the new year new age questionnaire :)

1) What do you have a natural gift for? (not a talent, just a character trait)

i) Guilting myself:

:) i was damn good at this even at the age of 8, when an (evil! grr..) cousin convinced me that my grandfather was going to be arrested because i had laughed so loudly..although way better now, i can still spend completely unnecessary guilted times, provided the guilter does a good logical job :)

ii)Seeing the lighter side of things:

this is a plus for me, but am sure can be dampening for others at times! it also means very little scope for reverence or belief about things without tangible proof of them. come to think of it, that can be damn irritating if stretched to its maximum. like my mother often says as a favourite exasperated statement 'for you everyone else is right' :) just the irritating habit of seeing all points of view leading to the conclusion that nobody is wrong..but luckily i take sides nonetheless, on principle :) also luckily, things like seas, books, mountains, children,music and rainbows exist, and can generate quite enough reverence to keep me in touch with the sentiment! :)

iii) Paranoia:

i still look under the bed every night..if i m not allowed i would sit up with a torch and get bleary eyed.

and any smart would be murderer would just have to lock me in a room alone with 'the ring' or its equivalent on autoplay...

iv) sensing emotion

I dont know how to describe this!:) but i could always tell even in school if the teacher'd had a fight at home in the first 10 minutes..and it always bothered me that nobody cared to be gentler with her that day :(

2) Do you like self help and 'designed to inspire' kind of books?

No. as to why..I think because I don't learn anything from them, and they don't evoke any feeling from me! like someone said, touches neither mind nor heart :) atleast the few i ve read i ve found either pretentious (meaning fairly obvious truths cloaked in fancy terms) or just plain uninteresting :(..i cant say a thing to anyone raving about the book 'jonathan livingstone seagull', for example! (though what a lovely name :) But i believe the category has expanded so i may be generalizing unintentionally. there are apparently more concrete ones written now, for instance with people's life stories..i havent tried them but atleast i can see that they must have some content, so should try..


3) What do you respect in people around you?

well of course thats a long list! But I think it d boil down to strength of character and a sort of tenacity. Strength of character sounds like a conveniently loose term :) but I mean it as some mix of sincerity, passion,interest,conviction and hard work. I think its a poor way to spend a life if done with a half hearted interest in what you do and in people and things around you. I m also among those who can unfortunately admire some facets of people, even if i dont like them (damn :) :)

4) What bothers you in people?

Lack of tolerance bothers me very much. Both at the personal and at the larger..for instance in evidence right now, country level. Maybe it partly stems of working in a field where variety is admired and is the basis for everything else.. I find it incredible that one cAN object to people doing things differently, instead of being happy to learn that there is one more way of doing it!

so does lack of sensitivity.

so does a sense of extra bhaav ( i prefer it to 'ego' :)..even the merited kind can be hard to take, the unmerited generates sand-pit ducking impulses in me!!

5) What are you bad at?

i) drawing

ii) accepting a compliment

iii) pretending

iv) Going to a bank or office and not fighting with a lady

v) Convincing the IISc security that i m a legitimate student here..

i would have added waiting in a queue but thats not true anymore! yay i ve learnt tons of patience :)


6) What are you bad at understanding?

i) An inability to laugh at oneself:

Somehow I think the rigidity born of this attitude diminishes anyone's personality :(

ii) Politicians and businessmen donating to temples in crores while letting schools and hospitals languish:

I have nothing against it being both, but in a country like ours I find it really sad that people with money to give often choose to soothe their own consciences apparently to wash away sin, while someone's life can be changed drastically with it. Thankfully I believe many places run associated charities, i hope they expand.

iii) Imposing your views or preferences on others:

Not happening!though a healthy argument is very much happening :)

iv) Many society driven 'ushoo's :) :

must be plenty such taboos, and some that i agree with by virtue of my own personality or upbringing or inhibitions, but a taboo that has no basis other than that someone has decided its 'bad' or immoral or whatever, carries no conviction with me..unless of course its proven harmful

8) What do you think is essential to growth (as a person)?

i) Travel! :)

ii) Interacting with people (like R.K.Narayan and Miss Marple have pointed out in two v different cultures, a village can provide as much scope as the world if rightly tapped :)

iii) A general willingness and effort to explore and accept

9) Are you good at forgiving people and yourself?

Yes! :) and no :(

10) Do you get enough exercise?

No.But am getting better in small doses!

11) Would you enjoy working in industry?

I doubt it v much..but I might like it for a short time, just for the experience. On the whole I m all for academics or any private freelancey thing for a sane balance of things in life :) not to say you cant get madly involved and slavedriving academics, of course you do! but if you re calling the shots you can arrange it your way in a quiet non madly competitive place, and have time to call your own :)

well thats a longish list..happy new year everyone! :)