Memory…

So! In the spirit of pondering and discussing questions that can probably have no answer in the near future… What would happen if you lost your memory? I mean, if your whole memory completely and irretrievably wiped out?

Being a linguistics enthusiast (read: geek), of COURSE the first thing I wonder about is if you’d be able to learn a language again… If you forget all the words, grammatical constructions, etc, and you’re no longer a child (whose language abilities are very special) would you still be able to learn them back?

And suppose you DON”T lose language but lose everything else…. Would you be the same person still? Would I still love reading, Mother Dairy’s Mango Bar ice cream, my friends, photography, ALL kinds of food and all the things that I now think make my life meaningful? Would I still be a linguistics ethusiast (read: geek)?

If I did, it would mean everything I am is predetermined! That all my weird character traits, preferences and talents are just a product of genes or some other equally disappointing form of biology. Major thumbs-down! But if I didn’t, it would simply mean that I am a product of the environment I grew up in–how my parents brought me up, the kind of jerks I thought were my friends,  the accidental experiences I happened to have, etc. 2x thumbs-down! Probably, even if, like a psychologist’s dream, such a situation arose (it’s probably already happened), we’d still be no closer to an answer. If only someone stupid enough would voluteer to have their brain dissected while still alive, and studied by someone evil enough. Ethics just ruins science!

Of course, all this is probably just an outpouring caused by a horrible exam I just wrote, the kind that makes you want to wipe out your memory. Sigh.

After a *short* break…

Ok, I haven’t updated in nearly nine months but I just came across this blogpost I had written and not published a long, looong time ago… No idea why. So while I continue to neglect paw prints for a while longer, here it is:

I have not updated in more than a month. This does not bother me however, because certain changes in my living arrangements have driven me to distraction. I now live:

1. in a hostel that has a strangely yet appropriately misspelled “Dinning Hall”.
2. in a hostel where not only spellings, but punctuations also suffer and I wince every time I enter the “Girl’s wing” where no “male’s are allowed”. Some noble soul has noticed the misplaced apostrophe in the word ‘males’ and made attempts to remove it but I still itch to have at the “girl’s” bit of it. Argh.
3. with two roommates, only one of whom is human. I have not observed this wonderful human being washing a single item of clothing in all the time I have occupied Room No. 229. And I can’t say I’m particularly surprised by this as I had to do a LOT of cleaning of my side of the room when I moved in, including scraping away for what felt like two years at a piece of chewing gum that was stuck to the floor. And then found two more such spots. Thankfully, these were on the other side of what I think of as “LOC”–her side of the room, HA!
4. with my other roommate, too, Karma Chameleon, aka Cameo aka Unwaba aka Sojakutty, who is, you guessed it, a chameleon. “Sojakutty” was, of course, the suggestion of a mallu friend, after reading a certain mail about the ancient secrets of Mallu Christian naming practices. The names of the two human occupants of the room were shortened and mixed in order to come up with “Soja”. “Sojamon” and “Sojamol” were rejected due to our inability to determine the gender of said chameleon (although s/he DOES seem to enjoy climbing onto my bed. Hmm. Which really doesn’t prove anything.) Anyway, this name also has the added advantage of capturing the somnolent atmosphere of the room (“So ja, munna, so jaaa…”) But I’m still open to suggestions from the gentle reader.
5. in the farthest point from the academic building, with the closest dhaba also a good distance away. This means I have to a LOT of huffing and puffing all over campus to get anywhere. And with most of my friends living in much more pleasantly placed areas, I end up walking at LEAST four kilometers a day. I console myself by thinking about the fact that my jeans are becoming looser and looser

I would like to conclude, at the end of all this, with absolutely NO sarcasm,

I LOVE HOSTEL LIFE!

—-

Interesting to read this old post… I’ve since moved into a new room with really the perfect roommate I do miss Cameo, though! Ah, such is life…

Emptying My Brain

The next time someone tells me that Tamil is a difficult language to learn, I’ll thank them and feel flattered. After all, I must be pretty smart seeing that I learned most of this “difficult” language by the time I was four!

