Some odd thoughts from this journey to (easternish) Europe

I’ve spent a bit of time this summer in a Europe, mostly in Eastern Germany (in Dresden for a conference), and Austria (in Vienna to visit a collaborator)

Few things came to mind:

1) Is there a limit on scientific progress and what does art history teach us about it?

We were taken on a tour of some contemporary art galleries in Dresden as part of a conference off-day. It was thought-provoking and frankly disturbing. The first gallery we visited was hosted by an artist whose modus operandi was the following: take two pictures taken with your smartphone on your travels and splice them on photoshop; smoke huge amount in front of your computer screen; take a photo of said computer screen with the spliced image; print it and call it art. 

I had a strong urge to tell the guy,” why don’t you fucking fap on your screen and also print that out you sorry piece of shit”. But then I also realized that his conundrum may have some disturbing parallels to modern science and this made me uneasy. How many times have we felt like we were doing mostly derivative things as scientists? How many times have we taken a photo of a photo (like all the times you do something new only to discover a large chunk of it has been done before?) As the guy gleefully pointed out his liking for smoking my mind felt more at ease characterizing him as a weak loser (I also realize this is unfortunately a little like the self-hating closeted homosexual who works harder to denounce homosexuality; to be sure, I imagine I would like to smoke but I have refrained from it for very long now). 

So why is this what we call contemporary art now? In the early 1800s, we were still dominated by intricate classical, baroque, ornately encased paintings. But then Impressionism came and led by Monet, Renoir and co we enjoyed more in reality being presented to us in a series of impressions, like foggy memories, in somber colors. This gave way then to the likes of Van Gogh and Cezanne who wanted to be a bit bolder, color reality with more intense colors, with more dream-like caricatures or realistic moments, or we had Seurat with pointillistic impressions. The transition was complete when expressionism was born with the works of Matisse and Kirchner and others. Cubism ala Picasso, Objectivism, followed and we eventually gave up on reality completely with the Dadist and Surreal movements. If you will, you can add Pop art ala Warhol and “art” ala Pollock to this. This entire explosion of amazing ideas and magnificent progress occurred between 1850 and 1950, about a century, and this is most likely an overestimate. It is hard to say what is notable in the world of walled art anymore. Why has there been this hiatus? Are there limits to our imagination, and to art, and to science?

One could say the art media have changed and this has given us new directions to pursue and maybe there are new art movements only possible in these new art forms. Cold atoms and ion traps anyone? I suppose this must be true. But why are there no big showcasing computer graphic arts? Do we somehow view these as necessarily substandard to brush and canvas art? Is there some objective truth in this? Why does this art not appeal to us as common members of the public? Is modern art (the painting kind) so detached from our senses that to appreciate them we need to be immersed in the historicity of art? In other words, is the appeal for it have nothing intrinsic, just a collection of myths humans have constructed that now girder this new movement? Would it mean nothing to people who saw it 10,000 years from now?

Is science headed this way too? I have more faith in science and the resourcefulness and appeal of what we do, but I find similarities in the trajectories of these human endeavors worth exploring.

2) has Europe become a zoo?

When you're in one of these more touristy European cities, such as Vienna, it almost feels like an entire economy is running almost exclusively on tourism, which of course can't be healthy. But besides this, there's this weird sensation when you see people taking photographs of almost anything and everything that is remotely of interest, that you're in a zoo of some sort.

A number of people can be spotted at any moment, in almost any part of town, conforming themselves in the trendy pose of the day, with selfie sticks or without. It's a disease of some sort. A lady I saw the other day while I was chilling in a cafe, took a photograph of herself with the signage fo the cafe, a dozen photographs documenting the ambiance at the entrance to the cafe, a photograph of the menu, one of the "cafe of the year 2015" sort of awards, one of the door knob (I think), and... I understand the need for people to document; I think it's driven by existential fears, we try and document ourselves to make ourselves eternal. But then I laughed at myself for that rubbish analysis. This lady isn't trying to make herself eternal. She's probably just trying to make her girlfriends back home jealous of her amazing Euro tour.

And there are those photographers who distinguish themselves by being more subtle in their vainglorious attempts to document their travels. They pretend to do ethno-anthropological study (why?) by photographing people in their hometowns, striving to capture them in their natural habitat, or cityscapes and the general "mood". I cannot say that I am entirely removed from these urges, but I recognize them for what they are, and try my best to not do this. I certainly do not attempt to photograph individuals or groups of individuals because that is quite frankly a disturbing thing to do.

Is travel passé? It's a question of how people choose to illustrate wealth. In the olden times, it was by owning a set of ornate objects. That became commonplace enough due to the rise of mass manufacturing centers, and modernism took its place instead. The wealth-signaling of our times is travel. In the last 5 years, the trend has been, in order, Santorini, Croatia, Iceland, and now Rome again. Airline prices work accordingly. These are like mass movements orchastrated by instagram, facebook, hype and the industry also cooperates to make it happen. Soon with overcrowded centers of tourism, travel would be passé. And what will take it's place? I'm going to bet on sports that are not easily accessible. There's of course a tradition of this. Golf is still a rich man's sport. As is skiing. And some else. Maybe I'm thinking too small. Is travel to the Moon going to be commonplace enough to be the next big wealth-signaling thing? Who knows. We'll find something.

