NO F IN FLYING ANY MORE

No F in flying any more. Yes, there is no fun at all.  Journey, I always felt, was if not more, equally important reason for a holiday.
More often the overall experience of a holiday abroad is totally and truly eclipsed by the aeroplane journey.

You report to the airport one to three hours before the departure time for the said purpose of check-in and security but most of this time is spent loitering in the waiting areas till they announce the gate number.

All this time you are their prisoner. You are made to walk through rows and rows of gift shops. They tell you encouragingly “it is TAX FREE, Sir.” Though you know pretty well that it is five times more costly than in a high street shop or ten times costlier than in online shops!

You buy not because you need that shiny watch or that Eau de Perfume in the black and gold bottle with sparkling crystal top, but because you are bored to death and you will do anything to escape it, law permitting. Even if you muster all your will power and shun that temptation you end up sitting in a cafe or a bar gorging on masses of sugary and fatty treats and guzzling  tons of  drinks laden with either depressants (alcohol) or stimulants (coffee) or both, oblivious of the eye-watering, exorbitant  prices.

Finally the gate is announced, you run to the gate which is at least a miles from the waiting area. But the waiting does not end there; you wait again in a miniscule enclosure and may be an hour later, go through the privilege of another mini check at the final gate!

Once inside the plane, you immediately remember the photograph showing the Guinness record of maximum number of humans fitting inside a Mini. It takes all athletic prowess to negotiate your way through the ever narrowing isle to the seat and push in your hand bag in the overhead locker. You have to suck in your tummy and squeeze in the slimmest of seats you had ever sat. “DESIGNED FOR YOUR COMFORT AND SAFETY” said the billboard!

At the other end it can again take up to three hours before you get through the immigration, collect your luggage and pass through the custom. Out of the airport and you have to go through another journey to reach your hotel. God forbid if you have flown with a cheaper, no frill airline, they will drop you at an airport which is in an uninhabited desert or a forest, always a few light years away from your destination!

You reach your hotel/resort tired and depressed with no energy or will to experience and explore the delights of the holiday.

And do not forget, you still have to fly back!

I am seriously planning not to include any flying in my holidays any more and I am not alone. If the airlines do not bring the F back they are doomed.

And maybe it is for the best with the Damocles’ sword of global warming hanging over all of us.  There is a silver lining after all!

It is better to travel well than to arrive

                                                                a saying attributed to Buddha

INBREEDING AND GHETTOIZATION OF IDEAS: THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN 21ST CENTURY

 I got a posting on my Facebook wall, criticizing a particular professor in the philosophy faculty of a well known university. The reason was that she had pointed out a few ethical problems with the recent changes in the admission policy of the university by the Deanery.  

 I thought that the new admission policy did treat the rich overseas candidates preferentially over the home students but it might have been necessary for economic reasons. I wrote that in my comment. There were a few more comments, some for and some against. It was mostly from other faculty members.

 A week later pretty viscous comments started appearing both against and for the professor, mostly against. Judging by their language these commentators did not seem to have completed even their primary education. Certainly, I thought, they cannot be university students or staff members. Many people posted some extreme right wing or left wing quotes and pictures. The commentators started vilifying and threatening other commentators, primary discussion completely forgotten.  From a civilized discussion it had turned into inflammatory rhetoric.  The most lamentable fact was that I did recognise a few commentators; they were from my own circle of friends and acquaintances!

 http://www.juice-marketing.com/blog/social-media-cartoons-superhero-marketing/       

   This extreme polarisation is evident on every platform of social media and even on the television and in broad-sheet newspapers. It is not just limited to media but is now spilling in the streets and in the corridors of power all over the world. We are happy to post increasingly offensive jokes and hateful cartoons about people with opposing views but turn obnoxious if someone posts even an innocuous joke about our favourite leaders or idols.    Every point of contention rapidly transforms into “you are either with us or against us”. People are ready to maim or kill for even trivial differences.

 Why have we become so aggressively confrontational that there is no place left for civilized discussions and rational arguments?

 I think the reason is our ever persistent old enemy: Confirmation Bias. We all are somewhat preferential to one or the other view depending on our personal past experiences and knowledge. When various views are expressed we are likely to favour the one that is nearer to our own view and think that it is the correct view. This is confirmation bias. It easily distorts any conclusion if one is not careful.  Listening to the opposing argument and rigorously evaluating it on its merit with awareness of our own possible bias is the only way to get to the truth.  

Kabir, an eminent 15^th century Indian mystic poet put this more succinctly:              निंदक नियरे राखिए, ऑंगन कुटी छवाय,

                             बिन पानी, साबुन बिना, निर्मल करे सुभाय।

(Keep your critic close by; shelter him in your courtyard, Without soap, without water, it will clean your character)

 With instantaneousness of internet social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp etc there is little time for evaluation of contradictory views and reflection. We readily tend to like the people whose views are similar to us and befriend them and ignore or unfriend the people with opposing views. The giant internet companies collect a vast amount of data about our likes and dislikes and then bombard us with recommendations from other institutions and people who happened to have similar views and biases.  Our fancy is tickled and we are flattered. We are drawn towards these sites and follow them. The internet algorithms send us more of the same,  gradually we only watch the channels which support our biases, only read the books, papers and  magazines which support our views.  It removes the natural randomness of our encounter with other points of view in all aspect of life. This homophily and inbreeding turns the public spaces into echo chambers.  It results in intolerant societies and dictatorial governments.

 The biggest challenge for humanity in 21st century is to stop this increasing polarisation of views and dangerous potentiation of biases by taming the big beast, THE INTERNET.

BEING LAZY IS BEING SMART

I do not like doing a work if it is possible to avoid it. There are two caveats to this.

1.  No significant adverse effects on health: mine, the persons around me and the people I am responsible for.

2.  No appreciable fall in the weight of my wallet.

After the laundry I left one pair of my washed shocks downstairs near my shoes instead of taking it up to the tall boy drawer upstairs. My wife immediately labeled me lazy. But it makes so much sense. Next day when I am getting ready to go out l just pick it up from the floor and put the shoes on. Being organized is not being lazy, it is being smart. Isn’t it?

I am called lazy when I shout to Google Home Assistant to put the lights on. If you can get the work done by wagging your tongue, then it makes no sense for wasting valuable energy in getting up and walking to the light switch and back again. Add to this the psychological trauma of separation from the cosy, soft and warm sofa!

Now everyone has become used to the idea of using “remote” for changing the channel and volume of TV but about 30 years ago (when one had to pay extra to buy a remotely controlled TV) I was told not to be lazy.

My present car does a lot of things which a decade ago I had to do. It changes the gear, maintains the speed and applies the break if I am about to hit someone or something. It looks up the address where I wish to go and give the directions.  But still I have to control the steering and give the signals. Now I am seriously thinking in buying a car which can drive without much input from me. 

I am waiting for the price to go down so that it does  not contravene the2^nd caveat which I have mentioned before 

This entire advance in science and technology will be worthless if we all refuse to utilise it to avoid wasting time and energy in doing mundane tasks. It makes life easier and frees up valuable time to enjoy with one’s partner, play with kids (or grand kids), read books, watch TV, go for a walk, peruse the social media, discuss politics...the list is endless.

You see, by not being lazy you are destroying the very motivation of scientific inventions and discoveries.

 For being happy and lazy you have to think smart and be clever.

I will end this with a quote from Bill Gates “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job, because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.”