My Insights

One question that I have pondered over sometimes is ‘Why do people keep private diaries?’

I think that they prove really good remembrance items when say a couple of years down the road, you wanna look at how you’re a different person than you were a couple of years ago.

Also, they serve as good record keeping sources so just in case something were to happen to you unexpectedly, people close to you could remember you by your journal.

And, they serve as a person of some sort whom you can talk to all your life. Sorta like a personal listener.

What do y’all think?

My favorite topic and a very interesting one for sure is ‘life’. Where did we come from? What is the purpose of life? Is there GOD? The list can go on and there is no end to contemplation. I will be posting a considerable number of posts on the topic in the future and I would like to know what others think about what I think.

To begin with, I would like to talk about Evolution. It is very interesting to look at different theories of evolution. One of the theories I came across in 7th grade goes something like this. The lapse of time is probably not going to help me in remembering facts very accurately.

Supposedly, The primordial atom dropped from space into the ocean when the earth was still forming its structure. Over millions of years, this atom increased in number and there were of course mutations of the atom that made it suitable for survival in the earth’s oceans. This was the first essence of life. There is no saying where this primordial atom came from in the first place. Let’s assume that its origin does not matter for the time being. Moving on, these mutations in the original form of the atom were not all alike. There were different mutations based on the location and environment of a particular group of atoms. Mind you, all of this is still taking place in the oceans. All types of sea dwelling creatures take form. Life begins to thrive in water.

One may ask then, how did life come to land? The way the theory explains is that some of these creatures got washed to the shorelines and started dwelling there. Occasionally, some got washed to the beaches. How can creatures that thrived in water survive on land? The fact is that they can’t. But the move to land was a gradual one. Some creatures started living on the beach where the waves would periodically provide water to these poor creatures. Eventually, these creatures moved further onto land and got water with the coming of the high tide and survived without water during low tides. This is how amphibians came into being. They only need to be in water for a couple of hours.

Slowly, with the progression of time, there were more and more and more mutations of these amphibious creatures. These mutated creatures survive without water for a long time and developed lungs for breathing. Even in the oceans, genetic mutations were having its effects and many species formed eventually. Slowly but steadily, different life creatures began to thrive both on land and in water.

There are a lot of flaws one can find in this theory. Also, the fact that I read this in 7th grade adds a lot of ambiguity about the nature of any flaw. Maybe the flaw just exists in my interpretation of the theory at that time. Who knows? But, this is one story that sticks out in my memory when I think about evolution. I want to know what you guys think about this theory in particular. One of the questions that remains unanswered in my mind is, ‘How did all of this lead to intelligent life and sentient species?’

PS: I will write about all the questions I asked in the beginning of this post at some later point in the future. Please try to refrain your comments to this particular theory and evolution in general.

Here’s something that Vidya forwarded to me and I think it deserved a read by everybody. Please please please, get a designated driver. It is NOT COOL to drive drunk. Get a cab if need be - it is much cheaper than the price of a life.

PROM NIGHT

Prom night I went to a party, Mom,
I remembered what you said.
You told me not to drink, Mom,
So I drank soda instead.

I really felt proud inside, Mom,
The way you said I would.
I didn’t drink and drive, Mom
Even though the others said I should.

I know I did the right thing, Mom,
I know you are always right.
Now the party is finally ending, Mom,
As everyone is driving out of sight.

As I got into my car, Mom,
I knew I’d get home in one piece
Because of the way you raised me,
So reasonable and sweet.

I started to drive away, Mom,
But as I pulled out into the road,
The other car didn’t see, Mom,
And hit me like a load.

As I lay there on the pavement, Mom,
I hear the policeman say,
The other guy is drunk, Mom,
And now I’m the one who will pay.

I’m lying here dying, Mom,
I wish you’d get here soon.
How could this happen to me, Mom?
My life just burst like a balloon.

There is blood all around me, Mom,
And most of it is mine.
I hear the medic say, Mom,
I’ll die in a short time.

I just wanted to tell you, Mom,
I swear I didn’t drink.
It was the others, Mom,
The others didn’t think.

