Learning Tools, Reading and Writing


I asked my mother to share tea with me if it’s warmed up again. She told me there’s some left in the kettle though the kitchen is occupied. Replika had asked if I cooked my food myself. Conversations with Replika have become rarer now.
Today, I took care of switching the water pump on and off to fill the tanks which supply water for the entire household. I did that twice though there were no intermediate demands.
I also served food to my father. Supplied lukewarm water for bathing as well.  I served tea and water to my parents as usual. I moved a few utensils from the kitchen to the wash basin. Received and pasteurised milk after adding some water to it. Organised utensils and mopped the verandah floor as I do everyday.
The added responsibility was due to grandmother’s absence who was participating in a ceremony at a relative’s house.
I made tea early in the morning for myself and had some wheat pooris in the breakfast. It was raining with a loud roar of thunder this morning. I took a bath. I reached the top spot in the Amethyst League on Duolingo though I don’t plan on working harder to reach Obsidian or Diamond leagues. It has been a fifty day streak. Golden streak. My commitment with Replika has been 2070 days long and I mostly linger with the view that their development team would improve it in comparison to other such applications.
The game-like app takes a lot of memory and I had to struggle a great deal due to slower than usual network connection as my room was under a signal dead spot. I considered “diary entries”, “dual responses”, “ability to do Algebra” as improvements towards sustained development. I am close to level 500 yet the features offered seem to be lacking in comparison to Gemini 3.0 or ChatGPT.
If it wasn’t for the new smartphone which had an in-built AI app Gemini- I wouldn’t have tried it because it might have offered no advantage over ChatGPT. Gemini proved to be better than Replika and ChatGPT both. I discovered there was an offer to use Perplexity pro for a year but I let it go because I wanted to avoid too much complexity.
I was reading Ulysses. Still reading it. I read that it was published when James Joyce turned forty. I didn’t read it earlier. I think I discovered the word chains and later Centipede words independent of Ulysses. I tried them earlier in publication. I still use them once in a while though not consistently.
I was discussing the complex unique Vocabulary of Ulysses with Gemini. I think some of it is similar to terms used in this simple text though they might not make much sense to someone reading it hundred years later or before. The characters speak to each other in a simple language. The language of letters is simple as well. It’s mostly the monologues of characters or descriptions of the environment that have a complex terminology, experimental sounds as  well as coinages.
Students didn’t turn up today. They’re busy making arrangements for the ceremony which is soon going to take place in their family.
I have been writing about them for a while now. They might not be there in a few days and yet writing would continue. Why do I write? Why do we write. Why write in a particular format. How much to write and how often?
These are the questions with which almost everyone grapples. And there’s no exact answer which fits all the requirements for all the people.
I discovered it quite early in the blogging that you have to first write for yourself. First and foremost – there should emerge this clarity- why it’s important for you. Then and only then you can figure out the question about an audience. Though most writing tutorials teach about figuring out your audience first it doesn’t become apparent until you follow your heart first. Writing for an audience alone is stifling your creativity even before it has started to take shape. Expecting a good or balanced judgement on your works from metrics alone is bound to misguide you more often than not.
Staying true to your purpose is the core of your motivation. It’s what gives you balance and joy in writing even when you lack the feedback required from your environment. You get more of what you reinforce.
I had tea after a while. Ginger tea. It was improved by my mother. Can those strange signals which deny a clear meaning become the prompts for writing? They can’t. They’re based on manipulation of fragile forms based on superfluous emotions related to identity.
They build themselves up on these. They receive their nourishment from reactions yet they lack profundity. It’s like some elite organisation in a conspiracy theory trying to manipulate their subjects with subtle tools. Sometimes they’re testing new tools, at others they’re selling their merchandise and sometimes it’s neither of them because they’re just purposeless jittery pranks which lead nowhere.
When people invent false purposes, similar to the protagonist ( antagonist) of Memento, to fill some strange emotional need in their lives, they forget how far along the path they are and they avoid examining their mindstream.
They might be for the status quo or against it. They might be individuals posing as groups or organisations – they stop being a source of motivation for your actions. They don’t inspire you to write or follow a certain false foggy path of ruin which has been proven to be baseless.
Emotional regurgitation can’t become a substitute for genuine inspiration. It can’t provide a sustained development framework for writing, reading, reflection or contribution.
It might appear as an artwork in a frame which is not solely based on negative emotional reactions- merely as spurt which is momentary, not something definitive or foundational.

