Invisible Boat

Yesterday Mom was discharged from the hospital.

Before Mom was admitted to the hospital, before she knew that she was in for a long haul at the hospital, she spoke about a dream - a dream where dad spoke to Mom and took her to a paradise. The scenery which mom described was beautiful.

Dad has been gone for more than thirteen years. I miss dad and often I have seen him my dreams. I have dreamt that we lead absolutely normal lives as if he was alive. Sometimes I dreamt that he watched over me like a guardian. But we never talked.

I have many cherished memories with him. On the other hand, Mom had both kind of memories with him - bitter and sweet. Maybe, it was the reason they talked to each other.

I could have explained to Mom about the science of dream then, but I didn't. I couldn't break her reverie. She needed it.

After Mom got admitted to the hospital, I had series of dreams which were scary, funny, and weird.

These dreams drained me, worried me, and ironically, one of them had me in splits. I drew the line here and applied science to dreams.

It was the only way to defeat and master my fear.

And then, I’d a dream yesterday night.

I walked with my partner on a marshy land, among the darkness of dead green mangroves and sea plants, we heard the waves beat against the shore, happy and madly in love.

We soon were on the shore of a creek, and it was along this creek we found a boat, a boat in which we could escape to a boundless horizon.

In the backdrop of a grey sky, quiet sea, and an absent sun was this boat, anchored.

The boat had a wooden outline, when looked upon closely it resembled a broken dried up branch of a tree, which might have washed up on the shore but I could feel the boat, he could too.

But the boat wasn’t there, it was an invisible boat, yet both of us saw the exact same boat.

And then he said, “You know you should write.Finish what you began.”

I smiled.

I woke up.

I could explain the logic and science of this dream and I am sure you could too, but don't break my reverie yet.

The Metamorphosis - Recap

Yesterday, I was reading a comic caper written by a debutant author on Juggernaut Books. The book was okay except I failed to get intimate to any of the characters. The humour was mostly in the form of punchlines, often delivered without an effect.

I got bored.

I decided that I am not under oath to finish this book right now though I will finish it, eventually. But not today.

Reading The Metamorphosis was on my mind for a long time. Three months to be exact and I'd made at least three attempts to get past the first page, and I failed.

A week back, I saw, it was about only eighty-four pages, and I thought Eighty-Four pages! This could be easy and I could tick off one more reading goal on Goodreads. It is a different matter that I am yet to declare my reading goals, publicly.

So, I embarked upon the journey to read about a Salesman Gregor Samsa who was morphed into a beetle, overnight.

Kafka doesn't delve into the reason of transformation of  Gregor Samsa, but as a reader, I felt compelled to know the reason of this sudden transformation. Based on the information available, I'd two deductions -- either he drank a portion at a shady tavern, or a bug bit him at some textile company.

Unlike me, the reasons of Gregor's condition were the least of the concern for the author and his protagonist. To them, their major concern was that it would be impossible for Georg who is the sole breadwinner, to conduct his duties for the family in the form of a bug.

Slowly, I started enjoying adventures of the vermin that was Gregor Samsa.  His attempts to open the doors of his room which he bolted on the previous night, out of habit, were hilarious to say least.

On two occasions, he babbles out throwing the reader into a fit and scaring away the chief clerk of the company. The world - his sister, father, and mother, and the chief clerk cannot hear him anymore. His words are eerie squeals to them.

At this point, I felt Kafka loved to tease his readers and I also felt that this man knows humour.

GregorSamsa was confined his room, his sister was the only one who attempts to understand him. His father and mother have been left bewildered.

His father has also been left with the important matter of dealing with the finances in the present condition.

Visibly, the family is stressed and worried but they hope that someday Gregor will transform back into a human.

For three months, Gregor Samsa witnesses his family's financial and emotional suffering and regrets his inability to do anything about it.

After a while, Gregor begins to enjoy his life as a bug. His office work, his travel rumination, the chief clerk, all of them become a distant memory to him.

On the other hand, with time becomes difficult for the family to comprehend that Gregor could come back.

Layer upon layer, Kafka digs into the mindset of Samsa household, their feelings and response to the events. As a reader, I devoured these relationships struggle and transformation.

Surprising among these are his dad's transformation.

In a world, which widely divides itself over smallest of reasons, Kafka's hundred-year-old novella brings out the harsh realities of relationships, which ironically aren't different across the globe.

