Colour and variety

This is a post that is so high-context that few would be able to understand its meaning, but I will nevertheless write it.

Yesterday I was talking to someone in the office. I mentioned that I had gone to a play on Sunday. The other person replied, "I too saw a play on the weekend." Instantly a thought came into my head - if someone has seen a play, then that person might be rather interesting. Funnily enough, I had never seen a play before last year. Was I a duller person then? I think so, though I also think that there's plenty of scope for improvement still :)

Are elder siblings smarter?

Read this interesting article about birth-order affecting intelligence in the NY Times. Rather intriguing, since I am generally inclined to believe that intelligence is mostly genetically determined (of course, a really bad environment can overturn genetic advantages...I suppose that a kid who has born into a poor family without access to even basic learning material in childhood might never develop into as smart a kid as he/she could have)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/22/science/22sibling.html

Would like to read more related material before making a judgment

Happy Holidays

I really like the Club Mahindra ad that's been playing recently on TV. The tune of the song "You Happy" is really pleasant, and constant cycles through my head. Perhaps, I want to travel again :)

Sexist language

Yesterday I was in the office pantry, fixing up some bread-jam. Two others were also standing there. Both are near strangers. I first spoke to the girl for a few seconds - the entire exchange in English. Next I turned to the boy. Not sure how it began, but the bulk of conversation was in Hindi.

That's something I have often observed. Whenever girls talk either with other girls or with boys, the language used is English. Guys tend to speak to each other in Hindi. This is hardly an iron-fisted rule of course, but I noticed this tendency in both my engineering and business schools. I have asked some people what their opinion about this is, but while many agree with my observation, no one has put forth a hypothesis of why this might be so. I have little clue myself of the possible causes. But it sure is interesting :)

Joyous Road

Over the past few weeks, I have been repeatedly asked why I walk from Churchgate station to and fro my office, or why I always to prefer to meet my friends on Marine Drive. My simple answer - "I like this road!" If one stands at the flyover near Marine Lines station, the view along both ends of this sweeping stretch of concrete is breathtaking. On the one end is the tall and varying skyline of Nariman Point, with the shorter, more uniform apartments of Navy Nagar further beyond. Closer to the flyover are the cute and pleasing curves of the Art Deco buildings. Walking towards Charni Road, the sea constantly in view and inviting me to get lost, sometimes in deeply personal memories and fantasies, and at other times in thoughts of the wider world beyond, various gymkhanas with their cricket matches and other going-ons come into sight. All the while Chowpatty gets bigger and clearer, and the Malabar Hill always beckons - looking crowded, yet green and peaceful. I remember that occasionally whenever we were going home from my dad's office years ago, the neon signs displayed in front of the buildings in Malabar Hill used to fascinate me. I still like watching them at night :)

Marine Drive signifies all that I love about Bombay - the hustle and bustle, the shining lights, the never-ending stream of people, the personal space that still exists despite the crowds, ruthless commerce managing to produce things of such beauty and even grandeur and the sea lapping the city's shores and inviting its inhabitants to think big. There is much that's wrong with Bombay, and I don't want to gloss over these shortcomings. But walking along Marine Drive, everything seems right. And I fall in love with Bombay all over again :)