Sensitivities....

Recently when i was struck in the oh-so-typical traffic, something caught my eye. It was the poster of a movie, called Mobile Phone or something like that, showing a female exhibiting her cleavage and a tagline which stated,"based on the true story of the delhi mms case" Nothing new in that...movies and posters hide just the bare minimum but what stayed with me was the fact that there are enough takers for viewing a masala movie which in real life was a tragedy for someone. The fault of the female involved was not that she did what she did but that she was caught doing what she was doing ( Lets accept it, promiscuity does exist in the society; no comments on the extent of it though...) and here we are, spending money to watch a spiced up version of what was a tragic moment for a female, a family... Coming back to my original point of being sensitive. I think this is a classic case of one man's pain being the cause of pleasure for another, even though he doesnt necessarily gain anything out of it. Life is full of tragedies...for some a delta less and for some a delta more and for some, who are outside the typical 99.67% of normal curve, a lot more...and there are enuf of people around...or lets say there are enuf of us arnd, who wouldnt think twice before having a laugh at someone's expense....the problem is that we do not do it deliberately but that we simply dont consider how some of our actions affect others...look around or even lets look at ourselves...how many times have we done just that...I have seen people or rather supposed best friends ignoring calls at the most dire of situations, people laughing silently at someone's funeral, people partying after ditching their luved ones...it all exists...and people do it...The examples above might be a bit of extremity but the people involved in these have been the most loved of people around...and if we love people who do such things...well, it speaks a lot about us as well...what say!!!!

In Fond Rememberance...

Born: 1994 Died: 2006 "Never wanted to separate, but it was destined otherwise....Goodbye, dear companion" If u r guessing, whats that...relax..thats nothing but the obituary of my association (of close to 12 years) with alcohol in my capacity as an avid admirer of the human made elixir... Now that I have actually ended my association and it rests in peace let me take a few moments out to list down some of my fav watering hole across cities.. Calcutta: 1. Someplace Else, Park Hotel..(after it stopped being a pure disc)...Good music, good food, good ambiance, great value for money..The only problem is if u wait at the hotel entrance for your friends to come...(for those who are aware of the place, will know what i am talking about) 2. Olypub, Park Street...I still remember, when in college and couldnt afford more than a visit a month to the above, the only place to head was Olypub. The scene was so bad that very often we used to go alone, rest assured that koi na koi to Xaviers ka mil hi jayega... Delhi/Gurgaon: 1. The Road-Side Thekas...Those who consider themselves too pseud to be drinking on the Road side thekas in Delhi/Gurgaon have no clue what they r missing in life....I mean its some experience...an alco shop...behind/infront/besides it a snacks shop and occassionally cops standing near by (..and drinking as well)...all this is just so unique to that place..And all these at a total damage to the pocket being not even in three digits... 2. DJinns...Somehow I have a liking for its ample space ...the live band...absence of the Yo-mama crowd (which is so typical of that side of the country)...and most importantly the fact that whenever I went there...somehow or the other I never had to pay... Bangalore... (never lived there as such but visited it for a month or so, quite a number of times...so..sorry upfront for my little knowledge)... 1. Pekos: By all standards, one great place to visit..Its so heartening to see a pub in its purist form, so to say....I would call it a "No Frills Pub"...go there...carry cash (till the last time i went there they didnt accept cards)....have a passion for good food and music...and u'l luv it...add to that the looks of a ghetto and u will realise why Floyd or Doors sounds even better there...and not to miss the beer...there is something about it there....u just dont wanna say no to another gulp.. 2. Purple Haze: Decent place...thats it.... Bombay... 1. Cafe Mondegar...A visit to that place and u know that life does exist in Bombay...What a lively place...Great ambience....good food....good music..good crowd...and smiling (generally) waiters...There is something about the place which has to be experienced....Another feeeling u get there is people dont come to guzzle there...they come to chill out and have fun...Maybe its got to do with the fact that they serve only beer and wine... 2. Totos..How i am glad that they have stopped the music there ...else this obituary wouldnt have ever been written. Probably the best place in Bby in terms of music and value for money...and plus their chicken cheese omlette and pork salad...yum...Havent seen any other place playing jsut the songs u wld have played had you being playing them urself...Awesome..The only flip side is that it closes earlier than the other Bandra pubs...

∆ Emotional Utility….

Date: 31st May, 2006 Time: 8:21 pm Location: My apartment, Santa Cruz, Bby State: Just dried myself after getting totally drenched in the rain Mood: Something between happy and thoughtful Music: Pink Floyd (who else??) So, that’s the scene. Here I am, sitting in the cozy surroundings of the hall in my apartment with dim lights and enjoying Pink Floyd playing Coming Back to Life, along with the sound of heavy rains pouring outside, n ya urs truly has just finished his cup of tea and some nicotine I am really enjoying the rain pouring outside; after all it eases the pangs of summer heat. I am enjoying this act of nature…but think of it, just an hour ago I was standing outside my office along with my colleague Devendra, both of us totally drenched and waiting for some cab/auto etc to take us to our apartments and at that very moment, rains were supposed to be the worst thing that could have happened…just an hour ago, this very rain was so disgusting and within an hour it has become a thing to be enjoyed and appreciated. This suddenly makes me ask myself, “Is Rain intrinsically bad or it depends on the circumstances” or taking this logic a bit further,” Does our liking or disliking or our experience of joy or pain stand alone or relative to the larger circumstances in which they occur?” (Which explains the element of thoughtfulness in my mood) Now that I am in a complete rewind mode, drawing from my life’s experiences (which I must say has been extremely eventful, filled with some smiles (most of them on account of academic/professional success, TOUCHWOOD) and more than enough sadness (most, rather all of them on account of my fucked up personal life)…), I think our experiences of joy or pain are by and large relative to our overall state of being. True their stand alone magnitude does matter but as happens in Portfolio Theory, it is relatively insignificant enough to be ignored. For nerds seeking scientific rationale in it, let’s seek inspiration from fundamental micro-economics principles. Happiness is in some sense akin to utility so let us term it emotional utility. With that logic, sadness becomes negative emotional utility. Our state of mind is nothing but a factor of the circumstances we are in. Hence when we are happy, our total emotional utility is very large. Further if this happiness has accrued over a short period of time, which is due to occurrences of many sexy events in quick succession, the time equivalent total emotional utility or the average emotional utility is very high. Thereafter a stage comes, when any additional sexy event doesn’t add too much to our happiness which is simply due to the fundamental principle of diminishing marginal utility, which applies here as well…diminishing marginal emotional utility until a stage where it doesn’t add any value at all…for example..(I am sorry but I am taking an example of diminishing negative emotional utility…which in simple terms is nothing but too much of getting screwed in life)…”Ever heard of a prostitute complaining of being fucked”. Why is this so?....Think of it…simply because her total negative emotional utility has reached a stage where a delta doesn’t make any difference... and compare it to getting fucked as a stand alone instance…a simple case of plateauing of the total negative emotional utility curve vis-à-vis a position across the steep gradient part. Now u agree why I place such importance to circumstances being a major driver of the effect any instance has on us….