Upon finishing the novel I felt light. I felt there's this another dimension in which I could walk. I felt I am drugged.

I wanted more!

TL;DR - The blogger thinks that the was a literary genius and people must read him.

You can read the book for free here.

Sultana's Dream and Me

Feminism has been made synonymous with the total annihilation of opposite sex, so, I don't wear my feminist badge on my sleeves, publicly.

Also, I don't express my views on anything and everything, that is dished out in the name of feminism these days, in real life or social media.

My feminist thoughts, at the maximum, on the verge of an outrage, are lashed out in a few chat windows, or on my husband, but, never in public.

Begum Rokeya

However, if you Google Sultana's Dream then, everywhere it will show that the story was written by a feminist author Begum Rokeya.

The statement speaks volumes about the author, who also built schools for the education of young girls. She must have been a brave and a fierce lady in a period which was excessively regressive and counterproductive for women.

I was fascinated with  premise of the story, so I dug a bit on the internet, and I found, after reading the manuscript of Sultana's Dream, Begum Rokeya's husband said,

"Terrible revenge."

On Goodreads, not long ago, a reviewer called it, "badass."

Nine out of ten reviewers marvelled at the fact, that, this story was written in 1905, by an Indian Muslim woman, whose first language was Bangla.
 
"1905!  Fascinating," said Gabby, an internet friend whose opinion I have valued ever since I sent her a friend request on facebook.

Sultana's Dream is about a Purdahisin woman Sultana, who travels to Ladyland with another woman whom she mistakes as her friend, Sister Saira.

When she finds out that the woman is not Sister Saira, she is tensed but Sultana is soon comforted by the lady.

In the Ladyland, men are sent in Zenana or Purdah after women of the Land win war against an enemy without any help from men.

In the Ladyland, women are in charge of everything.

Ladyland is full of fearless, confident women and they are everywhere. All the errands are run by a woman.

In fact, these women, call shy Sultana, mannish. Sister Saira tells Sultana,

"They mean you are shy and timid like men."

If you put men or women away in Purdah, then being shy would be natural, irrespective of the gender.

This (Putting Away Men) seems eccentric but Ladyland is prosperous, mud free and science oriented and crimeless.

Sister Saira tells Sultana,

 "But we do not trust our zenana members with embroidery!" she said laughing, "as a man has not patience enough to pass thread through a needlehole even!"

A little further in the story, sister Saira tells Sultana about how men work,

"They dawdle away their time in smoking. Some smoke two or three cheroots during the office time. They talk much about their work, but do little. Suppose one cheroot takes half an hour to burn off, and a man smokes twelve cheroots daily; then you see, he wastes six hours every day in sheer smoking."

Today, we have put men in charge of everything- in education, in the judiciary and in government and I find it's effect in my sister's feedback about the story,

"Here we are in 2017 only, and this text is from 1905, we probably will struggle for hundred or more years."

A dream in 1905 and still a dream in 2017.

The story is whimsical as it is Sultana's dream but, is futuristic.

Begum Rokeya's Ladyland is utopian which emphasises on educating women and use of science such as Solar energy, Rain Water (including storms) harvesting and air-cars. Ladyland has Truth and Love as a religion and is war free.

Putting away men was a trope to tell, women, in fact, are equal or in many cases a better than men.

After reading the story I may have changed the glasses with which I view the world.

Book Review - Rain

Reviewing is often a difficult job. It puts me in all sort of dilemmas like how long or how short is to be written, how much to giveaway from the plot and how positive or negative critique it must be. It is due to this dilemma I take very long time to write one. One of my honest intentions is to not alienate audience from reading the book and at the same time, I don't want to leave an impression that the review has been written with bias. 

After the release of Rain, I took almost a month to buy the book but when I sat down to read I finished it in two days.  The review took longer time than both.

Blurb:

Architect Jai Dubey trusts in reason - not for him the faith and prayer so firmly ingrained in his fellow countrymen. When fortune deserts Jai and his carefully ordered life spins inexorably out of control, Jai stands on the brink of ruin. Only a delayed monsoon can save Jai’s biggest project from disaster, but there are millions across the land praying for the exact opposite. 

Reason seems to have its limits - the weather defies all prediction, let alone control. 
Will Jai relinquish the beliefs of a lifetime? Will he reconcile with the awful ambiguity about his past? Will he be able to save his crumbling marriage?

