Saturday, November 25, 2023
A disappointing WC Finals loss
4 of us watched the final, and pretty much ball by ball, till Australia started coasting. Well, one might say- where's the cricket fan- why aren't you watching a great cricketing knock by Travis Head - but well, ball by ball ODI for the full length of the innings is not doable.
Anyway, my thoughts on what helped Aus get ahead:
- Australia getting the better of the conditions. They called the toss smartly, taking the counter intuitive decision to bowl first based on the 'black soil' as Ravichandran Ashwin put it in his vlog, which cricinfo also picked. The decision bucked the common trend of 'putting up runs on the board' in a big match
- Brilliant fielding of Australia vs Slightly below par by India. Travis Head's catch of Rohit was electric. And Warner, Head and Labuscagne were throwing themselves around. They looked fast on telly, and this was confirmed by a colleague who watched the match live in Ahmedabad. India has fielders who have to be hidden, which is not the case with Australia. I am not even talking about errors here.
- Reliable tail of Australia, which includes Starc and Cummins, vs unreliable tail of India. The worry of the unreliable tail is probably what caused VK and Rahul to bat overcautiously and take very few risks. Hardi Pandya's injury hurt us here, but we have had ample notice of this defeciency.
- Shreyas and Gill failing on the big day. Shreyas' technique when he was hopping against a length ball, was suspect. My friend said- was he expecting the short ball?
- On the day, their bowling was also outstanding while ours was good. They had a great strategy which is also described by Ravi Ashwin, who mentioned how Pat Cummins bowled without a mid off and bowled lot of cutters. He bowled only 3 out of his 60 balls in 6 meter mark or further up on the pitch. And apparently 50% cutters. (Ashwin's article) He did not have a mid off in place and had a 5-4 legside field .
Anyhow, Olympics is coming, and we had a glorious Asian Games. FIFA WC qualifying campaign in full swing. Lots of other sports area currently heating up, and can shift focus there.
Labels: Esprit de sports
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Me not sore from the Mysore expressway ride
Yesterday was my 2nd time on the spanking new Mysore - Bangalore expressway. In addition , last October, I had driven on the partially completed version, so it's satisfying to be part of the journey (of the journey).
It's an enjoyable ride. 3 lanes on each side with the road surface shiny and smooth. The skeptic might sandpaper that gloss by attributing it to the newness of the road, but it has been through one monsoon and the surface has survived that. The entry and exit toll plazas look grand, the tool booths domed by cream-colored conical structures like those atop Cricket stadium stands. Thankfully there are clear lane markings, for navigating such a wide road at high speeds is impossible without those. There are very few entries and exits to the expressway, which reduces interruptions from vehicles entering or exiting. The other aspect that enables high speed travel is that 2 wheelers and 3 wheelers are not allowed. Now the owners of Cruisers and Speed bikes (like K) might bristle at that statement, but they have to accept that the median 2-wheeler on the streets of the country is unlikely to hold 100+ speeds. The downside of this is that a vast majority of the citizens cannot access this road. The expressway enables one to bypass the towns of Ramanagaram (mountains and Sholay shooting site), Channapatna (hub of traditional toys and home to S), Maddur (home of the Maddur vadas), Mandya (sugar city- lot of Sugarcane) and Srirangapatna (site of the Kaveri trail run, our destination yesterday)
The goodness of the road is justified by us hitting 150 kmph yesterday with T at the wheel, while not realizing for quite some time that we were at that landmark speed. The car alarm starts continuously beeping at 120, but then over the course of the ride you get to ignore it to some extent. 120 is a speed limit, and seems like a logical limit to have (unlike the 80 which I've seen on some highways). Thankfully this blog is not popular enough that some Karnataka Transport official reads this post and enraged, finds out my Vehicle number and promptly dispatches a challan, adding a link to challan in the Blog comments. The expressway got inaugurated in March, and the new car came in June- so nice co-incidence there. The Red-Venue, aka Revenue, drew compliments from T who found it holding up well beyond 120 kmph, and N for its boot space. Oh important point to note: Yesterday, T was the revenue-driver.
