Random Thoughts

This blog is to share my thoughts on different topics. The topics range from the mundane to the exotic, from the serious to the humourous. Your comments are welcome !

These days, surnames are the norm all over the world. Or is it? I come from that part of the world where people don’t use surnames and go by a single name. However, surnames are the norm in many parts of my country. Seems like a trivial issue? Not if you are in my position. What do you do when you are constantly asked to state your surname in all transactions? Especially when you don’t have one?

The tax department made me fill out a form which asked for my surname, first name and middle name. And this when I use only one name! Just use your father’s and grand father’s names to fill out the form, I was told. So I did. And when my name went into their records, I found that my own name had become my surname and my father’s became my first name. And then my credit card company, bless them, had a different take: They sent a letter purportedly addressed to me, the only problem being it bore my father’s name! Apparently, in their records, my father’s name is my surname. I saw red but they said that they were sorry, but that is what they had in their records. It started to look as though everyone was getting into the act: I wanted to book an airline ticket and guess what? They wanted my surname. When I proffered the usual “I-don’t-have-a-surname” story, they were considerate. As per their rules, they said, I had to have a surname. So they split my name (remember I use a single name) and printed out my ticket. So I have three different versions for my non-existent surname.

I often wonder at this obsession for surnames. Can’t a person go by a single name without having to go through all this rigmarole? I was also curious about the origin of surnames and the handy Wikipedia, revealed that till about the 12th Century, people didn’t use surnames and it started so that people could identify each other if they happened to live nearby. The first surnames were occupational, i.e. Butcher, Carpenter etc. Later it became locational or based on nicknames. Many communities were forced to adopt surnames in the 18th Century according to the Wikipedia, which has an interesting article on surnames here. And while I was on this piece, I had a visitor: A young man representing a charity. We got talking and I agreed to donate. He drew out a form. “Can I have your surname please?”


           Photography is a hobby, nay, passion for some people.  Talk to them about photography and they literally go into raptures, explaining the wonderful photographs they had taken and the circumstances and the tactics employed by them to get the "dream shot". Most of this is lost on me. When I happen to be with such people, I get the distinctly sinking feeling when this topic comes up.  I do my best to avoid the subject as I know that there is no stopping them once they start.  When I tell them that I do not have any interest in photography and so am unable to follow, I am variously looked upon as a creature from outer space or a strange specimen of mankind depending on the level of their passion for the subject.  The general reaction goes something like this: "What!  You have no interest in photography?". Well that's the honest truth.   It is all Greek and Latin to me. All the animated talk of the "fantastic effects" in a photograph leaves me cold. The photographer's jargon of "shutter speed", "exposure", "light and shade" etc go over my head much to the dismay of the narrator.

            Among my friends and relatives are some established photographers, yet I have not picked up either the interest or the expertise. For me, photographs primarily serve as repositories of memories.  If that purpose is served, then I don't look further.  It is not that I do not appreciate photographs.  It is just that when I want some really good photographs, I scour the Net and usually find more than I want.  After all, it doesn't matter whether the picture is from your camera or someone else's. I do own a camera, courtesy a gift, which I use to aim and shoot on those occasions when I want to capture something in pictures.  Of course, all this will sound blasphemous to the dedicated photography buffs, but somehow I can't bring myself to take enough interest in all this mumbo-jumbo.

            Now don't think that I am a weirdo. Just to prove that I am not, I'll share one of the photos which I liked:


          Apparently, this is called "hyperphoto" where the same object is photographed repeatedly from the same spot and then all the photos are merged to create the above effect. Here's the link:http://www.rauzier-hyperphoto.com/legendes/?lang=en

           Then there is the dedicated photography site pbase where you can upload and view thousands of pictures, some of which are really beautiful.  Whenever I am looking for some really good pictures, I visit such sites.  It is just that I do not have any inclination to do all this original work by myself.   

           Not a bad logic, is it?