Review

The journey of Jai Dubey, the protagonist is different than many of  the leads I have read. He isn't heroic, he is a simple, self-made hard working businessman who does not like to take risk unlike his friend Ravi. Jai's wife Sarika is also simple and a woman of faith. Her mother's only desire is that Sarika should get bungalow of her own and Jai accepts the challenge. This disrupts his peaceful  life.

The author goes on to add many elements to the book as  Jai strives to fulfill his mother in law's wish; an astrologer who predicts his downfall, a friend who unknowingly digs the grave for his business, a hole in his memory that makes him vulnerable,an another woman for a brief period who is the only little relief in Jai's impending  fall. 

The rain arrives and leaves without much fanfare but the rain is instrumental. It marks the path Jai would take to seek answers. People, Jai will meet. A new set of people and an old one too. At this point, I wonder if Jai has run away or he is daring leave old behind. 

The author takes you to various settings throughout the novel from a hip urban co-op housing society to an old cafe to a river front , to cantonment , to shaniwar wada and to dingy slums. 

The author has showcased his prowess on the language consistently through the story.  If this is a stepping board for the author to begin the journey on literary scene then it is a perfect soundboard.

My only complaint is that the author doesn't allow readers get close to any other character. The story is only about Jai.  Though I understand that this is about Jai and this is fairly a linear arc I am sure the author is capable of doing much more.

I hope  that the author will write more nuanced stories in future where he will bring more main characters to fore and let them interact and influence the situations and conditions.

You can buy book here.

Guest Post - Litventure, 2016

Litventure was conceived when the minds behind the Facebook group, ‘For Writers By Authors’, realized that there is a gap between the authors and the readers that is seldom bridged. That single thought gave birth to the idea of a litfest that would create a platform where authors could interact with their audience and get a pulse of what their readers want.

Thanks to Neil D’Silva’s efforts, The Children’s Academy Group of School took an enthusiastic interest in the idea and graciously opened their doors to host the venture. With the platform set, the team set on to conceiving and putting together a litfest that would set itself apart from the plethora of literary festivals that are abound. One of the first things was to come up with a name, one that caught immediate attention and identified with the purpose of the fest. A lot of brainstorming later, we came up with the name Litventure. The name is a portmanteau of ‘literature’ and ‘adventure’.

The team worked tirelessly for months and in the end, came Litventure 2015. A star-studded event that included names like, Oliver LaFont, Ketan Bhagat, Debashish Irengbam, Utkarsh Patel, Shilpa Gupta, Kiran Manral, Shunali Khullar Shroff, Niyati Patel, Gopika Kapoor, Neil D’Silva, Meghna Chaudhary Joshi, Lakshmi Ashwin, Reeta Gandhi, Vikram Dhawan and Ansoo Gupta. We organized book stalls, panels and interactive sessions that included audiences from across ages. Covered by the media, the event went on to become a stupendous success.

Now, the team is gearing up for the second edition of Litventure with a bigger scope and wider audience. This time, For Writers By Authors joins hands with Mumbai Mom to bring a new, sparking edition of the litfest that welcomes readers, writers, artists, filmmakers, and cultural connoisseurs to take part in it. Our other partners include popular literary entities such as Kaffeinated Konversations, Mumbai Book Exchange Club, Read Out Loud, Rising Litera, and Pen Paper Coffee. The host continues to be Children’s Academy, Mumbai.

Our target audience is students of Grades 6 to 10, their teachers, and their parents. The overarching theme of this event is to inculcate the reading habit in the upcoming generation, and to equip their educators and facilitators to make them better readers.

In the second edition, we have a panel ‘Why Kids Need to Read’, organized by Mumbai Mom including prominent personalities like Kiran Manral, Swati Popat Vats, Priyanka Singhvi and Preeti Vyas, and moderated by the founder of Mumbai Mom, Nidhi Dorairaj Bruce.  

This will be followed by a second panel, ‘Better Readers Make Better Humans’, comprising of award-winning authors such as Anand Neelakantan, Shatrujeet Nath and Faraaz Kazi. The event will be moderated by the popular author Utkarsh Patel.

A third panel discussion, titled ‘Discover the Creator in You’ would include popular authors Anjali Kirpalani, Bilal Siddiqi and Sriram Subramanian. In this segment, the authors would talk about their own journeys as creators of novels. The segment will be moderated by Reeta Gandhi, cofounder of Book Exchange Club.