One challenge on the road is that vehicles don't respect the fast-lane slow-lane logic. In fact, I don't even think there is an effort from the powers that be to inculcate this habit, because I did not see any communication about it on the roadside information displays. Ideally, slow traffic (eg: lorries) should ride on the leftmost lanes, and fast (close to 120) should ride on the rightmost lane. This will reduce stress on drivers, and accidents. Currently, due to non adherence or non existence of fast-lane slow-lane logic, there are lot of perilous lane switches at high speed. As the number of the such quality highways grow in India, speeds of vehicles will increase, and therefore implementing this logic becomes critical to road safety.
The road, at a height of 10 odd meters for most of the trip, overlooks green fields, mainly paddy and sugarcane, on both sides. Both water intensive crops are fed by the Kaveri river, which runs through Srirangapatna, and many canals emanate from it. No wonder the Mandya district is at the heart of the Cauvery agitations, which led to two bandhs just a month ago. We make close contact with the Kaveri during our hotel stay beside the river, and further during our trail that ran along a canal.
The most beautiful spot on the expressway for me is near Ramanagara, when huge monolith rocks loom on both sides of the road. The road rises, and we see the sky in front, framed by the monoliths on either side. To the left and right is the greenery of forest and farms. The green vegetation, brown-black rocks and blue sky dotted with white clouds, with the grey road cutting through, makes for an alluring sight. This is further beautified if the sun is setting, when the sky develops hues of pink and orange. Nothing like a big panaromic view imbued with many natural colors, to make the heart soar!
One section that saddens not gladdens, is when you clearly see the walls of cut rock on both sides. The natural landscape has been demolished to make way for this road. Another downside has been that many restaurants dotting the older National Highway have seen business plummet, with commuters preferring to zip through the expressway. Scant compensation to the thousands employed along the highway, but there is one restaurant that has benefited immensely. Kadamba Veg is located in the half-km stretch after the NICE road exit to Kengeri and before the start of the expressway. Bengalureans heading towards Mysore, esepcially from Eastern and Northern parts of the city, will wipe their brow after getting out of the city through Nice road and would like a small break before entering the expressway. Kadamba veg is located at that exact spot, and no wonder we had difficulty in finding a parking spot. We eventually did, and enjoyed a hot cuppa tea /coffee.
The Bengaluru-Chennai expressway is coming up next. Apparently Bengaluru Hyderabad highway, which I already heard praises of, is also getting an upgrade to 6-lane. The transition periods of road construction will be painful, as I heard from T and S, who recently drove to Chennai. Hoping to experience those completed roads sometime soon.
Sunday, November 12, 2023
Watched a play after ages- Relatively Speaking at BIC
Watched the hilarious play 'Relatively Speaking' at BIC, on Thursday evening. It was a play that only aimed to be funny, and did not mean to convey any 'deeper' message. The past 2- 3 plays which I watched have been embedded with deep message and meaning. The last I watched, 'Walk in the woods' starring Nasseruddin Shah, a deep conversation between an India and a Pakistani spy, was at NCPA in Mumbai in 2017, a good 6 years ago.
Relatively Speaking had funny dialogues and deliveries. It was also remarkable how the plot is allowed to build by taking some obvious dramatic liberties. There are 4 characters in the play, and 2 conveniently keep disappearing for some odd job or the other (cooking, gardening, etc), so that a solid head of confusion can be built up on miscommunication and misinterpretation . If the missing characters were present on stage, they would have clarified the confusing situation immediately. The humor is based on this built-up confusion. This dramatic element is a trope, though, but it (mostly) did not get grating. Due to its repetition it made itself obvious and therefore demanded the audience for its 'willing suspension of disbelief'. My favorite comic moment is when one of the bemused characters, just back from the garden and therefore not being onto the latest on-stage developments, is admonished thus: 'Do wear a hat when you go out in the sun '.
That's what's humor (building on what I had read somewhere)- you suspend your disbelief and allow an alternate reality to get created, and then a set of improbable or outlandish circumstances get built on top of that alternate reality, such that the entire reality is fragile, and then some last straw is kept on top of this fragile structure. This last straw your mind can't handle, and it bursts into laughter, as a 'system breakdown'.
Relatively Speaking is an old British play, written in 1965, so it has some elements of that time and place such as land line phones and travel from London to Kent. Those got a wee bit jarring. It was performed at BIC by Madras Players, which I read is India's oldest English theater group. Girish Karnad is its most famous alumnus. The acting was excellent, albeit somewhat exaggerated as the genre and the plot demands.