How do some people talk literally for hours on the phone?! My roommate holds a Master’s Degree in this and just listening to her yak at all times of the day and night exhausts me. Imagine holding a phone to your ear ALL the time. Or talking for hours to someone whose facial expressions you cannot see. Creepy.

It’s strange to think that no matter what opinion I express, someone somewhere at some time disagrees with/disapproves of/violently opposes every word. So why this obsession with political correctness and being agreeable?

I feel all weird and eerie if I think about the world getting wiped out suddenly tomorrow. No one would know. There wouldn’t even be a question of caring. Even the most self-centred people would not (be able to) give a damn. And even if we whip up a frenzy about the world ending today, when it does, well, all in vain, eh?

I’m sometimes freakishly possessive. I feel like people, books, movies, even SMELLS belong enclusively to me. Hmm. Weird. And creepy again.

We, as a species, are all morbidly (if unconsciously) obsessed with death and yet seem experts at ignoring this fact. Born astride the grave indeed. Existentialists rock!

Vina nooru kanaavum nooru, vidai solladi…

What is aliens are all around us but we have no clue cos we don’t have the right kind of senses to… sense them? It might explain a lot of unexplained phenomena. An alien could be reading this right now and pointing at me and laughing. And now reading <— that and frowning. And reading <— that and… ok, this can go on forever. I’ll stop.

Brain transplants would be, like, todally coo-uhl!

Would I be a wimp if I wanted to wear gloves already? Freaking frozen fingers!

A dimly lit room seems pitch dark as soon as your enter it and in just half a minute you wonder how you ever thought it was dark. I’m sure there’s a deep and significant metaphor in there but too lazy to look for it now.

Why is it so hard to stop looking for approval, either peer or societal or parental or familial or whatever-al, even when you know in your head it’s stupid and you must be who you are?

Darn mosquitos!

There’s something strangely fair in the fact that life isn’t fair, you know?

Life is absurd. The sheer absurdity of the fact that I’m sitting here and pressing down on these weird protrusions that in turn produce some weirdly shaped marks on a weird-looking flat surface which stand for some chemical impulses in my head is absurd enough. Add to that the fact that you are looking at these weird-shaped marks and they stand for something in your head which may or may not be what it stood for in my head. Uh.

It’s past midnight. No wonder I’m treading the thin line between randomness and sheer nonsense. G’night then.

P.S.: Brain nice and empty now!

A Little Amusement…

Blog comments…

…and laptops

And finally, just cuteness…

Courtesy xkcd.com (check it out, it has some brilliant stuff)

AtTAGed!

I have been tagged. Sob. Grumble. No, no, no!

Hehe, actually, I’m secretly pleased about the fact that I’ve been tagged… I’ve always wanted to be but never have The above is the kind of reaction that other people seem to have when tagged so I’m just trying to be all blase. But otherwise I’m happy as a clam! (Hmm… are clams really that happy? Do they just not get depressed? Even with the global warming and the water pollution n all? I see another post forming here so I’ll close this paranthesis [I've been notorious for them from my very first blog post ])

Ok… Where was I? Happy as a clam… So, thanks atomic, crazybugga!

First, the rules:
- Post the rules on your blog.
- Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
- Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
- Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Hmmmm… There’s not much people don’t already know about me but here goes:

1) I’m an obsessive punctuation freak… It’s a serious illness that could be fatal if allowed to develop. Wouldn’t be surprised if I have to seek medical attention soon, especially due to rising blood pressure cause by reading badly punctuated blog posts (hint, hint)

2) I can eat any kinda food… And I mean ANY kind… I’m not even averse to trying frogs or snails or even… gasp… tomatoes! A serious foodie.

3) I like knowing how things work… Languages, machines, people, whatever.

4) I wear a belt with jeans. The stupid jean-makers seem to be incapable of making pants that fit me. Either too loose or too tight. Waaah.

5) I catch a cold overnight, every night of every week of every month of every year. These colds generally disappear in the morning about 20 minutes after waking up.

6) I love buying books… Not just reading them but BUYING them, holding them, smelling them. They can be in any state… First hand, second hand, crumbling and falling apart, pirated… It’s such a rush to buy them, somehow.