3) Racism is still, I think, a thing.

I try very hard to not assume racist intent. Whether these are examples of racism, I don't know.

In Germany, I went on a train from the airport 3 times. In those 3 rides, I sat in a small compartment capable of accommodating about 15 people, and it was usually about 60% full. 2 times, the ticket checker only checked my ticket, and not of any other (white) person. Do these checkers know the others to be regular travelers? Well, it felt odd anyway.

In Austria, while boarding a local bus, I was informed the bus would re-start (on the course back) in about 20 minutes. I asked the driver if I could sit in the bus to wait because I did not want to miss it by chance. As I entered the bus, he signaled to me saying I could not enter from the front of the bus, and I should go to the back and sit there somewhere. Perhaps he was worried I would drive away his bus while he stood outside for his smoke break? Maybe that's a legitimate concern. But then I saw many, presumably local Austrian people, sitting right at the front of the bus. Perhaps there was some miscommunication? I don't know.

The above are dubious examples of profiling and racism. But you do get a sense in Europe that you're more or less a second-class person. The more troubling thing I always find is how prevalent such ideas are among even the educated people. I would say Germans are typically much more well-traveled and well-spoken and have the weight of history teaching them to not fall into old patterns. But in Austria, on the lunch table, I heard a person comment, "in Canada, it's the natives who are lining up the streets begging, homeless, addicted to drugs". Does this person think Canada is not doing enough to protect its native population? That of course, is true, and Canada could do more. But is this person instead trying to make some kind of racialized point? And the reason to worry about the latter is because from my own experience, there's absolutely nothing racial about the homeless people on the streets of Canadian cities. In fact, most appear to be struggling with drug dependencies and are usually white (not that it should matter who is suffering, but that there are people suffering and something must be done about it). The pattern becomes clearer when I learn that often people go to town and look at homeless Turkish people on the streets and say "but look the government is doing everything for them, and they are yet failing".

This is how myths spread, foster, and its a vicious cycle. It's how the US population convinced itself that blacks were inferior, systemic casteism destroyed lives of humans for millennia in the Indian subcontinent. If tomorrow a person from Sudan fled from their home due to economic hardship or political persecution, and landed in Austria with no knowledge of German, a pay-cheque from the government to make basic ends meet would not do much good. No ordinary employer would take them for the reason they do not know German. And even if they did end up learning some German, a stereotype of their racial, religious, national or any other distinguishing feature could be used by a prospective employer to offer the position to a local of roughly similar qualifications. And then people would see them on the streets and think to themselves "these people are useless". It's really something that's hard to escape from. It's about fundamentals, and recognizing the cyclical nature of the beast. If you are not encouraged as a society, to develop compassion for people who are not in the same position as the mean, you are bound to develop false myths (stereotypes).  And human myths are the most dangerous kinds of myths. They can justify slavery, manual scavenging, female infanticide, genital mutilations, and who knows what else.

I just feel in my bones that Europe as a society that has not learned this lesson. 10 years ago when I visited Dresden, I was chased through the main streets of Dresden by Neo-Nazis hurling insults at me and a friend. I walked past every day on a path overlooking a few balconies. On some days, there would be too little girls there who would monkey chat at me and my friend. Is Europe different today? I don't know.

Our work is highlighted on condmat journal!

It's a first for me! And it feels good!

https://www.condmatjclub.org/?p=3570 

Bill 21 and the physics department opposition.

I drafted a letter which was eventually signed by over 250 members of the physics department at McGill. I'm happy, at least, that in my immediate sphere, people believe in freedom of thought, religion, attire, and they are ready to lend support to safeguarding these human rights.

In this I personally felt so grateful to WiP: Women in Physics; these people actually took my grumblings and suggested a pathway (drafting a letter and putting it on the website) to show solidarity against such a law. They also took charge of getting signatures. I'm super impressed by what they stand for, and their organizational ability.

Now, unfortunately, the letter cannot serve the larger purpose of trying to put further pressure on the McGill higher ups to take a stand against Bill 21. The very day we put this letter out, McGill released a rather tame letter that does not oppose Bill 21 in any shape or form.

This whole scenario has led me to believe in the following:

1. Since 75% of Quebec believes women in Hijabs, or men in Kippahs or Turbans cannot be teachers,  Quebec feels like it is fundamentally different from the rest of North America.

