Because I like food

Over the years we have made our peace with the realization that we are a noisy family. There is no doubt or debate about this anymore. Social engagements are planned keeping this fact in mind. Which is also one of the reasons we love outdoors so much... lol

But jokes aside, we talk a lot, and constantly.. and sometimes all at once (yeah I know how that sounds. No, we are not a misbehaved lot. We just have so much to say). So, coming back to the point. This phenomena of talking a lot means that a lot of words are used everyday. Maybe this is why, it is possible to observe "semantic shifts" even within our limited population. The trends are often short lived (upto 6 months). Some of the currently trending ones are:

a) using related nouns as verbs, even when an appropriate verb is available. e.g. I am fooding for I am eating, sleep me for help me sleep.. etc.

b) eliminating intervening vowel sounds from 2 syllable words. e.g. This juice tastes gd for good, I need fd for food. 

(Please note that (a) and (b) can also be combined to form - fd me i.e. food me which in turn means - Give me food)

c) Inserting "the" between multisyllabic words to separate the syllables.. e.g. wa-the-ter for water, re-the-mote for remote, etc.

d) Distinct neologism.. This phenomenon isn't short lived at all. In fact, some words have crossed generations now :)

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My newfound love is for pickled root vegetables. So usually beetroot, carrots and.. radish ! Now the kids hate the smell of pickled radishes, or radishes in general. And I have discovered this is a very effective method of getting myself some quiet time. All I have to do is open a jar of pickles :)

 

Does phony philosophy count as alliteration

 I recently read the following quote from Nietzsche (had to google his name to get the spelling right):

"If you crush a cockroach, you're a hero. if you crush a butterfly, you're a villain. Morals have aesthetic criteria."

To be honest, Nietzsche sounds like an absolute a****le(is this the first expletive on this blog?.. well It is technically an adult now, so this should be okay). because it is pretty obvious that it is not just about aesthetics. It sounds like he wants to attract attention through this pretentious quote just for the sake of it. I would like to see him surrounded by cockroaches.

what kind of name is deepseek?

I sometimes put the coffee grounds in the aparajita plants. It makes them burst into flowers in a couple of days. I dont overdo this because I think it will drive the plant crazy. Just like this time last year, the plant has caught some kind of bug again. It will take at least 3-4 rain showers to clear that up.

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There is too much AI generated content everywhere. 

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IMHO names should actually mean something.

here and now

Greetings on the new year :)

As I age, I have observed changes in my perception of onset of another year. Earlier, it used to be awe, sense of something cosmically big.. the sense of being positively overwhelmed.

Now, it is mostly gratitude... the sense of being immensely thankful to the Universe for letting us survive and thrive during another round around the Sun. 

I understand why people start believing, having faith in God more as they age. It is because we realize that none of this is in our control... nothing. The fact that we are what we are, doing the things we are doing, living the lives we are living.. all of this happened despite of what we did... not because. In the grand scale of design, we are nothing, in consequential. (IMHO being inconsequential is a pretty happy way to live.. but that is another conversation.)

Naturally, one would attribute such good fortune to God and His will. Because otherwise, here will be a scary place and now will be a scary time to live.

Of Cabbages and Kings

"Whimsical"

Another wonderful word. A perfectly mature and nuanced word. A word with a fully developed personality. Impossible to define properly without resorting to rambling. ahh... love it.

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I am about to start reading Cabbages and Kings only because I have heard this phrase a lot over the years. So yeah, Brand name awareness is legit!

Also, it is not entirely true. I have loved quite a few works by O Henry. And then to my surprise, he plucked this particular term from a poem (The Walrus and the Carpenter) from Alice through the looking glass. So obviously, I had to read this. Duh..

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The word of the year is Brain Rot. It might as well be the phenomenon of the decade!

A day of jalebis and spicy fries

 I've always enjoyed watching House. Dr. House, an obviously fictional character having no semblance to any real doctors (that I've met so far..) is an astute observer of the human condition. Apart from his many excellent observations, the one that sticks to me is - "people lie". The most frequently that people lie to, is funnily enough, themselves. 

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Very much like food and shelter, and perhaps more important or instinctive than both, loving something and caring for someone is a basic human need. When a subject is not readily available, people create one, conjure one or imagine one. It is very much possible to spend years living in a fantasy world, existing, even thriving perhaps, unbeknownst to the rest of the world. Is it wrong then? Who are we to judge? 

To each, their own.

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I am currently in the middle of "Before we visit the Goddess". Another book by Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni. It is a bit different from her re-tellings of the mahabharta and ramayana (both of which I really loved..loved..loved). See, I am not familiar with this story. I do not know where it is going. Being led by her, in the dense forest of her own design, is like having a naughty travel companion with you. She like playing tricks on your senses and emotions. I do not trust her but yet cannot bring myself to veer away. I want to get to the edge of the jungle, out in the clearing. This particular book is profoundly and hopelessly sad at times, and hence my rush to finish it. 

I know I am going to be affected for the next few days. 

Bookmark and forget

My one toxic trait(or one of them :| ) is that I have to make a new bookmark every time i start a new book. Or else I cant finish the book. And of course I keep the bookmark when(if) I donate/discard/return the book. I have bookmarks hidden everywhere now.