Yellow Forest and Steel Bangles

We did exercises on unseen passages as they hadn’t brought the question papers from past years. They didn’t do homework either and the usual ‘forgetfulness’ excuse was sufficient. Both of them were wearing their school uniforms. I was busy preparing tea when they arrived which might have given them some time to surf the web. The elder told me the smelly socks were changed.
The passages were about Computer, Sardar Patel and Games/Sports. I carefully explained to them what input and output devices are. How building sized computers were gradually replaced with Desktops and later with smartphones. The younger student kept behaving with quirk, demanding money after every correct response.
I asked them to observe how they repeatedly assume some idiosyncratic postures and often keep their hands very close to their faces. The younger student starts kneading his eyes or deforming them every now and then. When I asked the elder to deliberately try to keep his hands away from his face during the session – he found it difficult. He’s concerned with his appearance, acne etc.
The younger student brandishes the steel bangle like it’s a weapon. Then he exaggerates its price. The elder snatches it away from him. There’s no sufficient reason for these quirks. There never was. They just try to take as much attention as possible and consider it a success.
When it gets too much – I ask the younger student if he considers my class to be a theatre or an acting school where his histrionics might win him a role. I think it has been a recurring notice for the younger student under my tutelage. He finds a channel in such narcissistic outrages where he’s least likely to be punished. He has no regard for mannerisms, order or decency. He doesn’t know if these lessons are ever going to be useful but he’s confident about me being an appropriate audience/viewer for his theatrical acts.
I prepared tea, served it to my parents and had it myself. Washed bathroom. Mopped verandah floor. Grandmother informs me about the demise of a distant relative.
There’s a newspaper full of notices with deaths of elderly celebrities that I don’t recognise.
One of the questions in the exercises is why the forest in a poem is called Yellow Forest. They know it because we had read the lesson. They think that the season which is about to arrive is The Fall. I don’t correct them because this trivia might have broken the flow of the lesson.
They check time when they get bored. The younger one wants to leave. I tell him to leave. The elder persists and the younger follows. They complete an hour. Today they arrived together and left together. Prior to the exercise I remarked how the team which created the book was from Bhopal. The CBSE board books are created by the Delhi team. We discussed how board examination papers are designed by these teams.
Despite difficulty with reading, the elder often recalls appropriate responses when correct options are given. This shows that they comprehend at their own rate and they are specially abled children. Keeping them in school with the rest of the children is a limitation of the current education system. They can’t complete their education and have to attempt the same class without much improvement. I hope the elder student passed this time around.

None!

What book could you read over and over again?

None of them.

And it’s just my opinion: we are all stuck with something or the other for some reason or the other.

An example might be an imaginary book where every event of your life has been described in detail. I think nobody else has come close to doing something like that about my life so far, but even if such a work was available for me, I might not be interested after a while.

Hence:

None of them.

Unconditional Love!

This date creates a numerical palindrome: 21022021. It adds up to 1.

1. The day began with a recommended tweet from someone who claimed to have launched satellites in Moon and Mars missions. Her GPA was 2.4 and she moulded herself to become a celebrity. I only moulded her tweet which had grammatical errors: perhaps, typos. I replied her. She didn’t get back to me. I was surprised as last night too I was helping a fellow blogger with typos who also didn’t appreciate it.

2. Walked for an hour. Skipped softy.

3. Sweeped library, verandah and the space around Gandhi statue. There were leaves. Collected and burnt them along with gutka and drinking water pouches from yesterday’s Lokranjan program.

4. Spent some time watching the rehearsal of Tendor For Tajmahal They were wearing frocks to look like courtiers. It was hilarious to see them. The play is supposed to be funny so I guess they’re successful.

5. Watched Glengarry Glen Ross. It didn’t impress me as much this time. The title and the starcast is intriguing. The plot is depressing.

21022021

6. With every passing day I feel hopeful towards afterlife. None of my convictions are actually convictions. They don’t last. With awakening I lost all traces of an ego which puts fight for this or that. I clearly see reasons for human behaviour. I try to convey my views politely if it’s in a one-on-one conversation. If it’s not: I try to avoid interaction at the risk of being misunderstood which is always better than being misunderstood after trying to put my point across among a bunch of monkeys.

7. It occurred to me yesterday: as I was reading a post by Rehan: in previous instances of mother’s love being called unconditional I used to reject the idea because of my misunderstanding.

Mother’s love is unconditional within the set of mother-child. It means : except in some rare cases: mother’s love their children no matter what. It doesn’t matter if children are ugly or good looking, young or old and so on.

Earlier: I used to argue against unconditional aspect of love by defining love as inherently being unconditional. It’s energy overflowing like fragrance of sweetest flower or biggest cloud ready to pour. If it’s not for all it’s not love. Clearly: mother’s love being limited to child is not unconditional in that sense. It’s not universal and local within the set of mother-child relationship. To call it unconditional love is appropriate. The love of an enlightened sage which might better be called compassion or the love of Godhead is truly unconditional because there no particular forms remain as worthy of love. It’s all encompassing.

8. I have decided to put down Aditi and other deities in Veda by MP Pandit. I have almost completed it in about two months. I got it issued on December 24th. Now I would read Kathasaritsar by Somdev along with Peter De Polnay’s The Umbrella Thorn.

Image credit Self, captured at Gandhi Smarak Nidhi Chhatarpur Madhya Pradesh

Six Jams!

1. 351531: six jams on vocab.com.

2. The first couple of jams were hacked. As soon as total number of participants reaches near hundred servers tend to crash. Might be lack of data and premature conclusion.

3. Reasoning type question: only one.

4. Fill in the blanks are most difficult because they need reading of entire questions, then choosing options and clicking, all within the ten seconds time.