2. I wish people would stop using the phrase "Western values". It is meaningless. European values are generally different from North American values. North American values are individualism as a binding legalistic concept, borne out of the American Revolution and enshrined in the Bill of Rights (I heart James Madison, but credit goes also to his fellow American revolutionaries and English philosophers of the time, along with Montesquieu). The second important facet of North American values is multiculturalism, which is a byproduct of international immigration. Pierre Trudeau reserves the intellectual claim to introducing this concept, but credit must also be given to Lyndon B. Johnson who opened borders of the US to people from all over the world. Silicon Valley is a shining example of what can be achieved in a multicultural world. Also note that most of Western Europe does not espouse any of these values. This is evident from the fact that France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany etc. have more draconian laws prohibiting fundamental freedoms, make it incredibly hard to obtain citizenship unless you have blood relations or ancestry from one of these places.

3. One way to view Bill 21 is to note that it is a case where "a democratically elected government, supported by the majority, works to take away rights of a minority, and they are ready to do so by using a legal clause (the notwithstanding clause) which suspends judicial review so that they do not even have the legal right to protect themselves".

4. The notwithstanding clause cannot and should not be part of the Canadian constitution. It allows any province to create a law that is opposed to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and it allows the province to implement it for 5 years disallowing legal challenge. It does not behoove a modern, progressive union to be based on a constitution that allows for such an extended violation of basic rights and freedoms. Suspending judicial review is what one does only in emergencies, and even then usually it leads to a gross violation of human rights. Quebeckers from the time of the October Crisis should know this very well themselves...

5. The above reflects poorly not only on the state of society with regards to their acceptance of minorities, but it also suggests a society which does not particularly value rule of law, judicial process, checks and balances. This I find rather hard to swallow.

6. Canadians could learn from their neighbors in the south to engage more politically. I notice it often that Canadians strive to be "what is not America", but given the success of the US is so many ways, this is like shooting yourself in the foot.

7. I've felt so mentally devastated by all of this recently that I've come to the point that I've decided to just zone it out. Because there is not much I can do. Luckily, my science is more exciting than ever, and thankfully life is good otherwise.
   

Disheartening Developments

I personally feel extremely deflated by these developments. Equally disturbing is the remarkable apathy on Canadian news channels; the story is already forgotten on CBC.  I don't see people around me caring about this enough. There are no demonstrations on the streets; the universities of Quebec don’t seem bothered.. It almost makes me feel that I must be crazy to feel so disheartened.. In Delhi I grew up around Sikhs particularly. Most wore turbans. To live in a society where they would be told---among others affected by this law, friends I knew who wore Kippahs, or Hijabs---that they are not welcome, that they cannot aim to become public servants, school teachers, that they are second class citizens, is incredibly hard to digest.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-notwithstanding-religious-symbols-1.5073945


I'm trying to rally people in the department, and at the university level to put an official letter out against this bill. Can only hope it helps. 

Making Ramen at Home.

So! We tried making Ramen at home; well Tom and Mallika's home, and it turned out pretty good! 

We followed basically the recipe from Brothers Green Eats youtube channel (these guys are just amazing). Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Icz13-Cj84&t=1s. 

Here's the end result: 

The components:

1. Turnips. Diced into bite sized, and sautéed with nothing but a little bit of olive oil until they've caramelized.
2. Cauliflower Florets. Salt+Pepper+generous oil coating, and left to roast in the oven for about 20 minutes (10 each side).
3. Tofu. Extra Firm Tofu cut into cakes, and cooked in a sauce made by reducing some soy sauce, a decent amount of maple syrup, and a little bit of rice wine vinegar. It did not get a crispy sear because we cooked it in the sauce. My bad.
4. Half-boiled egg. 6 minutes in boiling water.

5. Broth: A few Kombu (Japanese seaweed) leaves were heated in about a liter of water for about 20 minutes. Remove Kombu, and add Miso paste, as salty as you'd like. Additionally, chop a bunch of spring onion whites, garlic, ginger, and chili flakes and use these to flavor boiling hot oil. The flavors get imbued in the oil and you can add at least a few tablespoons of this stuff to the broth to give it more kick. Sriracha, soy sauce, sesame oil, can of course be also added.   

6. Ramen: Cooked in boiling water for 2 minutes.
7. Combine, and garnish with sesame seeds and spring onion greens.

Very hearty stuff!

However, I will say that with Asian food I still end up feeling like there's a bit of foreignness in the flavors. So when I make it myself, I get this sense that I may not be making this dish again even though I really enjoyed making and having it. Not sure why. Felt similar, but more so for the bok-choy soup I made the other day. 

Good food is the best use of money

I've come to the realization that one of the most honest things money can buy in life is good food, and electronics. But this post is about food so we will focus on that. All other uses of money simply do not provide the satisfaction as money spent on food does.

Here are three food orgasms I recently had:

1. Sea bass at Italienne, NYC. $35. Some thoughts: it is very very very challenging, viscerally, to go back to eating Salmon once you've had perfect Sea Bass, cooked with a most beautiful crispy skin, bathed in its own essential oils and herbs, and accompanied with the right savory sauce and greens. It is literally an eye opening experience. I dreamed about that meal for about two months, at the very least.