We would also be hosting the launch of a Film Production Company and showcase a few short films at the event in a segment titled ‘Books/Films’. This would be followed by a book launch by the popular author, Shilpa Gupta.

For our younger audience, we have a host of events organized to keep them engaged and entertained. The events begin with a book exchange, conducted by The Book Exchange Club. Next up, in association with FunOKPlease publishers, an event called Your Turn Now would be hosted by us.

There would also be two concurrent workshops for the children that would be conducted simultaneously – Read Between the Lines conducted by Nalini Ramchandran and Fun with Cinquain Poetry, conducted by Archana Sarat.

These would be followed by two more workshops that would also be running simultaneously. One, Daily Dose of Vitamin R, conducted by Monika Khanna Jhalani and another as yet undecided workshop.

This year, at Litventure 2016, we present an opportunity for you to get a traditional publishing contract. Pitch your story idea to our panel of esteemed judges from the publishing and marketing industry, and you could just walk away with a contract!

The contract will be offered through BruteGorilla, an imprint of Frontier India Technology.

More details here: http://frontierindia.org/2016/10/23/litventure-2016-pitchfest/

Author Bio:

The writing bug bit Aindrila at the tender age of eleven and she has been scratching that itch ever since.

She likes to mix fantasy and horror and create a blend of dark fantasy with complicated, twisted characters. She is also a fairly adept romance writer and enjoys writing children's books as well.

When not writing, she can be seen nursing, fighting, running, building Lego tunnels and hospitals, and driving toy school busses- all for her three and a half year old.

And in the odd chance that she finds a moment free, she likes to read. An erstwhile voracious reader, she is now perpetually yearning to read more.

She is also a paleontology lover and can be seen going on long monologues about prehistoric creatures that have been extinct for millions of years.

She is also Admin of For Writers By Authors , one of the largest active writing group on Facebook.

Book Review -A Dog Eat Dog Food World

A few days ago, Suresh cheekily reminded me it’s been one year and he is still waiting for a review and needless to say I felt embarrassed and ashamed but then I have finicky ways. I don’t jump queue. I read and review the way I have queued unless something as exceptional as The Graveyard Book or as sensational as One Indian Girl comes up to break the list. Also in this particular year, I have taken a long time to read, mostly due to personal reasons. Also reviewing drains me… to come up with words which talk about author’s work yet don’t spoil the fun of reading.  Finally, here I am reviewing a book which is essentially a satire on my profession.

The Author claims ‘A Dog Eat Dog Food World’ is pseudo –history of marketing management. It is his claim that it happened this way but we have no proof of it. As a marketing professional, as much as I would like to deny that this may be how it may have happened I seem to have accepted it.

A certain rich man ‘Spike Fortune’ wants to spend his wealth and his doctor who is fed up with him suggests to him to do some business.  His nephew, Jerry finds him a business to spend money which is -- to make Dog Food for Dogs, but eventually the goal has changes to make more money.  Slowly the goal changes from making more to making more money than Spike’s rival ‘Tom Rich’ who has not bought into ‘copycat’ marketing and has started Cat food Inc which naturally sells cat food. Technically, Tom is correct that he did not enter Dog Food market but, on the whole, it’s still a copycat business -- isn’t it?

The author comes up with the wittiest ways to ‘teach’ how modern marketing invented itself and at the same time how society bought into it.  He brutally narrates a tale where we sell concepts to management and then to customers. It doesn’t really matter if it’s Dog Food or Cat Food or in the end what the companies becomes – Cat Products or Worldwide Dog Food. The latter name is invented by me, by the way. In the end, all that matters is ‘scores’ and transformation in societal outlook.

The author has doled out this 100-page power packed book dipped in a strong concoction of humor. I found myself grinning widely while reading this satire.

I can easily place the book alongside Rich Dad, Poor Dad or Who Moved My Cheese where the tale is secondary and principles are primary. I strongly feel the book should have been categorized as educational or self-help.  This book can easily find an audience in aspiring managers of today and it will be certainly helpful to them.

The book can be ordered here.

PS: My three years old kid absolutely loved the cover.

Ananya - A bittersweet journey - Book Review

 A lopsided review seldom does any benefit to author and reader. But, then we live in times where every review counts irrespective of the quality of a review, such is the algorithm of  e-commerce. I can seat on all three chairs – Reader, author and seller and debate upon pros and cons of reviews and why are they so important. But then that won’t help. The rule is set – More reviews, more visibility.

