There are times when I get tempted to use certain cliches, knowing that they are cliches, but nevertheless. One of them is "shadow of his former self". I was having this sudden urge to use it this one day and as my luck (or hunch) it did manage it to use it that day. It was just unfortunate that the circumstances weren't the ones I was looking for.

We all have certain rituals, not necessarily religious ones. Like my daily (read: weekday) ritual of going to a different place for lunch. The street our office is on and the surrounding ones are host to plenty of places for quick lunch, elaborate lunches (read again: lunch dates) and of course the quite sober places. Each day of the work-week, I make sure I visit one of them. No single place for two-days consecutively!

It was one of those typical Thursday noon's, with the weekend looming large on the minds and work week still running for yet another day and a half! I locked off the system and went out for my lunch. Coming out of a slow day at office, I badly needed some whiff of fresh air to rejuvenate those numbed sensors. I went to the quick-fix burger joint, ordered my usual chicken sandwich and mocha iced-coffee. Can you believe it, I still am addicted to that stupid iced-coffee, no matter which season!! I always order that.. another of those rituals I guess.

But today was something different. There was an eerie feeling that somebody I know was around me. It was still close to my office, so it could be my colleagues, but it just wasn't the same. The HUNCH.

I waited for my order to turn up. There were couple of guys and a girl working inside. The Guy. No, I mean.. that guy, that back, slightly bent forward. I remember it from somewhere in the past... but couldn't place it exactly. I didn't have to wait long. He turned. That face. That forehead. THIS WAS HIM!!! WORKING IN A FRIGGING BURGER JOINT!!!

I was so taken back that I couldn't stand straight for a second. I felt as though I was about to sway and fall. IT WAS THAT GUY ..

*Flash*back:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present the winner of this year's Most Promising Student of the Year..." and the claps drowned the name. It was well known who it was. "He is a born leader", said one. "He is the future", said another. "I wish I had him as my boyfriend", shrieked a girl behind us. GIRLS!!!

He stood up, adjusting the lapels of his blazer, turned around from his front row seat and waved to the claps. HIS WELL-WISHERS. He was standing, with his "customary" slightly bent over posture. Walked up the ramp and collected his prize. And then, everything was silent. Not a single clap. Not a single howl. He was speaking. Yet, it was silent all over the hall to me. I watched him, only watched. I couldn't hear him. I probably didn't want to. I HATED HIM.

*Flash*front.

I don't know for how long I was standing there, going into that flashback and coming front again. He stood staring at me. For how long?

We were seated outside the joint now. Under one of those fancy canopy like umbrella structures with white table and chairs. He was right across me. The once proud "forehead" that acclaimed itself as "the best" was now wrinkled. Some sweat. Some .. err white powder. His eyes deep in their sockets. He probably was working part-time there. He was speaking something, no asking something. But, I couldn't hear a thing. I was still in that same frame of mind I was 4 years ago. Watching him from the seating to his position on the dais. That Impressive Presence. There's nothing impressive now. A worn-out black t-shirt that carried the emblem of the joint.

I made a great effort to listen to him. I finally did. All I could make out was the last phrase "time is a great leveler, isn't it?"

I nodded. We talked for some more time. I told him that I worked few miles from there and had come down here for some work. I was watching his eyes. His documented strengths. They could hold anyone's vision. Mesmerized, the other would usually be. Not now, his eyes were now hiding. No wonder his eye sockets were so deep, I laughed to myself, inside.

We parted. Remember the cliche I wanted to use that morning? "Shadow of his former self"? It came true.

I was struck as to why I felt this sing-song way. Apparently I was humming my way back into the office, one of my colleague remarked. I was brighter by couple of lumens.

Why not!! He is after all, a Shadow now. I have the glow.

I HATED HIM. I still do. I felt better. I felt better.

Freaking Jealous Bastard!!!

A friend of mine once remarked (re-said not exact words; "Never do the mistake of looking up your diseases on the net. They make it sound/look more horrible than it is."

One of the first things I have grasped from Michael Crichton's State of Fear, is the state of fear we are perpetually forced to live in. The above line could as well be applied to it, though some may vehemently deny its relevance here. But, as I said, why is this so?

This is because a lot of medical terminology, sometimes straight out of the book, makes it way into the public domain. This may sometimes, scare the be-god out of us. Anyway, that's not the point here.