2. Bufala pizza, La Pizza & La Pasta, Eataly, NYC. Personal size at $25. Some thoughts: this is an experience that is like going from getting Naan in the US to getting Naan in India. (Of course this one I did backwards and my Naan life is a regular disappointment.) The Pizza you get at this place is truly worth every penny. Good Prosciutto and Mozzarella you can get at many places, but the dough is really what makes the pizza, just like it makes the Naan. I'm still dreaming about it.

3. Sencha Tea, Argonne National Lab old Russian folk Tea break, Free. (Tea imported from hibiki-an.com; $25 for 200 grams, or about 50 cups.) I must admit that I do not really like Japanese food. I've always held it up as an example of western obsession with appearances. A man knows how to cut a fresh fish properly, so what? (I'm not discounting Good Ramen or the taste value of good Nagiri, but let's be honest, this is pretty basic flavor profile and cooking technique.) However, good Sencha Tea is definitely something of a true miracle, and after reading about how it is prepared, I realize why. The best time to pick tea leaves is in spring; during the last few weeks of their lives, they are denied directly light. This prevents breakdown of thiamine into smaller amino acids that don't taste as good and are not as beneficial to human health and wellness. Finally, the leaves are plucked, roasted, and hammered into a characteristic long cylindrical shape. The brew technique is everything. 175F for 1 minute. Nothing less, nothing more. It produces a very mellow sweetness and feel goodness. Totally worth it.

Reminiscing

I was talking to a person about life in Princeton, and life in Boston. They said their life was so static; they didn't know what to do with themselves over the weekends so they just drove in to work. I told them how our life in Boston was so different. We used to walk so much. And I was reminded of the day we walked like 20 miles.

It started with an impromptu visit to our friend Dana's home in Brookline. We walked over 2 miles to reach her place. And from there we walked some more to reach the Arboretum in Jamaica Plains or Jamaica Pond was it? Then many rounds around the park, the birds were chirping, it was springtime. And finally we went to Dan and Jenny's place on Harvard Ave. Chilled there for some time, ate amazing sandwiches. Then we decided impromptu to walk another few miles to the Coolidge Corner theatre and watch the biopic on Ramanujam, or was it Turing? After which we walked back home. But it wasn't to end there. We then drove in Dan's jeep to an open air theatre to watch a trashy chick flick under a sky full of shooting stars. Scouty, our friend's dog really loved it. And finally we just stayed over at their place. It was fun. Life in Boson was good.

I can't wait to move to Montreal and to have more moments just walking around. Here's to new experiences and to new friends!

Annapurna Devi

Sometime posted this on facebook: link

I was instantly reminded of the movie Abhimaan. Turns out that the movie was indeed made after the troubled relationship between Pandit Ravi Shankar and his estranged wife Annapurna Devi. Deviji was by many accounts very talented, possibly more so than late Ravi Shankar, who of course became world famous touring the world and playing at Woodstock, and alongside the Beatles. In a lone interview, Deviji claimed she stopped playing the surbahar because of the jealousy she perceived from Ravi Shankar when she did. It couldn't have helped that Ravi Shankar was an incorrigible philanderer and by all accounts a reasonably shitty human being. For instance, he refused to acknowledge the existence of Norah Jones for a long time, stating that Anoushka Shankar was his only true daughter.

Abhimaan had such good songs. In fact, any old Hindi song just takes you to a place of such comfort and happiness. Maybe it is the classical underpinning of the music, maybe its the quality of the lyrics,  maybe its the use of old Hindustani instruments, I don't know. It sent me again to a happy place.

Simple pleasures in life.

1. Driving on California 1 under the setting sun while listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird.

2. Watching mother and calf dolphins swimming with each other. Watching humpback whale mommateaching her calf how to dive!

3. Discoveeing Lauryn Hill’s sexy music thru Drake’s shitty music. “Nice for what” —> “Ex-factor”.

Two New Obsessions

1. World History.

It's a bit sad but the Indian education system does not teach us nearly enough about world history. Here I am particularly thinking about European history, which is often entirely neglected. Some of it is natural because history in itself is only interesting when there is some context, usually from contemporary society, in which to understand its implications. Then there's the fact that there's enough goings-on in the history of the Indian subcontinent that themselves could use a more elaborate treatment than what is already given in Indian history books. And finally, one is often far too busy developing other skills, getting good grades, and just generally mucking about that the school system doesn't leave too much time to truly invest time in contextualizing history and developing a deeper appreciation for it.

The fact that I've been living in the US for over 8 years now, it's always felt like a glaring omission in my knowledge system to not have a better understanding of how the Western world has got to where it has gotten to be. So it was a fortuitous when about a year ago, I was introduced to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast series. And its had me hook, like and sinker ever since. Before, I would listen to these podcasts on long drives. It started with Dan's 24-hour podcast on World War 1 which he broke up into  ~4 hour chunks. A few drives to Boston and back were enough to go over this podcast, and it really has changed my world. I cannot overstate how amazing it was to learn of great military generals and their personalities, war strategy, geopolitical machinations, and how war motivated the development of new machinery. Scenes of the first gas attacks in WW1 (link), trench warfare, sudden truces to celebrate Christmas (link), the bloodshed in Verdun, the justification of war by Woodrow Wilson (link), the Shlieffen plan, the role of Bolshevik philosophy in demoralizing German troops on the eastern front, all these are just etched into my mind. I just feel like I understand a lot better the history of the modern world in the light of these things, and its a wonderful feeling.

