Random Questions - 10th Edition Special!

It might interest some as to how this section actually evolved...well, it wasnt by design but by accident. When I began my blog say almost a year back, there were too many things in my head to pen down but with no direction or a clue to begin where and how. So one fine day, I began posting these questions on notepads and even created sub-sections as a sub-blog and categorised them...until I realized, why not group them all under one solid section called 'Random' and keep them as questions...hence the title - Random Questions! The objective was not primarily to get answers but just to provide food for thought to those who breezed through them at a glance...and most questions were about anything and everything to even something to nothing.

On that note, I present to you the 10th dose of chaotic quick-fires with this edition of 'Random Questions!'

• Do certain things find you or do you need to find them?
• When human beings are not perfect, how can we practice to become perfect?
• Are people running out of ideas for reality shows by manipulating the concept of 'Truth'?
• When shit happens with us, do we flush it off or do we mumble about the sheer presence and filth it spreads?
• Why do people at the top have the least time to talk to when people below them have the most?
• Does the sky really have no line at the horizon?
• Does happiness lie in us or do we find it in others?
• Why does an act of terror take ages to even pass a conviction?
• How many phone numbers can exist when the population is increasing at a monumental rate?
• Why do we at times lose or win 'big'?
• If love happens at first sight, what happens on the second?
• Is it possible to be a legend when one is alive and even after one is dead?
• Do you believe that its never too late to do anything in life?
• Is there a hole in the sky?
• What is present at the end of all outer space?
• Do we have more than we deserve or do we desire for more than what we deserve?

Thats all for this edition's dose of frantic firing of fretting and flaming frivolous flag-posting fortunate feverish following questions! Till the next cut is delivered...be with the motion and be a little chaotic for a change...it might work!

Damnatio Memoriae

The evolution of Mankind has come of age and has always evolved at the cost of something or someone...certainly our kinds hasnt been the kindest of kinds in scripting the ages with what we now know as history. Many stories were written and many not penned...with those written also have been questioned on its authenticity and accuracy, leading us to believe that what is on paper is true forever and those who wrote it are no more. Normal beings projected as demi-gods and those who questioned the system laid to rest...this was the feeling when I came across this latin phrase which literally means "Damnation of Memory". When a Damnatio Memoria was issued, all historical references to that person were destroyed or erased and any statues or paintings of them were defaced beyond recognition forcefully so that it was impossible to even tell who they were or what they looked like (since it was such an important thing in those cultures to have people remember ones legacy).

When the word Truth comes to mind...I think of the following words - Ugly, Bare, Naked, Hurt, Lies, Hope, Eternal etc. As one can see these are not comfortable words and are a touch too heavy for anyone to deal with in their lives. Correct me if I am wrong...but we are more comfortable to keep the truth aside and deal like it wasnt there at all...the big 'White Elephant' in the room. Wonder how our history books were written...was it to please the people that something good always happened or hide what one wouldnt want to know of the past (all the same right...but its still a perspective).

The origin of this concept is again lost in eternal time and ironically (rather conveniently) has been tracked from the Roman Empire where the hunger for power and sworn secrecy gave birth to bitter foes right from the common man to any of the proclaimed Ceasers (not only Julius). Some say this was practiced to protect the sanity of the empire...according to me, it was done to hide the insanity behind any empire. Such a practice is still existing in todays world...imagine how may whistle-blowers fate are at stake or are on the edge of of a knife or with a gun to their heads. Imagine how many of them would have died with a secret held deep inside if upon revelation would have changed the course of our lives...but at what cost?

Truth has its forms and lessons that we can learn...hardest and toughest moments if strung together on a rope could swing the earth from each end fo the galaxy...such is the power. Imagine lost people, lost cities, lost secrets and lost moments...how much do we not know...how much has been deliberately hidden or ceased to exist...rather wiped out from the face of this earth. I feel that conspiracy theories have a certain origin and emerge from the need to know the unknown. Our lives have circulated amidst tweeked truth and a painted past...probably we arent ready to face the truth and bear the brunt of paying the price...which might be the heaviest yet! We sometimes refrain from our own reflections and refuse to look into the mirror and face our past...something we want to do away with at times...and I think its our own choice...which is not what I am against. What I am against is that when the same right has been in someone else's control or discretion (when things are not in our hand).