 After finishing the book I thought Ananya doesn’t need to be reviewed or rather I should not review it. The reason is the strengths of the books are its weakness too.  I will come to that in the latter half of the review.

Ananya- a bittersweet journey is a story of an intelligent girl Ananya. Narrated in the first person by Shilpa Gupta it is about how Ananya’s life changes after she falls in love with Rohit who is no less than a casanova. To make matter worse he’s Ananya’s best friend Moh’s brother. Eventually, Ananya gets pregnant from Rohit and Rohit does classical vanishing act upon the girl leaving her alone to fight.

The interesting thing is, Ananya isn’t 20+ girl or 25+ woman. She is a sixteen-year-old intelligent girl aspiring to get into IIT. She is a daughter of hard-working parents who are doing exceptionally well in their fields. Girls like Ananya don’t make mistakes. It’s unacceptable.

What I liked: Shilpa Gupta never slips while narrating the story from a teenager’s POV. The language is fluid and nowhere there is a showoff from the author. Author has deliberately avoided the traps of melodrama and overt emotional reactions.  She also does not provide any kind of magic pill to protagonist’s conflict. The setting -- Upper middle-class family, Diwali celebrations, Coaching classes, Schools and café .

What I did not like - Every character needs to get a closure by end of the book. There is always an imminent question what happened to them? In this case, I did not like the way Rohit’s character is treated. Author has chosen to let the character fall which is expected considering Rohit’s action. However, the story is realistic and so are the characters.  We know some of the people who are douche bag would still do better professionally, socially, and personally. There is no- reason about why Rohit does what he does once h returns to the US.

So back to why I should not have written this review – When I finished reading the book I genuinely felt fresh. It’s a good writing. I was not bogged down by instances in the book and I could go on with my life but  at the same time, if the author would have allowed me as a reader to get intimate with characters, especially Ananya  then I think the book might have scaled greater heights.

At the end of the day – Ananya is a must read for parents and teens alike.

The book can be ordered here.

A Phenomenon called Percy Wadiwala

I’ve called Percy Wadiwala of The Slacker Tales as the Sachin Tendulkar of our little literary world. So good that the world loves him - even worships him, but that means that he is eternally cursed to perform, as if he is obliged to serve something better every time. I have read Percy’s stories, reviews, and excerpts consistently over a period of time and I can safely say that the God of Cricket will be happy to associate his name with this God King (a title aptly given to him by Aindrila and Pritesh).

So, Percy  Wadiwala  shared a short  story, ‘A Reason to Live’  with  Ritesh Kukrety. Ritesh reviewed it.   Imagine, a story which has been read by three to four people including the author gets a review on a blog! No, Ritesh isn’t a serial reviewer nor a serial blogger and knowing Percy, I know he would not have asked for it. The idea that Ritesh  had something  to say  about the story triggered a handful of people into asking Percy for the story, including me. I am late to begin, as well as a slow reader. When I got the story in my hand I knew I was going to take some time to read it. But people, especially on FB have no patience. They reviewed it with praise galore in the comments. The problem with FB is it's an infectious place, people outdo each other to look good or score marks. Yes, I am a skeptical person. There was a minuscule chance that the story would not be all that great.

Also, this was a period when I was fighting my own inner battles. How good am I?Why my stories didn’t make it to any of the contests that ran around including UnBound, a magazine curated by my own group? The debut novel I was working on looked frivolous and a run-of-the-mill kind of story. I was doing what I could. Making character sheets, drawing the infographics, but I moved nowhere. This battle ripped apart my soul as a writer and I’d nearly given up, ready to hang my boots even before the game had begun. Amidst all this,I opened the story received in my mailbox and it was fucking 30 odd pages and I shook my head. I KNEW I won’t make it to the finish line. Like my works, this will remain incomplete.  

But then, I began to read it then I savored it and then  it was over in a day without a hassle. The characters and their conflict were etched in my mind for days to come.

The story triggered a debate in my mind - what  exactly  is good writing  and no, this was not  about  grammar.  For a great  story,  it is given that it is well edited and proofread before  it is  presented to an audience.  What makes a story told  and retold over a period of time better than others? Why must people read my stories?