Two Thousand WHAT?!

Now, wait just a minute… How the heck did this happen?! One minute it’s New Year’s Day 2007 and suddenly it’s 2008. Sheesh.

So anyway…

Here I go with my usual profound remarks about the new year that will gloriously mark this special moment in time… The “days of our lives”, if you will Well, this time it’s rather short, pithy and while I don’t know if it may be considered an actual REMARK, it holds profound philosophy… So listen carefully:

PPPPFFFFFRRRRRRT!

Ah. I see from the rather puzzled look on your face that you’re cautiously wondering “WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!” Ahem. You know. Look deeper. Such great thoughts cannot be explained but only expressed and experienced. Ok, ok, FINE. The old “figure-it-out-yourself” cop out isn’t gonna work on you. That was an expression of the rip that is created in the fabric of time as we move from one great epoch to anoth– Ok, ok, fine, you can stop looking sceptical. That was just me sticking out my tongue at the world, blowing a raspberry at it.

So yeah, that’s my profound remark for the beginning of this year:

PPPPFFFFFRRRRRRT!

Hey but if you think about it, it actually DOES sound like the sound of God’s snore–cos he’s bored with us humans and has fallen asleep–

Hey, hey hey! THAT’S NOT NICE! At least throw tomatoes that are not rotten so that I can… you know… make a meal of it. And, er, could you substitute the smelly eggs with some fried fish? Really, I’m not being very particular. It can even be not so fresh. *drools* Thanks a bunch.

‘APPPPPPPY NOOOOOO EEEEAAAARRRR!

————————————–

Ahem. Some post-scriptitious (hey I just made up a fake word!) remarks…

I know this was a rather sad attempt at a blog post, but in my defence, my blog and Miss Perfection (you can read about her elsewhere {haha, now you’ll have to comb through my blog [and comment]}) were literally SCREAMING at me to update and well… this is the product. So don’t blame me. You can continue the rotten tomato throwing at THEM (I’ll still have the fish though Thanks…)

Oh, and the Zzzzz… label was new cos I realised I don’t have any labels beginning with Z… In fact, that’s my new year’s resolution… To come up with a label for every alphabet (wow, I just made up a fake resolution!)

Why, oh why?

You’re a Hyena!

You have quite a sense of humor, though many others find it derisive
rather than appealing. You are perceived as being a coward, but actually have moments
of great bravery and have even stood up to those much larger than yourself. You like
hanging out in groups and are always making a lot of noise. Disney thinks you are an
idiot.

Take the Animal Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Why, oh why

You’re a Hyena!
You have quite a sense of humor, though many others find it derisive rather than appealing. You are perceived as being a coward, but actually have moments of great bravery and have even stood up to those much larger than yourself. You like hanging out in groups and are always making a lot of noise. Disney thinks you are an idiot.
Take the Animal Quizat the Blue Pyramid.

Errr… Ummm…

Ok, this is a link ripped off vbk’s blog, which says it was ripped off antickpix‘s blog and so on.

Sheesh! Does this mean no more toddy? Waaaaaah! No fair!

You’re Love in the Time of Cholera!by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Like Odysseus in a work of Homer, you demonstrate undying loyalty by
sleeping with as many people as you possibly can. But in your heart you never give
consent! This creates a strange quandary of what love really means to you. On the
one hand, you’ve loved the same person your whole life, but on the other, your actions
barely speak to this fact. Whatever you do, stick to bottled water. The other stuff
could get you killed.
Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Errr… Ummm…

Ok, this is a link ripped off vbk’s blog, which says it was ripped off antickpix‘s blog and so on.

Sheesh! Does this mean no more toddy? Waaaaaah! No fair!

You’re Love in the Time of Cholera!

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Like Odysseus in a work of Homer, you demonstrate undying loyalty by
sleeping with as many people as you possibly can. But in your heart you never give
consent! This creates a strange quandary of what love really means to you. On the
one hand, you’ve loved the same person your whole life, but on the other, your actions
barely speak to this fact. Whatever you do, stick to bottled water. The other stuff
could get you killed.

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.