Two sidenotes: I finally got to watch a good play at BIC, one of the best (if not the best) venues for performance art in Bangalore. I have been eyeing it for long. We reached the venue 2 minutes late and all seats were taken, so had to do some calisthenics to squeeze into one of the aisles. Secondly, it was a day dedicated to 'play' - I played cricket in the morning after a gap of 6 months from rotator cuff muscle, waited 1 hour to get to see Mohammed Shami at the PUMA office, and lastly went and watched the play.
Thursday, November 09, 2023
Lady doctors: many hurdles faced by these trailblazers
The notes that follow do have some spoilers. They are unlikely to impair the reading experience, but if you are absolutely averse to spoilers and are definitely going to read the book, then give this a skip.
The deeply researched book, set in the late 19th century when the first Indian Lady Doctors entered hospitals, talks about the pressures faced by the first few women doctors of India. The idea of women going out of the home and 'breaking' the traditional mould of mothers and homemakers was alien to society. Balancing profession with motherhood and homemaking remain contemporary concerns - but the biggest barrier back then was : overcoming the hurdles placed by child marriage. Females would get married by age 12, and after that there was little interest from the new 'guardians' in the kid's long term development and growth. The other hurdle back then was menfolk feeling threatened by competent women.
On a sidenote, some of the above hurdles are probably common in other contexts too (beyond just the rise of professional women); habits such as sticking to tradition, insecurity of one group with the rise of other.
Doctors aside, the book also casts light on the deplorable state of women. In the absence of birth control and family planning, women would give birth to double-digit number of children, which would necessitate medical attention. However, women patients would not get adequate treatment because they would not be taken to the male doctors, and most of the doctors were male. This situation existed even after medical science had advanced to the extent that vaccines were available (eg: Small pox vaccine was invented in 1796). There was an important section early in Salman's Rushdie's celebrated novel Midnight's Children, which exploited this situation to dramatic effect in creating a romance between Doctor and elusive woman patient, who he was not allowed to see.
It struck me as remarkable that all these hurdles faced by women doctors was in the second half of 19th century, which is barely 150 years ago- just 3 generations before today.
The author's presentation of her subjects is balanced. The book is not what is called a 'hagiography', where the biography or autobiography is extremely positive about the subject person and the mistakes or wrongs of the subject are not talked about. There is indepth analysis of one of the ideological stands taken by one of the subjects which has a negative outcome on a strata of society.
The author Kavitha Rao's context setting notes are nice. She enters the narrative gently, adding some historical context or her own perspective. For example, when talking about Khulna (in present day Bangladesh) where one of the Doctors was born, she talks about the past (building of the 60 dome mosque) and the future (massacres of the Bangladesh war) of Khulna. The tales of Lady Doctors are told over the backdrop of the freedom struggle, and Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Gandhiji both make an appearance.
The first women doctor had a slave driver husband, who forced her to study. Beatings were also administered. Was her life better off due the slave driving? Perhaps. However, she was a torch bearer for future generations of lady doctors. So, most people like her husband, even if they have some overwhelmingly negative trait, might also have some positive trait which might help society. So the situation is a bit like the Dominican republic dictator, who is talked about in the book Collapse. He was authoritarian and ruled with an iron fist, but then he was very protective of the environment. Today, although Haiti and Dominican Republic are small countries on the same island, Dominican Republic is one of the largest economies of the region while Haiti is one of the poorest. So, people have both positive and negative.
However, these women , especially Haimatbai, led difficult lives. Haimabati lived a life of utter poverty throughout. Hats off to them for creating the trail through the thicket, braving all the thorns, and making it easier for the future generations to walk.
Labels: Books
Sunday, March 19, 2023
Fresh unbiased thoughts on EEAAO the 2023 Oscar Best Picture
I watched EEAAO this evening. I have not discussed it with anyone yet, nor have I read any reviews. So, I am interested to see if the below interpretation of the movie is the common interpretation of it. Note: Spoiler warning.
While it appears as a Sci Fi movie involving Multiverses, which is a common trope of sci fi movies of the 2020s, I think it's also a commentary on our life in the times of social media and modern media.