Coming back to the theory, somewhere along the research in human brain might have revealed the fact that human brain can actually process only some amount of the information that is thrown at it. And when this happens repeatedly, the same kind of information that is actually not relevant to the brain or the body or the person, the brain/person gets used to it and becomes reasonably nonchalant/unresponsive/apathetic to any of the stimuli applied or present around him, including it/him/her. (Read again).

This works same as the repeated stimuli being applied leads to a lesser or milder response than when first applied. What this means is that when one actually feels or faces any of those stimuli (like bomb blasts, floods etc etc) they react with a lesser than usual response.

One of the other "advantages" of this information overload is that with so much information being broadcasted, the target may or may not sift through it completely to find news relevant to him/her. This would lead to, over a period of time, laziness to find anything and take whatever is available unless otherwise specified. This way, whoever is leading this campaign can effectively drown any authentic piece of news.

The so called "netizens" also play a crucial role in this. Some of the earliest "netizens" (read bloggers and their ilk) may actually be part of this evil campaign. The one who got people started to feel that the INTERNET is actually a public domain, your/mine/our domain. That includes me too by the way. With such messages going round, gullible people actually started to feel that they "OWN" Internet hence giving their ideas and thoughts a place to be read by others, which usually would have been subdued inside them. (Again, this includes me too).

So what would happen here? Hoardes of people- good, bad and the foolish, all come to the party, effectively creating a mess of intangible gibberish (sometimes, like this one). Wikipedia is one such example. When people are given the chance of "creating" history, who wouldn't be tempted to change a few lines here and there? And include their own names or exclude?

If not wiki, then there are our good own blogs too!!!

A reason (among many) why this theory is constituted is because I did a brief (read brief) search on the truth of global warming. Considering myself an above-average science student (who is unfortunately studying Biotechnology... LOL), I started off reading about the GW issue. The data and evidence, supporting and opposing it. There are prominent people opposing it, which makes the issue to be noticed and not just brushed off that GW due to humans is actually an unproven phenomenon, if not a complete hoax.

When I was discussing with my Professor, he came down on the opposing side very heavily, taking me out in the process. What started off as a casual talk turned into a full-scale debate, at one point doubting my own science credentials. I could have balked at that moment and accepted that GW has a huge human input but, not to be forced into believing I rather towed to a neutral line of "waiting for more evidence". When I was searching, I found that there was no single credible source on the whole Internet* (*credible here depends on what you take as a credible source), hence I can't say for sure, cos neither am I a geologist nor a very smart person who can grasp things that are not being said.

To Be Continued...

I have always wished I could write better stuff. Better than the usual rants and rambles. One of my good friends even advised me to take up writing as a career (either she was kidding or I am hopelessly ignorant of her sarcasm). But nevertheless, from time to time I get these sudden urges to write something, that might, in a very remote way, make sense. Like the one I am about to write now. I have had this in my head for quite some time now.

Theorie stupefious - The Information Overload Conspiracy

Disclaimer: I have never read this before. In a chance that this exists before hand, I swear I haven't come across it in this manner so you could consider piece an inspiration.

Ever noticed amount of information we have at our hand now? The internet, the media (including television and print), all of them combined give us a mammoth information source. Now we know what happens even in the remotest part of the world thanks to internet and communication. "Remotest" - never even heard of the place before?
"A devastating flood in xxxxxx has left more than 500 hundred people dead" - Source.
Sounds familiar? Ever come across such piece of news?

And then we have the usual information bombardment straight in our face everyday, every hour. With so much information, how are we supposed to grasp anything that we might need? How do we even know what is useful to us or what is not? It so happens (with the above example of a flood) that we know something happened somewhere in the world, but we never know what is actually happening in the street right behind us!!

We know what sh*t some country's government is doing, but we never "notice" what our government is doing to us. Did you ever pay attention to it? Did it ever occur to you?

No, it didn't occur to me. Until, I decided to play some detective in a thriller novel, trying to pull away the curtains that have been drawn across our eyes to blind us from things which we shouldn't see, be seeing. It's just like the Matrix, except that here, there are no machines, nor there is an evil Machine World. It's just humans. Against humans.
Those with power, against those who have, but never realized.
Those with vested interests against those who have simple interests such as food, money, sex and family.

I wondered why so much of internet is open to people. Anyone and absolutely anyone can use this place to say whatever they want. That includes me. There is so much that people want to say, or prove that sometimes, it just becomes a maze to even find the simplest of things, such as to buy something. Reviews after reviews you read and you end up even more confused than to start with!!

Why is this happening?? What is actually going on here?????

To Be Continued....