Then one day someone made a post on the group. It had a 100 or more comments singing the praises of the said flash fiction. Yes, reviews are good and when they are in hundreds the much entire better. It piqued my curiosity. The post was deliberately written for receiving an applause and someone might say there is nothing wrong in receiving the applause, yes they are right. But the OP had done gross injustice to one of the characters which was unacceptable. The OP must have thought the piece would create hope in this unjust and selfish world.The post it riled me to an extent that I was willing to walk up to the OP and tell - Listen, please don’t write. But I didn’t for two reasons - 1)  I feel everyone should write irrespective their talent and 2) I, myself, as a writer was struggling to come out with anything readable. Most writers work hard, they live in recluse and build characters in solitary and this OP was nothing but a blot on such writers.

My own story which I began to write after reading ‘A Reason to Live’, a submission for Juggernaut’s  prompt #FirstLove looked nothing more than a piece of pedestrian writing. It was so bad that I felt I should leave it midway and also I was fast pacing towards a feeling of “never take the quills in your hand”. In recent times, the Internet has been a great support to my writing but at the same time, I could have been mistaken for someone who constantly seeks attention and it’s the last thing I want. Cautiously, I spoke to Ravi Kumar and Percy. Ravi Kumar reminded me that we as writers write for ourselves. Yes, the primary customer is us, always. On the other hand, Percy pointed out that I don’t concentrate on my work which was again true. He gave few more tips which I won’t tell here and I was back with a bang. Once I finished it I sent it to him for editing and he said in his email (I am going to frame these lines) --

“I like the story itself. A good way of telling a story, though ‘First Love’ is not exactly the focus, but as a story on its own it’s a good thing you have there. Wish I had had the idea :)”

I was ready to shout from the rooftop after reading these lines. But then, doubt crept in because Mr. Wadiwala is an awfully nice guy. So, I sent it to Ravi Kumar knowing that it’s not the genre Ravi reads. Frankly, I was not expecting Ravi to read it but Ravi not only read it but also suggested that I should fine tune it which of course even Percy had suggested. This I must tell you is golden moment of my writing career.  This is what I seek as a writer. Appreciation from my peers. I already felt like a winner but then it didn’t end here.

A fellow named Anirban  shared a review of  yet another short story written by Percy. It was titled as - “Alayne’s Smile”. I called for it to read. Another round of praise on FB and once again I read, savored and finished it.

In Reason to Live, the author writes 20 odd pages before he gives a reason for Daranos Drivas (a character set in the mythical world of Mithos) to live. Drivas is several centuries old, technically immortal, and  is contemplating to sleep permanently (i.e. end his own life).  The 20 odd pages are all about Daranos , his world, his race, his academy, his students, and in the end his life. In these pages, he presents the conflicts between the races inhabiting Mithos, conflicts within Daranos’s mind and then gives him a reason to live.

Alayne’s Smile is a completely different story set in Midgard about a few college friends which is an imaginary town similar to Mumbai. In this story, he sets up conflict on page 2 and not only that, but author hits you with a conflict and how! And I knew from here the story could go anywhere and absolutely anywhere. I liked the way it unfolded, in the end, evoking emotions ranging from momentary euphoria to eternal sadness.

I have read authors who churn out stories in the same fashion in which they have written earlier ones, making them sound mundane. I might be one such author.  Though I do know Percy has written these stories years apart they still can be seen in a comparative sight. Both stories are distinctly different in language -- In former, Percy weaves subplots together in simplest language showing you the Drivas Academy, its legacy and its staff while in the latter he a uses a more complex method of telling the story to keep audience’s attention. I can’t say which one is better but they will remain my favorite, equally until I receive something more from him.

After reading Alayne’s Smile my thought strayed to my own story ‘Fault’ edited by Percy and the good things he said about it (Not available in public domain as it has been submitted for a contest) and other stories, I now want to work a lot harder on these stories. As Pritesh keeps saying --

‘We must match the level at which Percy writes.’

Edit: If you wish to read his works and wondering where to begin here are some links - Wuthering Heights, once again , She was the best of us., Lost Boys of Aiden

Guest Post - Deer, Predators, and Information Overload

Sriram Subramanian

About the author :Sriram Subramanian is a Chemical Engineer from IIT Roorkee and an MBA from IIM Calcutta. After a decade working in management consulting and corporate, Sriram founded Mind Matters in 2006, which is today one of India’s leading corporate training firms.  Throughout his career,Sriram has juggled multiple interests, including reading, writing, music, travel, sports and parenting. 