Our social media feed can be described as 'everything everywhere all at once' because people seem to be doing Everything or All kinds of things (bungee jumping, going to museums, going on hikes, reading, drinking, hanging out, watching live matches). They obviously are doing it everywhere - Vietnam, Bali, Maldives, Tromso. And on our feed, as we scroll through, we see it all at once (separated by barely a few seconds, as we scroll through the infinite feed). We then get FOMO- because we too want to do some of these things! Our mind gets fragmented- we want to do everything be everywhere, and now, or very soon! Even if we don't experience FOMO, through our mirror neurons - a powerful mental system which allow us to empathize with whoever we are interacting with- we would put ourselves in the situation of what the feed shows us. In one moment we would be in the shoes of our friend bungee jumping in Hong Kong, and a mere second of a thumb scroll later, we would be (through the eyes of another friend) watching the France-Morocco World Cup semi final in Qatar. This would lead to fragmentation and confusion in our mind, as experienced by the protagonist in the movie.
People on social media might put up 'idealistic' versions of themselves and their experiences. Thus, we might expect idealistic people and experiences.
Coming to how the movie might describe 'modern media' itself- even the movies we watch or books we read are highly processed- with beautiful sceneries and clean narratives with clear causal links. Real life is messy and there's often no clear causative links.
The antidote , drawing from the movie and also from the book 'How to do nothing' which I read a couple of months ago (a book I found insightful and is reviewed on this blog) - is to firstly be aware of this effect of social media and modern media. One is to be mindful in the moment and invest in the experiences and people around you. With all their imperfections or problems, we can still find a lot to appreciate in the people and circumstances around us in our current universe.
Halu Chilume Gange: an offbeat hike allowing reentry into 'trek mental mode'
7 of us packed some adventure into the weekend by going on the offbeat Halu Chilume Gange (HCG) Hike, which we discovered on India Hikes' DIY series. The base is 2 hours drive away from the Bangalore, on the North west direction (towards Doddaballapur).
Firstly, much gratitude to India hikes and the wonders of mobile navigation technology- K downloaded the GPX file available on the IH site and installed it on an app called "Gaia". This works like Google Maps for trail exploration. HCG proved its offbeatness with its hard-to-discern trail featuring many non-obvious turns. The trail was obscured by many thorny bushes through which we had to beat a path through. The thorns often ripped through our shirts and gave many of us some surface bruises : I got a few micro-rips on my PUMA jersey (which is hereon unusable) and a one an inch-and-a-half long wound on my forearm. The thorny yet flexible branches on our trail helped us closely experience the term 'whiplash' as the trekker in front passed. This whiplash can be quite dangerous for the eye, and in our post trek discussion, D and I discussed how we should be wearing Scientist or Industrial goggles on such treks. Further proof of the trek's offbeatness was the fact that for the 5 hours we were on the trail, we met only 5 humans. These 5, who came as a group, were also guided by IH's GPX file. Kudos to K from our group for handling the app. Also, I am now ruing that I did not handle the phone for some time and poke around on this Gaia app and the GPX file. Anyway, this is definitely the most offbeat proper hike I've done in my life.
This hike also served as useful prep for mine and S's upcoming challenging trekking endeavor: Goe Chala in Sikkim, which will take us close to the mighty Kanchenjunga. While I did carry a 3 kg dumbbell in addition to the water and the foods, in order to prepare for the upcoming Himalayan journey, I realize that this trip went beyond the realm of physical to also extend to mental preparation. It's been 4 months since my last trek, the elaborate multi-day Har Ki Dun, and I now realize it also takes time to get 'into' the trekking state of mind. To move from our overstimulated city lives (the mental activity, the plethora of things to do, the bright lights, and flashing videos) to the slower life amid nature. To be mindful of and enjoy the steps you take. To delight in the fact that every step cannot be just the same distance or effort- thanks to the uneven trail and boulders, they might involve lunges, squats or clambers. I remember how N and I once went through a mindfulness audio from Headspace around being mindful during walks. One should take in and appreciate the large panoramic 3D views from the mountain heights. From up there, we saw the usual large sweeping view from up there on a near-urbania hill: other neighboring hills, the distant lake, and the farms. It takes some time to settle into this mode, and this trek gave me a teaser-trailer of that mental mode.