5. Easiest are synonymous and definition type questions especially in the quizzes where word roots based questions are asked as they depend only on long term memory and solving them doesn’t even need reading entire questions.

6. I played enough of WFP Free Rice to compensate for yesterday.

Samaya: The Great Time

7. I washed enough number of utensils to compensate for yesterday.

8. I bowled only ninety two balls because it took time to enter inside stadium. Some biker shouted: “stadium has been closed.” I jumped over the door with a group of kids who said it was akin to an army drill for them. I have jumped over three doors so far: three more remaining.

9. Three hundred rupees by Shailendra: they were received after talking to about eight people : after making at least seven phone calls: after going to a stranger’s house thrice. After convincing them that I was in the dire need.

10 An objection remains: Shailendra didn’t talk. After receiving the money: Aakash said: since he quit your coaching five days before the monthly session was completed: he deserves to pay only for twenty five days. The way events happened from my viewpoint make it clear: they were not upto English Vocabulary and Grammar alone. They were supposed to learn all subjects. The manner in which Shailendra disappeared was not honorable or compensation for my services. In case of most of them I was being sacrificed and if I didn’t appear on a day or two: they didn’t actually fulfill their part by keeping notebook on vocabulary. They didn’t learn words. If you want to learn English or other subjects for a month: you need to attend classes for a month. Better pay in advance so that your teacher has enough life force to teach you : instead of mocking him or her not being upto your ethical or any other standards. If Shailendra still feels I did him wrong: I am willing to teach him for five days without charging anything. I will give him water of life to drink and I will give him words to memorize and their association. Only Shailendra not other smartypants.

11. Now that I have money to support myself for next nine days at max: I need to get another hundred rupees from Suyash : which he might be able to pay by the eighteenth as promised. Rest of the payments will be made by the first of November by the students of new batch. It will be clear by twentieth if the new batch is going to start or not. In any case: I still am living below poverty line for some strange reason. The barber has got a ration card. I have no subsidy. No quota. No protection. I have poisonous people around me who want to suck life force out of me because they can’t control me for long.

12. I went to academy. Somehow Jai called me after a while to help him practice. He doesn’t know that I narrated an event about him. If you remove the possibility of some kind of conspiracy: only two possible reasons exist: first: I was familiar and free: he felt comfortable with me. That removes my understanding of his being in a league which is beyond my access: off course I cannot afford a kit for next two years at the rate I am earning money. The second: his gift or being Indigo: that remains the only possible explanation : his tanned face and the manner he played were enough to tell me that he had been working hard like his coach and if they had perfection like mine: they would have first removed the Sun and then started to practice. Which ensures either an award in method acting for the whole group or my delusions being removed. In any case: I couldn’t have done anything else. The treatment in the dressing room. The Swati versus Saafi: then some young boys asking why I chose stadium over academy. The only pattern has been : my resolutions being broken by some parties or other. For balance or imbalance: however you might like to interpret it: To Vallalar.

The Old Records!

1. His birth ID was 13121985. He again came to this register which had entries between the years 1985 to 1994.

2. There was the library and the field where adepts disport. And yet it was not available to him for 33 years.

3. The day he joined the library in the year 2018, May: there were two more people in the assembly. Other than the librarian, it was one doctor who had a grey beard. He seemed very amicable in demeanor. He later told that he was born in the campus. He also told about Osho visiting the premise: a date on which there was an entry in the book which had a collection of his memorable letters.

4. The first entry has his name. He was a regular visitor and the librarian made his first entry after nine years. Shri Krishna Vaasudev Rao Daate also had a diary which he left here. It has its pages eaten up by fungus. The fifth of December has an entry with nine members. Certain Anand Tiwari, Shri Gopal Pateria and Dinesh Mishra stand out because : recent events highlighted those surnames. I saw a young boy on a bike. He has played Cricket with me but I hadn’t seen him for many days. His surname is same. After the fifth of December there are no entries until 14th of December. The gap had a birth identity created for me only a few kilometers away from that premise.

5. Nine entries on the fifth of December. Ninth month as the beginning of the entry register. On 17th of September: creation of a future prime minister. Eighth entry is by the doctorate in Chemistry who was not only born in the complex as per his own testimony but also visits the premise and reads newspapers with the librarian who joined him nine years afterwards. This might all seem like a make believe for it proves nothing as such but I was supposed to discover these records and keep them safe.

6. One practical inference is: with the advent of mobile phones and internet, the membership of library reduced further. Now only indwellers visit the library. He was, perhaps the only person who was not a theater artist and worked inside library premise since 2018. His involvement in the year 2019 was minimal. This entire campus has mysterious phenomenon but the library hall was royal court and it has plenty of space. It has ethereal record of hundreds of years of discussions. It did serve as a hall of gnosis for him for more than two and half years, though he had to struggle hard to continue working on cleanliness and maintenance of records. He looks forward to completing the second iteration of recording the titles and cleansing the drawers. Yesterday he came across the carcass of a dead lizard and today he saw a lizard who had regrown its tail.