Since then, I've poured 10+ hours on a history of the American Revolution (I am obsessed now with the beauty of the Bill of Rights!), 10+ hours on the fall of the Roman Republic (I cannot believe how advanced Rome was and how eerily similar the political and economic compulsions are to today's times; it is no wonder that the fathers of the American constitution thought so much about the fall of Rome when creating the constitution and the Bill of Rights!), 6+ hours on the rise of Genghis Khan, and now am 40+ hours into a podcast on the French Revolution. It's been fantastic. I listen on the way to work and on my way back. It's the best use of the time.

2. Risotto.

Pics will be posted some other time. I've perfected the asparagus risotto, next comes pea and baby spinach risotto, and finally, mushroom risotto. Mmmmmhhhhhhh.

The Asparagus Risotto. 

Recipe: (makes 2.5 of the portion pictured above)
a. 3 cups of water go in with an ample amount of vegetable stock concentrate into a small pot. Bring to boil.
b. Add chopped asparagus into boiling stock. Cook for 1-2 minutes and drain into ice cold water. Turn off the heat on the stock.
c. Saute 1/2 chopped white onion on medium heat for 3 minutes in 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan. Add salt/pepper.
d. Add 3/4 cups of arborio rice and saute for 1.5 minutes on high heat. Keep heat high from here on. Add 1/2 cup of stock to the pan, and mix with a ladle to help the rice
e. Keep adding 1/2 a cup of stock to the rice mix at a time, stirring continuously, until the stock is soaked up by the rice.
e. Finely chop 2 cloves of garlic. Use one teaspoon of salt as an abrasive to mince the garlic and bring out its juice.
f. On the last 1/2 cup portion of the stock (~14 minutes after first 1/2 cup of stock is added), add the garlic/salt mix, 1 tablespoon butter (or more), a little bit of shredded parmesan cheese (no powder cheese). Stir. At the 18 minute mark after having added the first 1/2 cup of stock, add the asparagus. Mix everything.
g. After the rice has soaked most (but not all) of the stock, and is nice and gooey, with a bit of runniness, remove the pan from heat and let the rice breathe for 1 minute. Done.

What a wonderful feeling I get everytime I eat this stuff. 

Churchill.

Always had a hard time swallowing this, and so I'm glad someone's saying something about this. Also worth listening to are Shashi Tharoor's videos on this matter---https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/03/10/in-winston-churchill-hollywood-rewards-a-mass-murderer/?utm_term=.570b048667a1 

If we as a people truly believe in the equality of humankind, then we cannot be glorifying this heinous beast, or the imperialist British empire. If we must remember heroes from WW2, it should be people like Henry Wallace, VP to FDR, who championed the cause against British imperialism and called out the hypocrisy of the British waging a war against Nazi Germany while simultaneously propounding their right to own colonies that enslaved people. Who will ever pay for the 4 million Bengalis who died of starvation in 3 consecutive years due to the absolute lack of empathy of Churchill and the British? And how does one explain the glibness with which Churchill once remarked to Wallace that Anglo-Saxons were the most superior people on earth all the while pretending to wage a war against fascist Germany?

At this point, it is almost insulting to mention, but I will do so anyway, the fact that Churchill was also a completely useless military strategist. He absolutely 

botched his way through much of WW1 where despite being the Naval Commander of the much superior British naval fleet he could not do anything to pressure essentially land-locked German forces. His absolute naivete  led to the heaviest of defeats for the British at the hands of the vastly weaker Turks in Gallipoli. 

The Championing of Churchill because of his two podgy fingers is pathetic beyond belief. WW2 was 100% a victory of the Russians over Nazi Germany at an expense of life like no other state ever suffered. When the Russians requested for British to contribute to the war effort by distracting the Germans on the Western Front, Churchill instead chose to glibly occupy his attentions with North African states where the war was not really a matter of bother. This led to Churchill being completely sidelined by FDR in the meeting of the leaders in Tehran where FDR tried very hard to suck up to Stalin, whose only request was that Churchill be sidelined for this to happen. It did, as it should have. 

More birds of New Jersey

I spotted quite a few more birds and this time I took photos of them. These are the larger birds; maybe I'll take more photographs of the smaller ones and post them another time. I've also seen a few perfectly white terns around (actually I'm not sure what these are) but I haven't got a photo of that.  

A cormorant with a yellow beak and black body swimming with its head up. These guys like to live in one marshy part of the lake and then take flights/swims from their home base. Very beautiful birds, and I wish I had a better picture. 

Never seen such a pregnant Canada Goose before! 

A decent-sized hawk right outside my apartment window! This guy probably came to hunt some sparrows or rabbits



.

I really like this picture. It's the Great Blue Heron that's hiding amongst the vegetation there. Don't know how this came out such high quality compared to the others!

