Frère Jacques..

You tend to appreciate anything after bearing with weeks of American TV channels, which, admittedly, can get exquisitely brilliant but run utter load of crap for 95% of the time. (Alright, you have Netflix, we get it!) Let me not even get started on the endorsements. They are so brain-dead and unimaginative; half of them feel like high-school skits and have absolutely no entertainment value.. And the informative ones are just completely beyond me: I mean, why have pharmaceutical ads that spend more time making serious disclaims than claims?

That could clearly be another post.. Anyhow, effectively, to-and-fro plane journey is often the best entertainment you get to have on the trip. And something that strikes a chord or touches your raw nerves is an instant hit! Like this particular ad:

[Video Courtesy: https://www.behance.net/gallery/29529685/Take-a-tour-through-the-Museum-of-Procrastination]

Long ago, Calvin told us to enjoy the deadlines just whooshing by. Come to think of it, however, it’s so much better when others set deadlines for you.. I mean, if my experience is anything to go by -- in academic life, you would either copy the assignment from your first-bencher buddy or just make something up between 11th and 12th hour. And in professional life, you seem to.. well, manage.

What this ad really talks about is the other kind of procrastination. The one that pertains to not meeting deadlines and goals of your own. Lack of persistent self-motivation is nothing short of a life-crisis!

Fortunately (or unfortunately), though, this does not seem to have affected the indomitable (and shameless) spirit of me from creating more goals. :P

So, while innumerable unread books, a kindle, sketchbooks, canvases, charcoals, watercolors, poster-colors, tennis racquet, badminton racquets, TT racquets, inline skates, a yoga mat, swimming costumes, a chess-board, a camera (A side tip: Never get frazzled by your baby sister and let her spoil your Thanksgivings door-bursting experience if she forbids you from taking that DSLR+lens combo), a harmonica, a calligraphy kit seem to be gathering layers of dust — I think it’s time for me to order a.... Convection Microwave. ;)

Allow me to put forth my case. Let me start by saying: Honesty is the best policy; and modesty, the worst. So if - a) hard-core South Indians can’t stop praising Chutney and Sambar by yours truly and b) my mom is not the only one to go gaga over my knife skills (It’s got nothing to do with motherly affection… just that she wants me to chop every single thing when I am around. Well, who’s complaining? Chopping to sub-centimeter precision is just so therapeutic!) and so on.. I think I deserve this plunge to get into a new phase of culinary adventures.. I mean, it would be just stupid to wait for an Italian to appreciate my Pasta or a Thai to admire my Green Curry! ;)

2016 might just be the year of baking for me. I can TOTALLY feel it. :P It’s still January and making resolutions never gets old-fashioned. I see you mocking me already! You know what, I am SO going to do it.. Julie-&-Julia style! :)

Hollow-scope?

Data scientists and economists exist to make astrologers feel better, they say. That planets  and palms and positions and patterns have some influence on human affairs and terrestrial events may not actually be too far-fetched from the other predictive disciplines -- if only, you want to believe.

Belief. That’s all it comes down to then, isn’t it?

Well, what?!

Is it the upbringing of a typical marathi middle-class brahmin family? Or is it that both my grandpas were purohits/astrologers by profession? I remember one incident vividly - a couple coming to our doorsteps, absolutely helpless, having lost their beloved cow. And my grandpa would ask some trivial information, look at the panchaang and say something like ”Search in North-west direction.. She is not more than 80 km away” as I sat besides, absolutely fascinated. The enchantment changed to skepticism to rude disbelief over time— as should be the course for a Science student. And if you stayed less than a kilometer away from Narendra Dabholkar’s place for most part of your formative years, there was never a question about it, was there?

Alright, they were no psychics. What they did, though, is tried to hold on to a legacy, in a very diligent, mechanical way.

Still respectable, IMO. Especially since this must be the profession marred the most by pretense, buffoonery and mediocracy. Honestly speaking, (much contrary to my current mythological reading spree) I find the concept of God as preposterous as I do narratives around Astrology, if not more. Because there's potential evidence to suggest that the latter might have been originally envisioned as something highly data-driven with at least some backing of statistics and probability theory.  How do  you, then,  tolerate a few "Messengers" of God but not those of Astrology?

(To sound like "Ancient Aliens”, the History Channel show) Is it possible that the fountainheads of this arguable “science” put an unjustified and intentional veneer and crypt around it?—  As Freemasons would potray themselves: “We are not a secret society but a society with secrets”. Should we blame it to exclusivity and selective passdown? Is it something that always did not make sense or something lost in translation? Or are we doing it a disfavor by not exploring it the right way?

Coincidences are too powerful and randomness, too beautiful. Truly, as you get to know more, you also know it better that there’s more unknown.  So while this branch may deserve your complete disregard, what it may not deserve is your arrogant censure, especially if it’s just some harmless entertainment.
You never know --  if some genuine flag-bearers of the questionable science dig it up some more, it all might turn out like magic.. To the person unaware of the sleight of hand or its existence, everything seems illogical. So till the revelation presents itself - just sit back, relax and enjoy an occasional show.

I guess what I am saying is: If you are anything like me and Bejan Daruwalla doesn’t exactly seem a very respectable "name" to go with, just try somebody else and have a good laugh about what 2016 might have in store for you.