How much could we have lost, how much could we have gained...is an interesting debate which Id like to have from the readers...its a question we all would like to have a voice on. When I discovered this word on Wikipedia, I was apalled by the fact that there were so many instances of Damnatio Memoriae...every nation has a history of Damnatio Memoriae and in the age of e-world, there are lesser chances that we dont know anything...the only thing we dont know is the un-documented or un-scripted past. To give you an interesting head-start on this subject, read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damnatio_memoriae. On this note, Id like to leave you with a few lines to mull about:

He who once lived is no more

In pages and in the minds of men

To those who rob the sun's glory

Are those who ignite the king’s fury...

The Emperor Domitian Setting out, relief from the Cancelleria, Rome, 80-90 AD. The head of Domitian, the fourth figure on the left, was recarved as a portrait of his successor Nerva after Domitian suffered damnatio memoriae. On the left hand side of the panel are images of the gods Mars and Minerva. The Emperor is followed by the goddess Roma and the genius of the Roman Senate (a personification of that body). Source - http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/ARTH/arth200/politics/big_man.html

Back Pocket Logic

The 'Bolt from the blue'...from someone I knew. Something hit me down a few days back and I was compelled to think about it day on after that moment and I mulled over the fact that I was a victim to the same...Logic! At times, we see adverts that describe kids being snappy about their ideas and hence turning out to be logical...so many adverts on how the youth sound logical to the ears of the old school. That day at home, it was logic from the other era! Stumped I was...by a deadly googly...completely bowled over! You'll know as you read on.

Getting ready for office wasnt eventful as ever except on this day when nothing but a 'logical thought' bolted across from the corner room where my paternal grandpa's sister resides. Well, shes approaching 85 years and like the veterans of our previous generations, had more presence and longevity than anyone in the room...just a sore back to indicate the quantum of work that woman has done in all those years. Amidst her singing and chanting in her room, I was blasting my metal music in mine...two extremes in one home. A discussion soon sparked out with her and my mom and that was what caught my attention...it wasnt about the music for sure!

"Amma...wheres my purse?" I screamt amidst all the noise and commotion of the morning chores..."On the table only naaa..." replied my mom...and right as ever she was. This was when I noticed my grandma walk past on her usual walking exercise but stand still when she saw this happening. After her rounds, she called my mom and asked her a simple question..."Why do people keep their purses in their back pocket of their pants?" in a very naive manner but in a staunch and pure Tamil...right from Srirangam. As expected...the whole home fell speechless and rattled us all for a moment...the day the earth stood still. Not expecting us to answer, she replied by herself...

"Sometimes people complain that they dont have enough money to spend or they are unable to save enough for the future!!! People complain of thefts and pick-pockets too...do you know why? I cant understand this logic...let me tell you why. People keep their purses near their buttocks where the only biological function is excretion...the same will be the philosophical correlation to your purse...money will only be spent and not saved! People keep their purses in their back pockets and go ahead...when these days people are unable to see things ahead of them...how can you expect to take care of your purse when it is behind your sight? Hence the temptation for strangers and miscreants to pick-pocket and more the chances of thefts! In our days, they used to make shirts with pockets stitched on the inside of shirts and this had a sound logic. We were always told to keep the purse or our money in our chest pockets...and this is where the 'heart' was...'Lakshmi' (Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity) is where the heart is...today it is somewhere else...and we complain of spendings and thefts. How can anyone even dare to put their hands into your shirts and try to steal? Isnt that tough to do than keeping it in your back pockets? Dont you have any shirts like that?

The only reply we had was "They dont make any like that"...in fact it wasnt the right answer and she did not expect an answer. There was no answer actually...the fact is that we buy branded shirts that really dont serve such smaller purposes. Was she kidding us...'hell no' she wasnt! It was at this moment, where we were all still on our feet and she slowly waltzed back into her room expecting no answer...such was the spirit and such was her obsvervation and anaylsis. That was the moment I felt stumped in a long time in life...harsh lessons with a subtle question. I was speechless (so were the others too) and the only thing I could do was smile all the way to my way to office like a fool with a revelation to share...such was the impact of that logic...coined the "Back Pocket Logic"

Though that hit me the hardest and I realized the toll it took on me for the rest of the day, I am yet to find a shirt like that...honestly, they do not make any. The truth is also, that the shirts that I choose are branded and they do not make those kind of styles anymore...and God (too) hardly makes wise people and logical gurus like my Grandma anymore...