 

Great Blue Heron

For the past several months, I've been spotting a most amazing blue heron. Its color is like a pastel sea blue and its beak looks ridiculously sharp and long; wouldn't want to be at the end of that! Maybe I'll take a photograph of it. Its wingspan is about 5-6 ft. easily and it glides so gracefully 4-5 ft. above water, with its neck just swaying back and forth a little in harmony with the motion of its giant wings. There are other times it's flying higher up, closer to the tree line and then it really looks like a pterodactyl. It's really a most ominous, and yet magnificent sight.

It often does these rounds where it will fly right along one edge of the tow-path, I'm guessing its hunting. I don't know how far it flies one way, but judging by how it comes back on the other side in a matter of 3-4 minutes, I'm guessing it could be a mile that it flies before turning around. Yesterday I saw it just idling by the edge waiting for fish. It's been nervous around me before but this time it did not stir at all as I ran past it, although it did crane (:P) its neck in my general direction just to be sure. It's also possible there are two of them, a couple, and well that'd be dandy innit, if we got to see heron pups.

80s crime shows vs. now

80s America was so beautiful. When I watch the X-Files, or Twin Peaks, I'm just enthralled by how awesome everyone's (curly) hair and dressing sense was. So ideal. People had classic lives back then. Coffee, pie, and a sandwich for 6 bucks? Insane.

Also, watching Twin Peaks really reminded me of The Killing, which has got to be one of the best crime TV series ever. The plot and theme are very similar; it almost feels as if The Killing was directly inspired and even copied from Twin Peaks. Which makes the two ideal for a comparison between the 80s and the 2010s. So what's changed?

1) Characters are more troubled now.  Most characters in Twin Peaks live fairly happy average lives. They're scheming and cheating on their spouses, but somehow it feels like its not leading to much emotional turmoil. By contrast, Linden is a total sociopath. The Broadchurch lead, River, Luther---all broken lead characters. Shetland is an anomaly in this regard wherein the lead character is a truly average bloke. Also, most main characters don't have any sort of family to speak of in modern shows. Usually they are divorced, single, or pretending to be in their 20s when they're in their 50s. It all adds to the dreariness.

2) People were much more emotional back then. There was room for lines such as, "we need to give justice to xyz's life; she would've wanted us to do that; oooh Jimmy (woman saying)", etc. People also used to admit to being in love rather quickly/easily. Bikes were more popular. They were also called hogs. Piquant.

3) A lot more credence was given to spirits, mumbo-jumbo, Freudian dream sequences, and other gullible shit. People are far too calculating and clear-headed today. This is probably for the better? But it also means there's less room for creativity in script-writing.

4) Crime shows had a different pace. There were a lot more moments of respite from the gruesome details of the case. Humor was a big part of the typical crime thriller. Now it really isn't. I'm not sure where I stand with this. I think Twin Peaks does humor right. But The Killing makes a good case for the opposite.

5) The music was always cheery. There was jazz, swing, and "crime scene" jazz music which was still pretty upbeat. It was all kind of like Tom and Jerry; Jerry always got killed to some great jazz in the background.  The music now is by rule dreary, trance/techno/edm shit.

6) Visuals are more gruesome now. In some sense, this again helps in the immersion, and I actually prefer this if its done properly. The American Horror Story is a counter-example where IMO it goes too far at times.

7) Young adults gave a little more respect to their parents, although not much more.

8) Feminism was not a thing. You can't have good crime shows today without a top female lead, who also happens to be very feminist. This typically involves them banging a subordinate male. Take Gilian Anderson in The Fall, for example, which is also a series up there with likes of The Killing. Men were also much more alpha.

What else, hmm?

Increasing running speed is hard.

I tried to increase my running speed by a bit today but by 1.7 miles or so, I was feeling tired/breathless. I hobbled my way back home because when I stopped, the blood just rushed to my legs and it started paining really badly.

 It's also because of the mentality I suppose? I ran 10K yesterday and so I was happy to have it easy running 5K today. But increasing speed is not taking it easy and it mentally deflated me when I realized I was feeling tired at 1.7 miles. I sat down for a quick break but then my legs just got jammed. Perhaps I needed more rest and/or warming-up. Perhaps I needed to be mentally stronger. Perhaps it was the increased spread.

Still, the advantages to this are so much.

1) I feel my back is getting stronger. I laze around less and slouch less.
2) I breathe deeper, or at least I think I do. I'm guessing that's good.
3) My body is getting toned.

These are the overt changes occurring to my body, but I'm sure there are many things inside that are improving as well. Got to keep this up! :)

11K!

Today I ran 11K, or 6.8 miles in about 1 hour and 6 minutes. I feel really proud of myself! And this time, it did tire me out. But I want to go at it again already and do better.

The path was still a little muddy and soggy from the rains of yesterday and the day before so there were tricky portions to negotiate and maybe I could get speed improvements if I just ran straighter on a drier path. There was also a transition where segments of the running path are connected by a paved road and I got lost and had to go through a number of dead ends to get back on the running path. So again, room for improvement.

