Clarifications

Before I begin on the main reason I am composing (I, for some reason, like that word. Don't know why though.) this post, I would like to spend some time writing about a habit in people which I find extremely irritating. I am talking about people saying something in Hindi, and then following it up with translating and repeating the same thing in English. Every time somebody does that to me, I feel like a stupid retard who needs to be told everything twice to get what the other person is saying. That might well be the case, but the least people can do is not to remind me of it incessantly. It is so annoying, and for some strange reason, it seems to be a habit that is being picked up my more and more people every day. All I seem to hear these days is, "Paagal ho gaya hain kyaa? Have you gone completely mad?", or, "Pata nahin. I don't think I know.", or, "Tere baap ka kyaa jaata hain? What goes of your father?", or, "Tujhe samajh nahin aata kyaa? Can't you understand what I am saying?" Today I actually heard one person protest loudly in the middle of a fight that was happening here at IIT, "Kyaa tere baap ka raaj hain? Is it your father's rule?" As you can see, not only are these exclamations very irksome (besides being unduly obsessed with the listener's father), most of the time the translations are done incorrectly. For example, I am quite sure that "Do you expect me to go by your father's wishes?", or, "Do you expect me to listen to each and every thing your father says?" would have been far superior alternatives to the phrase employed in the above given sentence, but then who am I to comment on such things.

Anyway, moving on to the more important things. As you can probably make out from the title of this post, I would like to make a few clarifications. In a bout of temporary insanity that was caused by my minor tests, I have written quite a few things on this blog that I did not mean to. Therefore, I think that an explanation is required.


"This is my 50th post on this particular web-log, and, as of now, my life is disintegrating faster than a highly fissionable U-235 nucleus which has been hit on the head by an unusually heavy and fast-moving thermal neutron." - Manu Saxena, (On milestones and scientific analogies), February 08, 2005.

Not true. Firstly that was not my 50th post. I must have counted wrong, because on checking again after the post, I found it to be my 46th post. Quite a bit off. But I must be forgiven, seeing that I was in a rather disturbed mental state at that time. This counting error has however, made me realize the reason I did not do too well at my minors. If I can't remember counting, I reason, then there's not much chance I have at remembering thermodynamics, do I. I would also like to mention that, contrary to what I had written in that particular post, my life is still moving along quite satisfactorily. My academic life might be in ruins, but otherwise, I am pretty okay. My non-academic life, and that includes everything that does not have anything to do with IITD, is still reasonably stable. Almost as stable as a house built using a deck of cards, or to use a metaphor that has greater currency among bloggers, almost as stable as a floppy castle (for details, visit Mr. Misra, aka Uncleji, link on sidebar).


"Before I go, I must add that I am beginning to take a liking to IIT. I might have been a little over-critical when I wrote those long blog posts about how dreadful and weird the place seemed at first. Turns out that all one has to do is completely stop caring about academics, find one's niche, and stop going to all NCC-related events, and life at IIT becomes a lot more bearable, maybe even a little interesting." - Manu Saxena, (A pappi question), February 06, 2005.

Also not true. I still hate this place. Almost as much as I hate cellphone forwards. I hate the minimalist building (It is, I think, one of the few remnants in India of the brutalist form of architecture, which, I think, originated in some part of Britain in the early 1950s. I run an educational blog, you see. Enjoyment with education has always been my motto. By always I mean for almost the entire duration of the last two minutes or so.), I hate the professors, I hate my fellow students, I hate the lecture-theatres, I hate the practicals, and I hate NCC. So, for all practical purposes, my long blog posts about how dreadful and weird this place is still stand.


"Oh, and I had my first minor yesterday. Got screwed in it, as usual. But then, I've stopped caring now." - Manu Saxena, (A pappi question), February 06, 2005.

Again, not true. I did get screwed, but I don't think that I have stopped caring. I still care, and I still feel stupid when I do badly at tests. I think it has something to do with my internal make-up. I think it is highly improbable that I will ever stop caring entirely sometime in the near future. But that's just what I think right now. Things might change. Today, however, if anybody asks you, I still care.

Clarifications over, let me leave all of you with something to think over. Have you ever wondered why Indian men no longer wear dhotis. Indian women still wear saris and salwar-kameezes, but for some weird reason, Indian men have stopped wearing dhotis. And don't give me that crap about convenience and ease-of-use. Our ancestors have fought wars wearing dhotis. All we have to do is eat, work, sleep and commute.
Think about it.