Who "are" Ramόn y Cajal??

Yesterday, as I was leaving home, I heard a girl talking to her friend in the elevator:

"Beat this... After like (Oh yes! The 'likes'... Can never get over them!) years and years of Neuroscience, only yesterday I came to know that Ramόn y Cajal was one person." Oh my!! The two laughed. I tried hard not to laugh in front of them. Later, I wondered how interesting the situation would have been had a Neuroscience Prof. been in that elevator then! Heee heee.. :D

Listening to that little talk made me feel much better about my occasional (but not so infrequent :P) misconceptions in Science.

Passions in Life

I chanced on this piece of writing today. This is exactly my state of mind today. As I sit alone in my room, exhausted after a day of cleaning and organizing stuff, a multitude of thoughts linger around in my head. Questions about life pop up once in a while, leaving me helpless as I struggle to find an answer. A satisfaction of having discovered something has engulfed me after reading this. :)


"Three passions have governed my life:
The longings for love, the search for knowledge,
And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind].

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.
In the union of love I have seen
In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision
Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.
I have wished to understand the hearts of [people].
I have wished to know why the stars shine.

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,
But always pity brought me back to earth;
Cries of pain reverberated in my heart
Of children in famine, of victims tortured
And of old people left helpless.
I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot,
And I too suffer.

This has been my life; I found it worth living."

- Bertrand Russell

Kuch khaas hai hum sabi mein!! :)

I miss Indian advertisements. I am sure a lot of people, away from India, would agree with me. Yesterday, over dinner, Rush and I spent about one and a half hours watching Indian ads and videos. The star hit was the Cadbury's Dairy Milk ad. Honestly, the first time I watched the ad (when I was a little kid), I disliked it. I thought the idea of the girl run into the cricket field with Dairy Milk in her hand was very stupid. I don't remember the exact point of time when I started liking it; since then it has never failed to charm me.

A few months ago, I was reminded of this ad and played it on loop on youtube for days! (I am not adding the phrase 'till I got bored of it' because I never did!) I was so obsessed with that ad that I made almost every friend of mine a victim of my obsession. Whoever called me during that period had to listen to that song over the phone while I played it on youtube. I have done this with ISD callers too!

Apart from just loving the ad and dairy milk, of course [:D], I totally agree with the line: "Kuch khaas hai hum sabi mein". How true! My belief in this statement is forever increasing. Everybody is special in his/her own way. The more people I meet and interact with, the more I have started appreciating the value and beauty of variety. How boring would the world be if everybody looked, thought, spoke and acted the same way! I wouldn't want to live in such a world! Every time my self-confidence or self-worth suffers a set-back, I think of this ad. It acts as a big boost to my morale. Each of us is wonderful and unique and when we start believing in that, we start loving and respecting ourselves more. Not only are we happier in life, we make others around us happy too!

The Namesake

I am half-way through the book 'The Namesake'. So, what's in a name? I haven't finished reading the book yet. But, at this stage, I am confused as to whether or not I should feel bad for Gogol, for his name. Why does he make such a big deal out of it? On certain occassions, it is because people really are being mean to him about his name. But on others, it is plainly because he cares so much about what they have to think about it, the truth being they dont really care.

All of us worry, at some point or the other, about what the rest of the world has to think about us. Some of us are doing it constantly, so that it has got ingrained into our sub-consciences. We then aren't ourselves, we are what we want the world to think we are. I understand that one has to keep in mind the aftermath of his/her actions; one has to be responsible for them. So, it is wise and advisable to think before you act. But, how far can one carry this precaution? Is it the fear of these responsibilities that is preventing us from being ourselves? Or is it just the need for mass approval, the need to be in everybody's or certain people's good books?

How many of us are true to ourselves? Boy! It takes so much courage to just be who you are!

Speech...

Is there any 'speech' more beautiful than the incomprehensible blabber of a baby?