There are also a number of physiological changes that happen over the course of the run. At the 1 mile mark, my legs started to get fully into the activity; before that they were just not really "solidly with me"? At the 3 mile mark, I experienced a bit of back pain which almost made me consider stopping. But I was like, fuck that shit, it'll go away. All the pain goes numb in some time, this much running has taught me, and this one did too. At the 6 mile mark, I realized I was running too slowly, so I picked up pace. It wasn't a problem. But by the end of it, I really was tired. Over the course of the run, I saw the lake change to a river, and then to a woody marsh. It was nice. I Ubered back and the drive felt long; it was very satisfying to see how far I'd come! I even boasted about it to the Uber driver lol.

How to get better? I'm realizing that this is now starting to eat up my time in a big way. At the beginning, it was 10 minutes lol! But I do want to run at least a half marathon at some point. And I want to maintain that kind of fitness level for the rest of my life.

PS: Point to note: do not run after drinking. As intuitive as that sounds, alcohol does not make you run longer. I tried this yesterday and that was a massive fail with me slipping on the wetter mud and calling it quits.

PPS: Milind Soman and his mother are just really cool. After I saw his 75 year old mother running a half marathon in a sari and that too barefoot, I know anything can be achieved!

Running Longer and Faster!

Today I ran almost 4 miles non-stop, and I did that in about 38 minutes. Admittedly this is slow pace, but it's still a lot of positive change for me. And running now really feels like walking. It's just as easy.  I was also not tired or hurting at all by the end of it! When I reached home, I was like, this is just not enough, so I ran once around my apartment complex and that too at a much faster pace.

It just feels good. Although I think today might be a blip because I didn't get to run for almost a week and half because of back to back conferences. Or perhaps it was because I listened to the song Ambarsariya on loop!

A new hero.

Ronnie O' Sullivan. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/30/follow-the-white-ball.

I relate to him. The stress, depression, the constant self-doubt. It's funny how I zone in on these kinds of people; it's like I'm naturally in tune with them. Every time I feel like I've found a person I really admire, it turns out that they are a depressed smoker. It's not even a joke. I like people who are intelligent and emotional/passionate at the same time, and maybe for this you need to be oddly pathetic and self-deriding. When I got obsessed with Faiz, it was easy to verify that he was a depressed smoker, then it was Van Gogh, in another age it was Stephen Fry, and now after watching many games of snooker: Ronnie O'Sullivan. Goes without saying I'm not a genius like Ronnie, but that doesn't change one thing that I've discovered for myself and one thing which is really helpful. Running beats smoking. When Ronnie says, "When I run, I don't ever feel like smoking but the last six weeks I haven't been able to... I was feeling sorry for myself and decided to start smoking again.", I totally understand.

I feel so much better running. I'm grossly out of shape so progress is easy. It's too soon to say how long I'll keep this up. It's only been 2 weeks since I started. I'm doing about 2 miles every day. Hopefully I'll keep increasing both speed and endurance and get myself to be like Ronnie.

Update: Today when I started to run, it became really cold and for 5-6 minutes it was snowing. By the end of it, my legs and head and hands were basically feeling frozen. It was awesome, and it makes you feel like you're like a yogi powering through your sense of cold lol. But, maybe it's not smart and I should've been dressed better and shorts and t-shirt.
Also, I need to understand how to fix pain. I don't stop because I'm out of breath. I stop because my left ankle feels sprained because of my flat foot. That's probably not good. I have to find a way to fix this.

Update 2: I bought new (FLAMING RED) shoes for better arch support and it did help, but not much. Also, I need to stop being obsessed with running the whole distance in one stretch. I could probably make faster progress if I just stopped a few times, and ran a lot more.

Update 3: I'm getting addicted to running. Every moment I don't have anything useful to do, I want to spend running.

Update 4: Today I felt amazing about my run. I ran about 2.3 miles but I wasn't even tired at the end of it. I really felt that I could have just kept on running and running forever, most certainly a 5K. I don't know why but it felt like I was past a phase transition today; it's like a point beyond which if you convince yourself mentally, and physically, that you just have to keep going on, you really can keep on running.
Why I stopped at 2.3 miles is of course because I try to set a length at which to turn around on the tow-path, and that kind of (but not really) sets how much I can run from my home and back. I just didn't realize that somehow I'd be so happy running today so I turned around near my usual point of turning around. And my shins/feet didn't hurt either: this time I ran with a combination of the red shoes that work like magic on my left foot, and the aqua blue shoes that work like magic on the right foot. :D It looks a bit silly. I mean, if I was a pro soccer player, it'd be cool, but I'm not. An old woman was walking calmly in the opposite direction to my run and she shot me the most hilarious smile ever like, "these young fashion-obsessed kids". Ma'am, it's a matter of practicality for me!

Some Rum and Four Seasons in One Day.

This past week was pretty enjoyable: good physics, cool results, and I came back home to practice a bit on the guitar. Ah it's been so long since I played the guitar. All my finger callouses were gone. But now they're back! And I recorded one of my old favorites: Four Seasons in One Day by Crowded House.

