I said. 

"That's the lifetime of a bag, my dear. Neela is one of the nicer people. She would never throw you out," said an elderly Sling-purse.

I looked again properly at them, and realized there was a whole family there. I sighed, as I settled back, allowing myself a sad smile. 

Wondering how I am writing this out, then?

Several more years later, Neela took me back out. But, this time not for herself, but for her daughter. I gave an enchanting smile as the thirteen year old girl hugged me tightly, and squealed with excitement as she arranged her things in me. And she put her mom's old phone, which was now hers, and slung me on proudly. She was going out on a school excursion, and I was the dream bag she wanted from all of her mother's collection. 

I felt something familiar- that I had never been happier. And, it hit me that it's all just a phase, both happiness and sadness. 

And, presently, I type this out as my new friend is busy chatting up with her friends in the room. Life is not all too bad, it's all just a phase, and the cycle is bound to repeat! See you soon! 

Au revoir mon ami! (Oh, yeah, my little friend reads French, so I'm picking up a new language because Neela used to keep saying: you're never too old to learn!)

The Human Factor In A Future Of AI

Sometime back I had to write this essay from a given prompt titled "The Human Factor In A Future Of AI", and sharing it here for your reading. Comments are welcome!

The world that we see ahead is one where the line between humankind and technology is thinning down further as every day goes by. The rate of development of technology is happening at such an unprecedented, break-neck speed that it has become nearly impossible for the other complementary fields to keep up. The new talk is all about the world of artificial intelligence(AI)- a realm that even the men who have discovered it are not entirely sure about. 

Artificial Intelligence, to be simply put, is the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. The disruption by AI is already happening around us, and it is believed that this is just a microscopic part of an unexplored universe of self-programming intelligence. It is also expected that AI would successfully replace most of the jobs today, thanks to its high efficiency and almost impeccable accuracy. 

So, in this future of artificial intelligence replacing all that humans can do, in a much more efficient and successful manner, is there any human factor left for us to hold on to? Well, it all depends on objectives and perspectives. 

There are still things, definitely, that a machine cannot achieve by replacing a human being. A machine, whether programmed to gain intelligence or not, operates on pure statistics and algorithms. It takes its decisions and makes networks purely on the basis of logical arrangement of probabilities and mathematical models. What a machine lacks is instinct. And, this is human factor in the future of Artificial Intelligence. 

Since time immemorial, we have always known that evolution has been possible and life exists only because of instincts, and so there is no question on the power of it. AI can make machines intelligent enough to understand our instincts and the human emotional quotient, but they could never have one of their own. To simplify: it might gauge our anger and love, but cannot produce the same. That is where humans score over AI. As Australian scientist Alan Finkel puts it (Finkel’s Law): robots won’t replace us because we still need that human touch. Robots do not understand irrational thought and context. These things can be essentially dealt with only through instincts and empathy that AI will not provide the robots with. 

To sum it up: AI could make robots almost life-like but they would never actually have a life because humankind can be two things that AI-bots could never be: human and kind. And, that is essentially the human factor in the future of Artificial Intelligence. 

When The Mind Goes For A Walk: Navigating The Switch-On, Switch-Off Cycle In Class

Image from: https://bit.ly/37UFqs6

I was one of the people in the University who landed there right after my 12th, straight from school. After a strict regime in school with an 8AM-to-4PM-schedule, the five hours of lectures in the University seemed like a ultra-cool upgrade during my first semester. But right after three months of the first semester, even the five hours felt a little difficult some days. Five hours is easy, you think, right? Looks like it's what you get used to. When your brain is used to 8 hours a day, it wants 5 hours a day. When your brain is used to 5 hours a day, it wants 3 hours a day. 

Little greedy there, ain't we?

I try to listen in all classes. They help greatly when you are studying for exams, even if during the class it feels like the professors aren't really doing much.  But, your brain is bound to get switched off. It takes a lot of energy and determination to stay in a switch-on mode all the time! Like my dad used to say, your mind goes for a walk. It's very difficult to control your mind and train it to listen, especially the subjects where the faculty is not particularly making it interesting, or if the subject itself is a dry one or your not-so-favourite one. So, some days, your mind just won't listen to you. Mine just goes: on, off, on , off, on, off, on, off, until that dispersal bell blares.

It doesn't happen all days. But, I can't say it never happens, either. Sometimes, it's okay to go on a sub-level, partial on-off mode, when it's just way too boring. Obviously, your mind would choose to take a walk and go to far more interesting places (maybe, you are thinking about a hot cup of coffee, or the morning breakfast you had to skip to get to class on time, or the movie you watched the previous day), and unleash the daydreamer in you. 

But, you can't let it happen everyday. So, here are a few things that I have seen people do to beat it. 

Sit on the first row, or wherever the teacher is going to look most. Yes, it may be difficult to wander off when somebody is staring right at you more often. Sometimes, the teacher may be looking for a sign of understanding/comprehension, and it's impossible to fake it all the time. So, I think you'd automatically start paying more attention.