      I had always wanted to learn a foreign language and so I decided on French after some deliberation.  I had always liked France and the French people and so it seemed like a good choice. I had known French to be a difficult language, but I didn't reckon with the pronunciation and grammar.  Being used to English all this time, I was all at sea. To begin with, this language has masculine and feminine attributes to everything including inanimate objects, (even countries - it is La France (feminine) but Le  Bresil (masculine) )  which I found to be strange, having been used to the ubiquitous " it " of English for inanimate objects and things. Then there are the strange rules of pronunciation: "le" and "de" are pronounced as "lu" and "du" and "les" and "des" are "lay" and "dhey" respectively.  It was just the beginning.  "lis" is "li" and "lisent" is "leez".  In addition, the letter "r" is pronounced as "h". By this time, my head was in a whirl and to my horror, one day I found myself reading the English "brow" as "bhow".  I realised then that I needed to take a break to save my language skills in English and I did. 

    I have started again and hopefully, I will carry on without any more scary breaks. And French is indeed a beautiful language, and many French expressions are used in English as well.  The progress is satisfying and I feel good whenever I cross a milestone in the French language course.  One of these days, I hope to converse in French. 

    Would you like to learn French too ? (Don't worry about the "language scare", it will pass.) Or may be Japanese or Russian?  Here are some of the sites I found on the Net where you can learn languages online. Some of them connect you to native speakers of those languages who happen to be online at that time, which is really useful as you can get your doubts clarified in real time.  And the best part is that they are all free! Check these out:

http://www.101languages.net/

Happy learning and au revoir !

Are you one of those who are in the habit of maintaining a diary?  Yes ?  If so, you should be aware of the potential for embarrassment in case your diary falls into the wrong hands.  All your most private musings will be out in the open.  Besides, the chore of carrying the diary around is also irksome.  If you are a tech savvy person, you can easily use the humble notepad application in Windows to maintain your diary. Intrigued?  Just open up the notepad and type ".LOG" (without quotes of course). Make sure that you use only capital letters.  Give some name and close it.  Now open it again and you will see that there is a time stamp at the top.  You can now record your thoughts and close it.  The time stamp appears every time you open the file.  Simple isn't it?  

The only draw back is that it is still vulnerable to intrusion.  So what do you do?  Get the free application LockNote and use it to lock your file so that prying eyes are kept out.  You can get it here: http://www.steganos.com/us/products/for-free/locknote/overview/.  This is a free application requiring no installation, which means you can lock your diary and carry it about wherever you go.

Neat, isn't it?


What is spirituality ?

Posted by  The Serene One comments (0)


Spirituality means different things for different people.  But the underlying theme in all these different shades of opinion is the fact that it is a means to attain peace and quietitude of mind.

What is spirituality really?  To some, who are religoiusly inclined, it means following the tenets of one's religion including faithfully observing all the practices that are ordained in one's faith.  To others, it simply means following their conscience and living according to its dictates.  Some people actually dislike the term "spirituality" since it is , according to them, allied closely, or rather too closely to religion.  And they themselves deny that they are "spiritual" and they debunk the very term.

Well, then what does the term convey actually?  It simply means improving the quality of one's thougthts and thereby the quality of one's life.  A spiritual person need not be a believer.  Any person, who is desirous of improving his inner self and thereby his outer life can be termed as spiritual.  This is because ultimately, by following all the religious practices and reading the religious texts, one hopes to attain that elusive peace of mind which can also be attained by anyone who learns to control his thoughts.  Purity of thought and deed results in peace of mind and so it is essential that no negative thoughts disturbs our mind and prevents us from attaining that state of mind which we aspire for.  You can never be really spiritual when you are attracted to those stories and news that speak of mayhem. 

"Just what is the connection between my thoughts and my state of mind?" you may wonder.  In these days of mind-body medicine, it is an incontrovertible truth that we are what we think.  And if we constantly think of negative things and live in negativity, then negativity is all we are going to get in return.  Don't believe it?  Try to go on a "news fast" for a week.  Don't read or watch any bad news for a week.  Focus only on the good, uplifting news be it the story of some invention which will benefit mankind or the story of someone's success against all odds.  The change is perceptible after a week.  You are much more relaxed, and feel at peace more than ever before.  This then is the secret of spirituality: Get rid of the morbid fascination for negative things and you will be at peace with yourself and the world or to put it diffently, a "spiritual" person.



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Nothing much, just an ordinary person, with ordinary desires and limitations.

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