Life begins at 40!

 Yes, they say life begins at 40 and now I understand why. Till now you were just trying to figure out what life is ! It's only now that you started to understand it. 40 is when you truly understand what gives you true happiness. You have been on your own long enough to understand the most important person in your life - YOU. 40 is when you have achieved a few things in life but you also have the zeal to achieve more. 

40 is when you are most likely to have been parenting enough to understand why you are the way you are. 40 is when your parents are no longer the super human beings, they have started aging, you can now see their flaws and yet you accept them and love and respect them even more.

 In 20s you couldn't wait to prove them that you are now truly adult. 40 is when you have been an adult long enough that you start reminiscing your childhood and you relive it with your children. 

There are times when you want to go to your parents and be a child again and yet you find yourself parenting your own parents sometimes. 

40 is when you realize your body is the ultimate temple. 40 is when you need to prioritize yourself - above everything else. 40 is when you realize there is only one person that can give you true happiness - and that is YOU. 40 is when you start enjoying your own company and are no longer looking for any validations.  

40 is when you find your inner peace but the curiosity to try new things is still there. 

40 is when you see romance in mundane things. 40 is when you realize it's more important to stop and smell the flowers than to reach somewhere.

AI vs Human Intelligence

 Its a lazy Sunday afternoon. Your bored toddler is feeling sleepy but demands to watch the TV. You switch it on and just type "coco..." and a dozen of similar colourful videos show up on the screen. Your child points at one particular video with icecream and demands it to be played. And for the next half an hour or so the same video plays on loop. A very familiar scene in many households today. 

Now, go back 30-40 years. The time when we had only one TV channel Doordarshan. The whole family is huddled on their sofa and watching an old black and white movie. Or maybe Ramayan. The children may not even understand some of the dialogues or some emotions displayed but still watch it since there is no other option. 

When I scroll on my phone and look at a news that interests me, a hundred other news articles with similar theme start popping up on my phone. My youtube feed, linkedin feed, facebook feed everything is generated by AI which mindlessly is curating that list based on what I am looking at. But when we read the newspaper or books, we were compelled to read whatever was presented to us. We could choose whether to read it or not, but the variety was all out there. 

I am not even going to get into how much screen time for toddlers, for kids, for adults. We all know screen time does much harm to all of us. We also know that we cannot evade it completely. Right balance is the key. But I am not even getting into that debate.

The point that I am making is the children who are born into this AI-feed world do not even know what is available out there. If someone is watching K-drama, their feed is showing them only K-drama, they don't even know what other genres exist. We millennials were forced to watch whatever was available, and hence we have a nostalgia today of things that we all have watched. Think Rangoli, Chitrahaar, Chandrakanta, Shaktimaan and so on. Any Indian born before 1990 would know "Mile sur mera tumhara". But today's kids do not have the same watchlist. Every watchlist is different based on what the child has been viewing from day 1. 

Talking to a group of 20-year olds I was shocked to know that some of them had not even heard of Jagjit Singh. I doubt if anyone from my generation would be able to say that. Whether they like his songs or not is a different topic altogether. There is so much available out there on the cloud that it is very difficult for these kids to even know what all is available, let alone watch it. One lifetime is just not enough. 

I really wonder how will it all end ? Is there a possibility that this generation will soon be overwhelmed by the overflow of information and stop using all screens and go back to books. A lot of schools in Sweden and Norway have stopped using screens and gone back to paper and pens. Or will AI take over and the coming generations will not even know how to do their everyday tasks without using their devices. Before smartphones, all of us remembered at least 10-15 important phone numbers. But today, we hardly know 1-2. We put reminders and alarms for every small task. For simple calculations too, we take out our calculators. We are dependent on maps for going anywhere. Our memory and attention span is definitely getting affected. Now think about the generation that does not even know how to eat without watching screen. The generation that starts choosing what they want to watch even before they can speak. 

We are the last generation that knows how to survive without AI and without screens. We now have cars available that can drive by themselves. We have robots performing surgeries. We have robots taking care of all the menial household work. Its not so common and cost-affordable as yet, but it is still available. Just as refrigerators and washing machines have made their way to every household today, these AI-driven devices will too. And then, humans will simply exist. Just as the animals do. We will not be required to use our brains anymore. And who knows, the human brain would even shrink with evolution. 

We need to make a choice today - Are we proceeding towards our own extinction or is this the pinnacle and we go back to where we all started. In a world where there are no machines. The world that the nature gave us. Empowered with the knowledge that we are capable of making machines but wouldn't let them rule over us. We need to decide today because our children have not seen a world without AI. Their decision-making is also questionable. They might not be able to make this decision and then there would be no coming back. We would spiral down towards human extinction. 

What will you choose ?

Mumma kuchh bhi kar sakti hai...