Take notes. This is by far the best. Take down everything the teacher is saying. You would have to listen for that, so it's next to impossible to daydream at the same time. However, there might be days when you don't exactly want to write so much, so you could try the other methods (or just give yourself a cheat day!).

Ask Doubts. This will not work for all. If you are like me, you might just prefer not to talk much in class. But, if you are the kind that don't mind, keep asking doubts (stick to valid ones though, please). You might develop an interest in the subject, and also make yourself known to the faculty, and keep track of the class. 

Sit with someone who asks a lot of doubts. Now, this is for you if you don't raise your voice in class much. Confused how this might help? The teacher is going to turn every time your friend raises a doubt during the class. Even if you wander off, you'll be pulled back to reality soon enough that you don't miss anything important. 

And, I mostly do the first two. It works pretty well with me. But, all of us are different, and we have our own way of managing things. If you struggle with concentrating in class, and find yourself getting into off-mode pretty often, you could try one of these, or a combination of them. I'm sure it can help to an extent, until you make your own tweaks to it and help yourself. 

But, hey, side-note: Sometimes the best of ideas you get is when your mind goes for a walk. So, when you get one, do jot it down and work on it later! Good luck!

The Last Chance

A neat, lean, thirty-ish, crisp looking Indian lady in formals, walked up the podium. The auditorium fell silent as she switched on the mic. 

“Esteemed scholars, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 25th International Conference on Human Survival. It has been a privilege for India to host this important and urgent SOS conference. Without further ado, I would like to call upon Mr. Devesh Kesari to break the news. Thank you. Mr. Kesari, you have the floor for the next fifteen minutes.”

*

Humans are weird creatures. They know how to think, to communicate, to invent and innovate. But best of all they know to live. To survive through hardships. To sustain and establish themselves. Till date they are the most intelligent living terrestrial species. 

Humans are weird creatures. They do not have any enemy. So, they play enemies among themselves. They go on a war to establish peace. They divide themselves to create harmony. They invent guns to protect. 

But humans are also stupid. Not because they don’t know nature is always more powerful than themselves. But because they know it full well and yet exploit it. They are stupid, not because they don’t know there is a limit to their atrocious behaviour, but because they don’t change their behaviour even when they know they are crossing the limits. 

Earth survived the twenty-first century. But the trouble brewed up early in the twenty-second. And, then, man realised his mistake. But he continued to be stupid. When he realised that he cannot sustain longer, he just wanted to make the most of it and swindle as much pleasure he can from the time he has. 

But it can’t be entirely said that man didn’t try. He did. But the situation had gone beyond his ability to frame a solution. Man tried to invent machines. But machines were not useful. In fact, some were counter-productive. And, man didn’t know how to make anything other than machines. Things that have life. 

‘It can’t be saved anyway. I would rather enjoy myself than try to make changes,’ he thought. 

Well. man is so immature. But nature is not. 

Mother Nature is sweet as ever. And there, she passed on a boon, to the earthlings- her very own children- to save them from decline and herself from destruction, that she had gotten from the Gods, as a last chance for the intelligent earthlings to learn and mend their ways.

And what is this venom that we talk about that man invented unaware that it could endanger himself? 

Plastic.

Well, man can’t invent living things to consume plastic. But, God can. And, that, Mother nature graciously passed on to her children with the hope that they learn. 

There is our chance to use it wisely and save ourselves. Our one last chance.

Nature has provided us with the best chance- a tree that can degrade the polymeric structure of synthetics and plastics. In simple terms a tree that feeds on plastic, with a lifespan of exactly 80 years.

*

Dev hadn’t spoken a word about the actual statistics of human destruction and survival. Nor did he need the full 15 minutes to make the speech. He thought that if statistics could help, it already would have. Humans, when provided with statistics, only looked forward to manipulating it and fooling themselves. Thus, he had ended his statement on a human note, as a sincere appeal to all of the humanity that was left on this Earth.

Digital Empowerment- order of the day?

Image from thefutureshapers.com

Change is an ever-happening phenomenon. Changes can be big or small, significant or paltry, impactful or futile: but one cannot deny the existence of continuous change in society. Usually small changes accumulate and snowball into a bigger mass of change. One such massive change that the world has seen in the last 50 years is the Digital Revolution. 

The concept of digital divide refers to the imbalance regarding access to technology that exists across different demographic groupings. There’s a gap between people who have access to information and communication technology, and those who do not. This digital divide has three basic key aspects: global divide, social divide and democratic divide. 

Before trying to debate on whether digital divide can cause a rift, we need to understand the perspectives of the optimists, pessimists and the skeptics. Optimists believe in the positive role of the Internet for transforming poverty and other ills in the society by empowering the people and spreading awareness. Pessimists argue that internet politics privileges the elite who already are active, and hence is detrimental to society. Skeptics vibe with the idea that new technologies alone will make little differences one way or another, and it would have almost zero contribution to the social atmosphere. All three of them are right in their own perspectives of looking at Digital Change. 

