Mediocrity – thou art a bitch!

Ayn Rand beautifully defines mediocrity as….

“Mediocrity” doesn’t mean average intelligence, it means an average intelligence that resents and envies its betters.

I would like to add “average intelligence which fails to realize its unexceptional nature” to make the definition complete.  It is highly important to understand that “average intelligence” ≠ “mediocrity”.

So lets move on. It is a fairly common knowledge that most people have illusions of greatness and have the constant need to validate their misconceptions. The following quote by a French novelist aptly summarizes my  point.

“In the dark room a cloud of yellow dust flew from beneath the tool like a scatter of sparks from under the hooves of a galloping horse. The twin wheels turned and hummed. Binet was smiling, his chin down, his nostrils distended. He seemed lost in the kind of happiness which, as a rule, accompanies only those mediocre occupations that tickle the intelligence with easy difficulties, and satisfy it with a sense of achievement beyond which there is nothing left for dreams to feed on.”

The mediocre mind challenges itself with never-ending puzzles to look for proofs of grandeur.

Egotism is nature’s compensation for mediocrity.

It works hard to prove its worth, trying to engage in a futile competition with others but ignores one critical point. It tries to do well things  which have no bearing on anything remotely useful.

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all!

But one wonders why is it that sometimes that a mediocre mind achieves what a genius can’t.  Well the answer is “ignorance”. A closed limited mind prone to whims and illusions, tends to take initiatives for things which a genius may miscalculate and deem “not worth doing” . So while a genius wouldn’t do a task because he missed an important parameter while making  “do-ability” calculations, a mediocre would do the same thing because he missed the entire picture all-together and is confident that it is very well within his reach. And sometimes that is all that it takes to be successful!

Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent.

20 things I should have done before I turn 25

1. Spend a month in Greece
2. Win a sports championship
3. Go for an african safari
4. Work as a batender for a month
5. Get a portfolio
6. Play metallica on guitar
7. Learn singing
8. Date a firang,
9. Date a musician
10. Date an estate owner, (or a vineyard owner)
11. Date a guy > 5 years older than me
12. Do professiional gambling
13. Have some acedamic achievement
14. Write a novel
15. Road trip across Europe
16. Own a sail boat
17. Design some high tech gadget or work for google
18. Practice the art of non chalance
19. Design a cartoon strip
20. Learn to pull off hot chick clothes

Eternal Cribs

Why do we have to rethink or even think our decisions, why do we look back and ponder what we could have done?

Why should we feel guilty when we procrastinate?

Why should we just have to stick to “the best of both worlds” approach, why cant we get the best of every possible world in every possible universe?

Why do we have to think? Why can’t we just get intoxicated in the moment and not face the repercussions later?

Why isn’t life simple

To be or not to be – modern day version

Shakespeare’s “To be or not to be” modified to suit modern times……..

To do, or not to do, — that is the dilemma: —
Whether its nobler for us to suffer,
The pains and blames of ol’outrageous boyfriends,
Or to spread arms and explore a sea of opportunities,
And by breaking up with them? — To forgo, to weep, —
No more; and by a weep to say we end
The heart-ache, and the innumerable natural shocks
That we are exposed to, — its’ a pain
We want devoutly to be worshipped. To enjoy, to weep; —
To weep, and finally dream: — ay, there’s the fun;
For after a small weep, what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this regret and recoil,
Must take a pause: there is some prospect
That makes hope for our suburbun life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The junta is wrong, right we are is highly likely,
The pangs of maara maari, the traffic’s delay,
The insolence of office, and the lack of funds
That ‘cool’ guys, the unworthy takes,
When we ourselves are stuck with naives,
With just a love? Can their children we bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that is the dread of finding no one after them —
The undiscover’d territory, from whose bourn
No love may come, — puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know naught of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought;
And we are left with regret and boredom,
With this regard, our dreams turn awry,
And lose the name of ’simply fun’.

Action plans for Sakee

Sakee, oh Sakee where art thee,
Won’t you plan a holiday for me,
Has to be somewhere around the sea,
If it is Goa, then I am a busy-bee.
Andaman definately appeals to me,
But Sakee as usual is so lazy.
But doesnt he know that his fancy,
Of  partying with Pal C,
Will become a fallacy,
Unless in my good books is Sakee.

to shout or not to shout

Sakee you are so cute
But why do you refute,
The orders given to you,
Don’t you have a clue
About the wrath, the pain acute,
Why give rise to dispute,
If  I still see no action by you
You shall def get your due.