The first person that we come in contact with when we are born is our mother. Right from our birth, she takes care of all our needs till we learn to do everything independently. This probably gives a child the idea that mummy is a superwoman and can do almost anything. When my son throws a toy under the sofa and can't get it himself, he looks at me. Without him actually saying anything, I understand what he wants and pick up the toy and give him. He is amazed and yet again, mumma is his hero.
When he cant open his toy box, he simply brings it near me and places my hand over it. Even in a room full of people he only comes to me to get his box of toys opened.
My niece was about 7-8 years and a tooth shaking. It was paining her very badly and she was shouting for 'mumma'. My sister was busy doing something and my niece was continuously shouting. My father scolded her 'daant dukh raha hai toh isme mumma kya karegi?' (if your tooth is paining, it will pain -what can mumma do about it?) She simply said 'kyon...mumma toh kuchh bhi kar sakti hai'. All of us burst out laughing.

Fear is only a state of mind

Fear is only a state of mind. My 2-year old son taught me this.
He was playing in the garden with his ball and suddenly threw the ball at a sleeping stray dog. The dog woke up, saw my son and went back to his sleep. My son was asking him to play ball with him. He chased the dog around the entire garden and I had to finally take him in my lap so that the poor dog could finally go back to his sleep.
My mother blows the 'shankh' every morning. My son is so scared of its loud sound, that now he cries even at the sight of it. Even if you dont blow the shankh and just bring it near him, he starts crying.
He used to cry everytime the cooker whistled. Now he has understood that its nothing to be scared of and thats the way food is cooked.
The point is we are scared of the dog because we are always thinking it will bite me. We know the harmlessness of a cooker whistle and a 'shankh'. And so, we are not scared of these things. In nutshell, most of our fears are self-made. 

Sawan barse...

Sunday, 15 Aug 2010

One thing which has always baffled me is why do we like the sound of water flowing near a beach? Why do we feel happy on seeing flowers? Why does sunrise gives us a new hope ? Why do we feel optimistic on seeing new green leaves in spring? Why do we enjoy being so close to nature and yet try to run away from it? We have built houses, buildings etc to protect ourselves from rain, and yet when you actually drench in rain you really enjoy it !! Or at least I did last Sunday.

We set out to meet some friends on our humble two-wheeler and were enjoying the ride. Since it had just rained in the morning, the weather was absolutely blissful. Cool nice breeze flowing with green trees lined on both sides of the road. I was lost in my own world when something suddenly woke me up. A tiny drop of water on my arm. Then another, and another....and finally big huge drops of water all around us. By the time we got a decent place to park the bike and stand outside a shop, we were totally drenched. And we had reached only halfway. We pondered and decided to drop the plan and return home. Rain was only increasing and it would have been difficult to reach back home.

Then we thought again whether to start right away or wait for some time till the rain subsides. With a twinkle in our eyes, we took the wise decision - yes, u guessed it right. We started right away, driving through the pool of water - with a lot of splash and slush, hurrays and yoohoos. Even though the raindrops were hitting me really hard on my head, it was really nice to be drenched in rain after a really really long time. I don't even remember when I intentionally got drenched in rain last. After about 20 crazy minutes, we reached the heaven called home. A cup of steaming hot adarak ki chai marked the evening perfect !

Writing !

Was arranging my papers yesterday when I found my old poems and writings written on tattered pieces of paper. Nostalgic! All those moments reappeared in front of me when these things were written.

I realized writing is a big stress-buster for me. I feel elated after writing a good piece (prose or poetry). My poems are very simple, straightforward and direct. No hidden meanings, no metaphors, no exaggerations. They are simply my thoughts put into rhyming words. Writing is a passion that I have often ignored and never took it up seriously. But I realized, whenever I have felt strongly about something, I have written about it. If I am happy about something, I have written it down, if I am sad about something I have definitely written it down. I generally resort to writing things that I cannot share with anyone, and maybe that’s the reason why most of my poems have a sad vibe. But the good thing is they always end on an optimistic note. Because as I start writing, I start feeling light in the heart. Somehow, all the tension is released from my system. I start seeing things from different, more positive perspective. Writing is a way of self-introspection for me. Its my method of playing with my thoughts – trying to make sense of them. Well, if you read my blog description that was the basic reason why I started writing this blog.

I have often sat down with a pen and paper thinking I will write something today but never been able to. I have never been able to decide and write. Its always been a sudden spontaneous urge to write. Many times it’s been so involuntary that I do not even realize I am writing. I want to be able to write whenever I decide to. Any ideas on how I can generate writing at will?

Mumbai Meri Jaan

Its been raining since morning, finally relief from Delhi's scorching heat. I miss Mumbai the most today. Its now clear and pleasant outside, a nice breeze is flowing, perfect weather ! And I am confined in my cubicle surfing the web for some useless unimportant information. Life can be so harsh sometimes !!