Weight of Advancement

People are more obese today in general than they were 100 years ago, 50 years ago, even 20 years ago. How you ask? Look at the national headlines stateside and the all out war against obesity. At least that is what certain portions of the media and government would have you believe. No more fries and pizza in school lunch menus (except when the kids can go across the street and indulge in gross candy from an authorised shack); banning of fizzy drinks and soda dispensers from elementary schools etc. along with proclaiming sugar as an addictive narcotic toxic substance. So we have the obvious irony of living in the world wide lands of plenty (Africa excluded) and countries and governments simultaneously dealing with issues of Type II and other types of diabetes and multitudes of diseases linked to overindulgence in rich food content. Aside from this bizzare fiasco there is another factor that is becoming noticable in terms of so called advancing civilizations and that is the other extra weight we seem to be carrying with us. I harken to the days my parents travelled by crowded commuter trains to work and the belongings that they may have had 'on their person' (I particularly like the use of this somewhat retarded phrase where it gives the person in question an otherworldly quality). A pouch for a sandwich or roti sabji and a smallish purse for the train ticket and some money. That is it. Perhaps an eye aid (as in chasma) and its carrier - that was the total spectacle. Take an average idiot on today's commuter train that I sometimes take (the train - not the idiot per se) going to work. First comes the multitudes of makeup gear - enough to paint the eyes of kids in an entire impoverished country in Africa. Then there is gum/mint/candy/mouth freshners in various colors, hardness, price points, containers. Latter to really freshen the person inside out after their arrival at the destination (did I mention the sprays and mists they may indulge in during the journey?) Now on to the accouterments to keep them detached from the person sitting next to them and disembody themselves to their Facebook friend number 9,324. There are multitude of Androids and Pads and Pods to choose from if you are the gaming kind... games people play I tell you. Also those studious types staring at an e book trying to get wiser than the comeptition. Reading is good I say but what of the live experience of watching others get wiser? Then there is of course the sensory detachment in the form of audio and video from the late show the night before being streamed in to their duramatter through expensive looking headsets. After all this overdoes of data its time for some refreshment - liquid kind - sterilized, fancy bottled, sometimes labeled SMART sometimes not, in several colors if you are a fan of the electrolytic beverage and sometimes in the form of hi caffiene shots that would propel that person from his seat to the next just by thinking about it. I mean it is cool to actually drink something that has the word BULL in it? After all this there is the ubiquitous portable computer and several badges to enter severely secure premises that the idiot is ultimately destined to go to. Now where did I put that damned train ticket?

On the go(zay masta) in Japan again

Cool cat the Japanese are Tokyo at dusk My second visit to this land of the rising sun after almost a decade. Back then clearly I was wet behind the ears product manager and likely didn’t pay attention to all (efficient) things Japanese. But today I did and of course continue to be impressed. It is as much the obvious stuff like on time travel that is both clean and comfortable and all that which makes it possible. The impressive landmark and landscapes that these humans have put together despite their cramped (or because of it) surroundings and precarious geological conditions could amaze a novice architect among us. But it’s also the little things that someone had to think about which have a phenomenal impact on day to day lives that make the Japanese stand apart. Below are few random examples- 1. Providing a very fine machined wooden toothpick in every packet of wooden chopsticks. The said chapsticks are simply set on the To Go counter of any food vendor/ convenience store wher...

Of Jims and Johns

Here is another essay on the subject of first names. As in birth names. Or names provided to an offspring at birth. While the developed world tends to shy away from the exotic like Refrigerator or Coca Cola for their new production there is a plethora of Jims and Johns and Bobs or Robs. Speaking of which I do not think there is a categoric decision point at the time of birth if a child will be hereafter called as Bob. I mean have not yet met a toddler called Bob or Rob for that matter. At some point though the parental instinct to mouth out multiple syllables runs out and they switch from calling the crawler Robert to simply Robbie to Rob. Now speaking of - it is strange that the name sounds like something you would not want Rob to do - i.e. Rob anyone. Then why call someone that? After all Rob Peter to Pay Paul is not exactly a maxim to live a young life? Is it? Perhaps Peter or Paul might want to have a say in it? Then there is this matter of going to the John. Why degrad...

Presumptive Society

Today's world is hyper connected. I am not so sure what it means but you hear it a lot. It is probably hyper but not sure how connected it is. Sugar (fermented or not) is available in many ways than before and so getting hyper is easy. It is probably more a threat than cocaine since it is sold legally. And what is this connected stuff? Most people I encounter seem disconnected from reality. So going back to this assumption that we are connected there are subtle and no so subtle instances of how brands and companies and middle men try to portray someone - A linkedin profile for somebody working for X years at a place advertises to the connected network that so and so is CELEBRATING X years @ Such and Such Inc. Do we know if (s)he is celebrating or cringing? Perhaps a better way to portray will be - So and So LASTED X years @ such & such inc. Then it exhorts the readership to go ahead and congratulate them for this lasting effe...

Brown Motion

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