He was probably at the same party as I.
The only difference is, he drank and I will die.
Why do people drink, Mom?
It can ruin your whole life.

I’m feeling sharp pains now.
Pains just like a knife.
The guy who hit me is walking, Mom,
And I don’t think it’s fair.
I’m lying here dying and all he can do is stare.

Tell my brother not to cry, Mom,
Tell Daddy to be brave.
And when I go to Heaven, Mom,
Put “Daddy’s Girl” on my grave.

Someone should have told him, Mom,
Not to drink and drive.
If only they had told him, Mom,
I would still be alive.

My breath is getting shorter, Mom,
I’m becoming very scared.
Please don’t cry for me, Mom,
When I needed you, you were always there.

I have one last question, Mom,
Before I say good bye
I didn’t drink and drive,
So why am I the one to die?

-UNKNOWN AUTHOR

Something I really hate doing is working on my resume. Its really hard I mean what do you put in and what do you take out. Think about it, you learned how to work all these neat little things in MS Excel like in High School but do you still know how to conditionally display error messages in a particular column against a spreadsheet of data? I don’t even understand what I just said. In any case my point is that working on a resume is the most horrible task one has to do and there it is … a snapshot of your life, in your hands and now in your interviewers’ hands. Can you put it all down on paper? Something to think about.

I have a feeling that this will spark quite a few people. Well the question is … To Be or Not To Be Vegetarian? As of now, I’ll eat anything that is edible (in any country). Well here’s how it all started. I was on the metro and I took a seat. Somebody had left a flyer (pamphlet) on the seat that I picked up just because I was so eternally bored. I started looking through the pamphlet and the pamphlet was apparantly advocating the advantages of being a vegetarian. It had pictures of animals in closed confined places, it depicted chickens in cages all crammed up and some convincing facts. Did you know that some of these animals don’t even have enough room to move … most of their lives. The fact that just really got to me was the picture of a pregnant chicken in a cage with no room to turn. That’s just inhuman! The pamphlet also mentioned some stupid stuff like how much of our produced food these animals eat up and crap like that but that didn’t get to me at all because the meat industry in conjuntion with the agriculture industry is virtually driving our economy! Its how millions of people feed their hungry children every night and bring home enough money to keep themselves warm in the winter. So anyways, the confinement of these animals got to me because I am mildly claustrophobic (scared of closed places). That made me consider trying to be vegetarian. However, there ARE some companies that treat their animals humanely before they are slaughtered for their meat. I do not see myself giving up meat immediately just because my diet is dependent on meat products. However, I was thinking … Isn’t there a middle way? Ok, maybe I won’t eat actual meat but can I eat meat flavored products like say chicken noodles or something. Another option could be to restrict the number of days in a week on which I would eat meat. It is a hard decision and needs a big commitment. I don’t know … To Be or Not To Be vegetarian?

The movies update: I saw Identity and I think its the next best after The Ring. If you guys haven’t seen either, then you’re missing something. Also saw X2 and that was no disappointment either. Both are good movies. Yes Prateek, I’m sorry for missing out Terminator 3 but I think that happened because the release date is considerably far away from today.

Well, the end of the semester is closing in pretty fast and pretty soon everybody is going to have the finals on their minds. My History final is at 8 in the morning: isn’t that a bummer? In any case, I’d like to wish everybody good luck when they calculate their grades in the class and how much do they need on the final to get an A … everybody does that.

Food for thought: Whenever I have trouble deciding something, I think about the following question in the context of my current situation: “What is the purpose of my life?” I think everybody should answer that question for themselves because it really helps put things in perspective and if some of you feel like it, share the answer with everybody … go ahead, post your answer.

When person A expresses their innermost feelings to person B, person A is confiding in person B. What right does person B have over the information that person A just gave them. What if the information totally disagrees with person B’s philosophy? Does this person (B) have a right to take an action based on their own feelings? Doesn’t the confiding party (person A) have a right to privacy? What right does person B have to disseminate person A’s information to anybody else, no matter what the situation?

I think that when a person tells sombody how they feel on the inside, then the person who is listening to all of this has a duty to keep the conversation private. Under no circumstances should the information shared during the intimate talk be publicized without prior permission.