Could be much improved, of course, because I go off tune so many times. The issue is that I can't record both the guitar and singing at the same time using my stupid laptop microphone. It just doesn't work. The guitar begins to sound tinny. And it's just much easier to keep your tone/rhythm when you're playing along with the guitar. I need to figure out a way if this can be fixed.

A concise dictionary of Punjabi pop songs.

Living alone is terribly boring. That's a fact. I have just too much free time on my hands these days, and Saturdays and Sundays are especially useless. Although most of the time I work, there's always some time to enjoy and watch snooker or the great pottery throw down or listen to nonsensical Punjabi songs. So much so, that at this point I figured I should make a concise dictionary on the trends in Punjabi pop music.

Here's the most amazing and concise list that probably exists nowhere else on the internet. The aim of this list is to not to talk about various genres of pop or cheesy love songs but to highlight the most awkward themes in Punjabi music. And I'm absolutely honored to make this small contribution to the canon. So here goes nothing.

1. Punjabi kid in India finds his girlfriend is being arranged with a Punjabi guy in England/Australia/Canada/USA and is heartbroken.

Chief sub-themes: the foreign born Indian is an effeminate guy who can't speak Punjabi properly and the lead celebrates the breakup with lots of alcohol (Patiala Peg referring to, of course, a glass of whiskey filled to half glass.), preferably explaining that he was done with the girl anyway.

Special Mentions: Diljit Dosanjh with such great hits as Patiala Peg (Canadian boy marries his girl so he makes lots of Patiala Pegs and gets drunk) and Panj Taara (English boy marries his girl so he drinks lots of whiskey and dances).


2. Punjabi kid is a villager and he likes a girl from the city.

Chief sub-themes: There are many subtle variations to this theme, but some things stay common. Villager is a hard-working dude. Girl is a snob, who wears western clothes, wears sunglasses, and drives a good car. Girl is enchanted with villager dude, of course.

Special Mentions: Ammy Virk's Date (where he laments the girl's desire to go on a date since he hardly has time besides farm work), Preet Harpal's Law (where he says that it's not his fault that his Law-studying wife left law and became a housewife who gets bored cooking but what can she do---he's so cool and worth it after all), and Jassi Gill's Bapu Zimidar (he's too poor that all the money in his bank account is equal to one time meal for the girl. She likes him but he thinks she's too sleazy because he sees her playing basketball with another guy. Lame.)

3. Chiding the girl for wearing western clothes.

Special Mention: Navv Inder and Badshah's Wakhra Swag ("Girl, you throw your life after Gucci Armaani, and keep checking tags for brand names, come, let me show you what true style is. I'm a Jatt from Ferozpur, I never say anything that is illegitimate. Let me show you what true style is. My style is unmatchable". Right.) And forgot: Guru Randhawa's Suit (This has a whole section in English which is like, you're awesome whatever you wear, but you know you blow my mind in a sari, which is kind of really just true.)

4. The CAR. Especially if it's a Lamborghini/Jaguar/etc.

Chief theme: The CAR. The girl wants the car.

Special Mentions: Sukh-E's Jaguar (Girl gives love on condition of Jaguar; Sukh-E is cool though generally), Imran Khan's Amplifier ("Girl you're my woofer, I'm your amplifier." wtf. Must be said though this song is great to hear while driving. )

5. Cross-border Love.  Self-explanatory.

Special Mentions: Gippy Garewal's Lahore (all the pretty girls are from Lahore, Delhi, Chandigarh, of course...).

6. Girl cheats. This is surprisingly common in Punjabi pop.

Special Mentions: Pav Dharia's Bewafa AND Imran Khan's Bewaffa. How creative.

Now, let us not forget a lot of Punjabi pop songs are made by Indian and Pakistani immigrants settled in Canada, USA, England, and Australia. So how does this intense villager dynamic translate into the Western setting you ask? This brings another important category of important songs.

7. Race Relations. Self-explanatory.

Special Mentions: A-kay's Brown-Boi (lamenting how Indian girls in Toronto are going for white boys. Then he shows one such girl his Lamborghini and she's "wtf, made the wrong call going for the white guy", and then, too bad, there's even a girl inside the Lamborghini. Of course.), Pav Dharia's Gal Sun Ja (regarding dating an Australian girl.),  Yo Yo Honey Singh's Brown Rang (he only wants to date brown girls.)

8. English Punjabis who suddenly discover a love for their dying language.

Special Mentions: Jaz Dhami's Meh Punjabi Boli Ah ("I speak Punjabi". Intense video laments the split of Punjab, and a kid who only knows Punjabi script getting beaten by his teacher who wants him to memorize ABCD).


AND FINALLY, WHAT SHIT AM I LISTENING TO TODAY? Harry Sandhu's Backbone and Hornn Blow, and Pav Dharia's Heer Meri.  I'm positively ashamed for listening to this shit, but what they hey, it's entertaining enough.