Enough with the young

A lot of our life today revolves around the media: newspapers, internet, TV. Even chatting with friends is more and more about a movie, a game/match or a blog post. OK, not blog posts.

The media is two things: First, things that hook us, and second, things that target us. News, sports, series, movies, yoga, cartoons, Nat Geo etc. are the things that hook us. Every 5 minutes or so, we are targeted. By advertisements, opinion, religious propaganda, national propaganda, organisational propaganda (Uninor, Google, HP, BP et. al.)

What surprises me is how much of this targeting targets young people. People in the ages of 15 to 25, mostly. If it does not target this age group, it targets people who somehow want to feel like being in this age group. Beauty products, health products, medicines-that-revitalize.

Why the hell is that? Because young people are vulnerable to making uninformed choices. Someone in their 30s or 40s is more likely to have set habits. Maybe that is why Pizza and Coffee shop ads show young people partying at these places.

Additionally, young people are normally moving out. This means they need everything. Need bed? Yes. Need car? Yes. Need microwave? Yes. Need TV? Why not, where else will I get the ads?

Perfection

There is nothing perfect. And it is not a big issue.

The big issue is always trying to pretend that everything is perfect.

All pretend they are perfect. Or sometimes, all pretend that they are in a perfectly bad situation. Its the same.

On the other hand, we can't forego the pursuit of perfection, or excellence. In the worst case, we are donkeys and it is a carrot hanging in front of our noses. Gets things done and all.

The biggest thing, in my opinion is to remember that
1. Perfection is a long term thing, not the next thing I am to do.
2. The only perfect thing to do right now is to do something.
3. Procrastinating for the perfect moment/thing/task is worse than the not-so-perfect I have right now.
4. As long as I am in a better position than yesterday/last week/last month etc., I am doing fine.

There was a book I read a few years back, called To Kill a Mockingbird. It was about racial tolerance in an American town. Not exactly related to what I tried to put up here, the children's dad (the lawyer and shooter, Atticus) said something like this:

Courage is when you know you are licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. 

7 things

Over the past 5-6 months, I have been offered awards by fellow bloggers approximately 2.00000000001 times. But I kind of ignored them because of my own vanity and laziness. I still don't like awards but it feels disrespectful of these guys when you just don't say anything on it.

This post is dedicated to "ME" and "I-Heard-U". Thanks to both of you for considering me worthy of it. Turns out I am not :-)

And from now on, new agenda: shorter blog posts. Consider it more of a constraint :-)

Here are 7 things about me:

1. Messed up mind

I tend to think too much. So much that sometimes I am in a mentally blank or numb state because of so many things. And it is a very peaceful state of mind. I am able to feel happy and guilty for the same thing. Similarly, angry and forgiving, and, remorseful and past-rationalizing. Its a bit complicated ... and great :-)

2. Love for Hindi and Punjabi

I totally love these two languages. If it was socially acceptable to say that your mom had two tongues, I would surely say that I have two mother tongues :-) 

3. Love for food

This one, I am sure everyone who knows me, knows. Though lots of people and my dad tell me I am missing a lot by being vegetarian and not drinking etc., I love what I can have.

4. Love for my mom

This one has been stamped on me. I love my mom just like any other person, but my friends seem to have taken an exception to it. This all can be credited to one Navdeep Toor. 

5. Love for reading... randomly

This one I suspect is true for every blogger. Though I am not sure about the random part :-)

6. Love for hypocrisy

With growing up as a person, I am slowly and a bit hesitatingly starting to accept that I am a hypocrite. This is because I have different standards for others and for me. I am thankful for my life to have provided me with situations to discover this aspect of mine, though. Something to change in myself, even if a lofty ideal, is welcome.

7. Love for lazing around

This is so true that it did not need mentioning. I can do something, and keep on doing it, just to avoid doing something else.

Posting for the sake of posting

Since our beloved Google reader won't be with us tomorrow onwards, one last post that gets people here from it is in order.

I will be using bloglovin from now on.

When I started reading blogs, what I loved the most was watching a lot of blog posts on people's blogs, and then reading them one by one. Most of these guys were programmers, and I like to think I learnt a lot from them. I spend a whole weekend, 48 hours with a few hours of sleep here and there reading almost everything on Joel Spolsky's blog in last semester in college. I want my blog to be something like that for someone new.  Exciting and addicting.

Digressing for the sake of digressing

I have been in Delhi from some time now, and have been using the Metro quite a lot. I have found that people normally ignore the CISF staff, who most visibly check our baggage, and well, ... us.

So, since the last 2 weeks or so, I have started asking them how they've been. It is still a weird experience for me and the CISF  uys, but what the hell. Mostly it is only the guy with the body checking metal-detector thing who gets asked how he is. Something like 'aur sirjee, kya haal hain?' sure surprises the CISF guys.

Coming to think of it, most of us here are kind of thank-less when it comes to mostly invisible or taken for granted people. I remember going somewhere with my mom and a cousin last year, and being on the wheel (being a control freak) and not knowing the way. So, after asking people about the next town etc., I was thanking them saying 'shukriya' (Hindi). And both ladies thought it was funny, and made sure I knew it, and that I remembered it for a few days. How can thanking someone be a silly thing to do?

But whatever, that does not mean I am gonna stop saying 'thanks' anytime soon.

It is time to bloglovin for the sake of bloglovin. Or to get to some other blog feed. :-)

Diary entry for May 27

Thanks to a comment by I-HEARD-YOU, here is what I wrote in my diary thingy on 27th of the last month.

Nothing personal in it, and no swearing!

Vikas Ruhela is a senior from college, an intellectual character, and a cool photographer, who discussed a few things with me and who was made to click this photo because apparently, neither me, nor my Galaxy ace are good enough for this.