In a world run and accelerated by digital techniques and platforms, it is stupid and irrelevant to talk about going back to an era when high-tech gadgets did not exist. So, digital divide is bound to be an issue in the present and upcoming generations. And, this digital divide will definitely mask all other spheres, including politics. Therefore, it is also bound to bring a democratic divide. The impact that the divide has on the society would vary in intensity depending on various background factors and the history of the social group. 

Take the example of India. Many social issues, political issues and societal issues are being effectively conveyed and dealt with using the technological tools available today. 

Therefore, the future has to be one where we focus on trying to reduce the imminent threat of a wide digital divide, which in turn would lead to a democratic divide, by promoting digital empowerment. Digital empowerment is the order of the day, and it is a good choice to learn it with the right attitude, as going without it is no option.

What does the Legal field need to utilize AI?

Image from Timo Elliott

In the legal field, there are enough and more sets of data that can be generated for standard document clauses, online contract clauses, filing of delay petitions and finding out necessary documents to be attached to such petitions, to name a few. 

Here is something interesting that I learnt in the introductory course to Artificial Intelligence(AI) and Machine Learning(ML) by deeplearning.ai. Let’s look at companies in general. It is important to understand the difference between a company that uses AI, and an AI Company. The difference can be understood easily with an example. Let us say that a big store has an online website. Would you consider it the same as Amazon or any other internet company? Just like a company that uses the internet is different from an internet company, similarly a company that uses AI is different from an AI Company. 

To use and incorporate technologies of AI and ML for your business, there are two most basic requirements-

1. It must be a simple concept.
2. Lots of data sets must be available for the task. 

Without these two key requirements, ML works poorly where there are complex concepts that needs to be performed from a small set of data or new types of data. Therefore, to utilize the tools that AI provides for your business, it’s wise to create a huge data set, and then execute pilot projects. 

All these are simple tasks, and generating a huge data set to feed for the effective use of ML is not difficult. It would be worthy to consider giving these aspects a thought, in order to efficiently handle the volume of cases, and the delay in filing them, in our country.

The Next Sci-fi Plot?

Image from Clipart

I have a habit of sitting in class, and connecting the laws I learn to weave a story, a fantastic legal thriller. Perry Mason and John Grisham have fed in too much imagination. I remember sitting in the Contracts class in my second semester in law school listening to the lecture. Our subject of discussion that day was s. 10 of the Indian Contract Act which talks about the validity of a contract or an agreement. Our professor casually threw at us a statement- what if in the future intelligent computers make contracts? Will the same validity criteria hold good then, too?

Of all that he said that day, my mind took fancy to this single statement. A simple, amusing thought: fast forward into the future and see through the lens, to observe two computers placed royally in a five-star meeting hall negotiating and entering into a contract for their respective parties. Good plot for a sci-fi novel, with a villain and a few twists and turns?

Jargon like AI, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and over-exaggerated threats of an army of computers taking control and wreaking havoc on humans, are all very popular. But how many of us actually know what they mean? I did not, though I was well aware of all the jargon in use. To further explore and understand if this is even possible, I did a small introductory course on AI.

AI can be broken into two parts Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) and Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). While there has been tons of progress in ANI, with all the self-driving cars, speech recognition, visual inspection devices, spam filtering applications, etc., there has been next to no progress in AGI.

So, here’s an imperfect rule I learnt during my most basic quest to understand these terms: anything, any job that we do under a second of thought, is automated or will soon be automated. So, where there is a series of tasks one after another which takes an hour to complete, where each task only requires a second of our thought, it can be automated to be efficient in time, resources and produce an almost-error free result. For example, in speech recognition, though translation of a 15 minute podcast may take us sometime, every word we hear takes us less than a fraction of a second to be understood and written. So, it has been successfully automated considering other factors such as language, accent, etc.

Now, connecting these aspects to law, we need to ponder on two important things.

- What can technology do and what can’t it do in the legal field?
- What proportion of the lawyer’s roles does it take over?

Most clerical jobs such as calculation of stamp duties, searching of case laws, etc. has already been automated and there are a numerous menial tasks through the day of a lawyer that can be further automated.

But can two computers make a contract? The general clauses that exist in a format in every deed of a particular type may be automated, but the negotiation of clauses cannot be done under a second of human thought. Also, there are several unknown extraneous situations that come up between the two parties. And, since there is no progress in AGI, it may be next to impossible for computers to gauge such aspects as of now or in the near future.

But, in a hypothetical situation, if the computers were able to make contracts in representation of their human parties, what would be the criteria of a valid contract? Seems like a question that I’ve thought real less about, as I set around understanding if that is even possible. I can at least say that I do know what the terms mean and their most basic logic. But some good food for thought, isn’t it?

Endnote: I think it would be an interesting sci-fi plot. Should I unleash the imaginative writer in me and give the world its next bestseller?