Worthy Option

Knowledge isn’t what you seek,
Ah, pride makes you weak,
Praise is your beloved treasure,
Vanity goes beyond any measure,
Oh, how desperate you are,
To outwit, or to be above par,
Oh dear, why do you care to chatter,
If contempt is what you have to offer.
Superiority, dear friend, is just a notion,
Modesty, honey, is not bad an option.

Story of friend and her friend

Based on real life events……….

Friend’s boyfriend decided to come to town,
Popular opinion says he is such a clown,
Wanted to surprise but surprise was only his own,
Upon telling the news, when he received the frown,
Matters cooled when a lot of spirit went down.
The poor banker then slept in the godown.

Current Affairs in the writers mind

The lack of intentional humor in the last few days can be attributed to the low production of writer’s funny hormones. Yes my innocent very-few-in-number readers, it is true. I read somewhere that a person’s sense of humor is triggered by some kind of hormone. And for those of you raising your eyebrows, the writer did NOT wiki for this.

Now it is a well established fact that the writer is intellectual, nonchalant types. Therefore lately she has been spending a lot of time doing a lot of thinking about youth, life, etc etc and has concluded the following: there is no end to and consequence of thinking, thinking is a not-so-bad way to kill time but roadies is better, action is the mother of all solutions to existential angst.

Action
Now, the writer’s metabolism doesn’t result in the production of adequate amounts of energy and results in a medical condition called “lethargy”. The writer vows to fight against the condition and “act”. She intends to play, clear at least one competitive exam, visit at least one place distanced at >500 kms from Bombay and do other cool activities on weekends. Other actions include reducing talktime with friends, their “reluctance to do any work” disease is quite contagious IMO. Also, owing to the recent surge in the number of photo uploads in the writer’s facebook profile, the writer has concluded that photography is “cool” and “shall be pursued later in life”. Also, the writer has decided to cast her votes, if not on LS elections then on imdb. Enough is enough, seriously Mayawati and “big lebowski”!
Also, writer shall not involve herself in time-killing, so no more lists like “movies I have watched” and “books I have read”.

Oops, the boss has left! No more pretending to work, ha! Adios readers or just reader N, the writer shall immediately leave office now and do some important cool-feel with N.

Just a piece of poetry to end the blog -

To Pyaare,

de de re ek pappi, ban jau mei papita,

milege jab jhappi, puri hogi yeh kavita.
Note : the “pyaare” in the poem is a fictitious character and has no resemblence to any living person

:(

Bloggers today I would like to delve into true meaning of the much used word “katna”. Let me try and illustrate the definition by a heart wrenching incident. May I suggest that those who happen to have weak cardio-vascular-pumps, please stop reading.

Haan where were we, yes the incident. So today morning the poor soul got up in the wee hours of the morning, sacrificing her beauty sleep. People who know the writer from casual meetings other than dates, understand how important beauty sleep is for the lady. Some more background required over here, the writer has recently discovered that in order to be cool in every sense of the word, she has to pick up some physical activity which requires a little more effort than picking a crate of beer. Extensive research and failures at other games lead to the election of squash for the post. Coming back to the topic of the discussion again, the writer woke up early to play squash(which she thinks she plays well these days). Her partner for the day had recently fallen into the hands of vanity and gotten her curls straightened(the writer herself is a regular subscriber to the straightening business, so no judging here please ).

Long story cut short, her partner remembered at the last moment that she couldn’t play and the writer had to go alone. After getting drenched in the rain and pleading 10-12 cab driver, the writer finally arrived at the club only to find out that it was closed. The not-so-nice-and-a-little-fat guard asked the writer to get lost. Poor soul thought of trying another club but couldn’t find any three-wheeler to take her to that. So 1hour and millions of raindrops later here is the writer sulking away to glory and writing the blog hoping to get her dues someday(’katna” has become synonymous with her daily life)

Here is the platform for jobless people who are still reading the blog , to share similar experiences and carry the discussion forward. As per the true definition of “katna”, I would say it is getting punched in the balls when you don’t have any. Readers with lesser intellect, here is the time killer for you – try to understand the definition and drop in a comment in case you do!