Sriram’s writing pursuits started at the age of six, when he faithfully wrote weekly letters to his mother (an English teacher); she marked them for grammar, punctuation, spelling and sentence construction in red ink. His favorite authors include  Shakespeare, Victor Hugo, Honore de Balzac, Dostoevsky, The Bronte sisters, John Steinbeck, Franz Kafka, PG Wodehouse, Salman Rushdie and Rohinton Mistry.You can reach him here.

His debut novel can be bought here. The cover is so awesome that I couldn't help sharing it.

Deer, Predators, and Information Overload
Sriram Subramanian

I’m a nut about structuring.

Specifically, organizing one’s thoughts and ideas logically—grouping, classifying and categorizing—before putting those ideas out in any form of communication, written or verbal. The concept is very simple—when a writer (or speaker) structures his thoughts, the reader (or listener) gets the message with the minimum of effort. Further, there is little scope for ambiguity—different readers won’t go away with different conclusions. The reverse is true when the writer just puts his thoughts out as they occur to him, which is usually in an unorganized dump. (That’s my day job, by the way…training people on stuff like this.)

I’d once written an article on this subject (in a blog, now sadly only accessible to our overlords in Google) and it generated some debate. One responder suggested that with the advent of real time communication technology (e-mail, SMSs, WhatsApp and so on), the cost of not ordering thoughts was minimized. If the writer missed something, or was unclear, the reader could simply request and receive a clarification, at virtually zero cost / effort.

This article is a response to that line of thought, which seems to be quite prevalent (and popular) today.

Yann Martel, the Booker-Prize-winning author of the Life of Pi (of course, there’s a literary connection!) suggested an outline of a fascinating analogy in an interview many years back and it stuck in my mind. Subsequently it seems to have vanished from the public domain (Googling yields no results at all). Based onmy visit to the Serengeti some years ago, I have taken the liberty of embellishing the original with my limited additional knowledge of the behavior of antelopes. So here goes…

Imagine a deer (say a Thomson’s gazelle) in the grassland. As far as his eye can see, the land is flat; the plains endless, interrupted only now and then by a line of short, stunted bushes, or the occasional baobab. He grazes contentedly, though always with his ears cocked up and his nose on high alert, ready to respond to the slightest hint of danger. Now, there are lots of predators on the same grassland – lion, cheetah, leopards and hyena. How does the deer survive? With the exception of the cheetah, the deer can actually outrun them all over a reasonable distance, given his low body weight. However, all these predators are capable of powerful bursts of acceleration, which make them faster over a short sprint.

The deer’s survival mechanism is a very simple one. At any point, the deer maintains a ‘circle of safety’ with respect to any predator. Imagine the deer at the center of the circle. His signal reception mechanisms (power of hearing, ability to detect predator scents and strange vibrations in the ground) have over millennia been synchronized with the safe radius. His signal reception limits equate with the minimum distance he needs to maintain to outrun a predator. If a lion moves into this circle, the deer is able to pick up the signal, process it (checking if it is a harmless or a dangerous signal), recognize the danger and take corresponding action. The usual response would be to move away by a similar distance, so as to maintain the safe distance. Any closer, and the lion would get him because of his short-sprint advantage.

(As an aside, lions counter this by hunting in pairs or threes, usually one lying hidden in the bush, while the others approach from the opposite end to nudge the deer in the direction of the one lying in wait. The reverse counter is provided by deer staying in herds—their effective radius increases, and they seek safety in numbers—statistically their chances of individual survival go up, though the lions would always get one or two, each time)

Now imagine this deer suddenly has access to modern communication technology. Say someone clamps a pair of headphones or RF antennae on the deer, so that now, magically, the deer can pick up signals at twice the original radius. Theoretically, this should be good for the deer, because there might have been some instances when a deer’s signal detection radius proved limiting (and fatal!)—say there was an unusually fast lion just outside the original circle. With better technology, the deer should be able to react at much greater distances.

What do you think will happen?

What will most likely happen is that the deer would go nuts.

Earlier, the deer would ignore all signals outside the circle, good or bad. Now the deer would go this way and that, as he responds to each movement of a predator outside the original circle, even if most of these movements pose no incremental danger to him. He would probably fall down out of sheer exhaustion. Not a moment’s peace left.Unless of course, the reception technology was combined with additional information processing capability—i.e. the deer also had double the brain he does, which he doesn’t.

The point is this—as humans, there are physical limits to the amount of signals / information we can deal with, without going nuts. The explosion in the last two decades is seriously worrying—on an average day, we watch TV, read news, check FB multiple times, respond to every WhatsApp ping (and boy is that irritating), get Twitter feeds, check out Instagrams, get SMSs, respond to so many calls, get office mails everywhere, anyplace, anytime. Our reactions are not dissimilar to the hypothetical deer.

Imagine you and your friend agreed to catch a movie at the theater just 20 years back, when there were no cellphones. (Sorry, millennials—you’ll just have to imagine this world. Think it’s Westeros, for instance) Presumably you would have agreed to meet outside the ticketing office, say 15 minutes before the start. If one of you got delayed, the other would have a coffee, watch the crowd, look at the posters or queue up to get tickets. Basically, wait patiently. And you know what, 9 out of 10 your friend would turn up in time for both of you to catch the show. Worst case, you’d be a few minutes late.

Contrast with the situation today – how many communication flows would happen within those 15 minutes—“I’m running a bit late / stuck in traffic / where the #$%% are you…” and so on, across 5 different apps and devices.

For all our endeavors, there is a period of planning and a period of execution. While the need for course corrections during execution is self-evident, it is also highly desirable that we have a frozen planning period—i.e. a period where we will continue executing the original plan, despite new information coming in. All corrections should be made beyond this period, which will in most cases correspond with a safe-holding zone, where we recognize, process / interpret and decide corrective measures. We shouldn’t be in a purely reactive mode and throw the planning / holding periods out, just because our reaction abilities have advanced manifold. The same applies to the need for original structure in communication—we can leave it to back-and-forthing, but the long run costs will be significant.

It is of course entirely possible, that the human brain adapts to our new situation and its processing power increases manifold, thereby enabling us to get all the benefits without incurring the costs.

Just yesterday, I flew from Delhi to Pune, and my flight landed on time, at around 11 PM. The wheels had barely touched the tarmac, when everyone’s cellphone was out, flight mode off, and a hundred conversations started all at once. ‘Flight’s landed. No, we’re still taxi-ing. 20 minutes lagega. I’ll call you once I get the baggage. Then you start from the place you’ve parked (illegally) and pick me up. Etc. Etc.’

Outside the terminal, utter chaos reigns as everyone tries to time it to save those two minutes—the net effect is everyone probably spent 10 minutes more than they would have if nobody had called anybody. If our brains are really getting better, I’m seriously scared the only way I have to explain it is I’m getting more brain dead as I age.

I’m no Luddite, though I am a relatively late adopter of new technologies. There has been much that is good achieved in the last two decades, and there’s no going backwards. However, I see signs of deer fatigue around me all the time – increased stress, reduced attention spans, loss of patience, inability to hear out a complex argument and so on. Any suggestions on dealing with this are welcome.

(If you asked me for a specific suggestion, I’d say, switch off all those devices and pick up a good book. Paper book. One with pages that turn, which you can touch, smell, feel and place gently, in its place, in your bookshelf.)

Breaking Up with My Mobile

Dear Mobile,

It hurts but I’ve got to say it – Its over! I’ve been dragging this on for some time. But it isn’t working anymore. I’d anticipated that the day would come sooner or later. The first signs were seen when you couldn’t survive a few droplets of rain in last Monsoon but you were special to me. You were different from my previous phones. I could talk to you, literally. You have been my companion in my long strenuous daily travel all these years, so trust me, letting go isn’t easy for me either. Some of my best times were spent with you - playing Candy Crush and surfing Facebook.

My Ex-Mobile

But then, slowly you changed. There were times when I made moves in Candy Crush and you took five whole minutes to complete them, you had moved into the comfort zone after all. You no longer felt you needed to please me. There were times when I came close to clearing a difficult level and you crashed. I’d have to start all over again and I did.  But still, I accepted you as you were becoming. 

You couldn’t handle Whatsapp notification during festivals and other  occasions.  I deleted twitter for your health. Recently I downloaded Instagram, the next coolest app to look cool to pursue my hobby in photography but then you’d long ago ceased to be a camera phone.

We continued so long because you helped me connect with people through calls and FB. But, I have observed for past few days – you just can’t do it anymore. It is painful to see you suffer like this.

Leaving you hurts but it’s in the best interest of both of us. I hope someday you become a component in an iPhone and I too will find someone eventually.

With Love,

Vanita