One of the reasons we picked this hike among others we found online, was the fact that it was supposed to have green cover. There was decent green cover, with many trees of around 10 meters height. N earned the moniker of 'tree spotter' as she observed many idiosyncracies among trees. The most beautiful tree we saw was a fairly tall one with all its leaves a tender red in color. And interestingly, it's not the drying red of autumn- these were fresh leaves. Such nature appreciation also falls into the mental mode mentioned above. The green cover was more than some other near-BLR treks such as Skandagiri or Savandurga. DD Hills trek in Tumkur is also quite green, and S and I went there in May 2022. On this HCG trail, there was lot of 'scorched earth' all through the first 75% of the trail. I wonder how this happened.
The green cover's contribution towards making our trek comfortable was augmented by the contribution of the friendly weather. Despite it being the heart of the summer, out of the blue (or grey, rather, if we are referring to the clouds), it had rained the past couple of evenings, making the sun quite subdued through the morning. We started at 7 AM and got back to our parked cars at 1 PM, and even around 1 PM the sun often played peek a boo from behind the clouds. The summer sun could have completely roasted us, as I've experienced in some of my past western ghat treks, but this was a welcome change.
The running joke was about how there might be 'Huli' on the Halu Chilume Gange trek- Huli meaning leopord in kannada. In his previous day's recce near the base, K had been warned by a local about Huli's, starting to cry wolf/leopard, but he stopped once he learnt that there would be more than 5 of us.
While we did not encounter hostile leopards, we encountered Monkeys who threatened to turn hostile. While we did observe some monkeys enroute, I naively pulled out a banana from my bag, attracting the attention of a host of them who noisily swung their way to some nearby trees. Fearing an attack, I flung the banana away and it was quickly pounced upon by some of them. I extended my trekking pole and brandished it menacingly, and the monkeys stayed away.
N got her ankle sprained on the downward journey. She was wearing a Slip-on meant for walking, and I think that 4 of us experienced trekkers in our group (who've done multiple multi-day Himalayas treks) should have had more words of caution for her at the start , and also given her two trekking poles. The trekking poles were folded up and kept inside our bags for most of the downward journey.
Now when we got back at 1 PM, the adventure was not over. When we had started our journey at 4 30 AM from home, it was dark and it necessitated headlights. By the time we got to our destination at 7, it was broad daylight. Think about it- what SNAFU happens in a slightly old car in such situations?
Yes- the headlight is left on!
Well, the battery was completely dead and the car did not come to life despite a couple of pushing attempts. Thus, we tested K & P's all new Harrier to the hilt by packing all 7 of us into it. It did a commendable job in the rough terrain. We got hold of a mechanic some 20 minutes away, who drove along on his bike, and helped us 'jump start' the car. Just like whiplash, 'jump start' is another term that is usually used analogically but we experienced in real life.
We capped off the adventure with a late but big and satisying lunch at Ma Da Dhaba, Yelahanka. Some of us were quite astonished at how well planned Yelahanaka seemed when compared to rest of the city. After that, we all drove off into the sunset.
Labels: Travellog
Sunday, March 05, 2023
Good Omens: laugh out loud moments with an ever-thickening plot
I read Good Omens, recommended to me by SS a year ago. It is by masters of the craft of fantasy interspersed in today's world- Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. In the sense that, fantasy of the LOTR kind creates another world, but Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett intersperse fantasy on to our real world, like in Harry Potter. We can imagine it to be VR Fantasy vs AR Fantasy. This book is the first Neil Gaiman I've read. He's famously known as one of the most creative voices of recent times.
There are multiple laugh out loud moments in the book, many of which I savored. My mood varies a good bit, so my reaction to laugh out loud situations varies from time to time. If you are of even temperament, then you will enjoy many more jokes than I did.
An example of a laugh out loud moment, wherein a ferocious dog is described:
"It was already growling, and the growl was a low, rumbling snarl of spring coiled menace, that start of growl that starts in the back of one throat and ends up in someone else's.
Saliva dropped from its jaws and sizzled on the tar"
The book repeatedly uses the word "Ineffable" which is a nice word. It means something that cannot be expressed in words ; eg: ineffable joy. It can be used negatively too- "ineffable sadness, ineffable terror". When you think about it, the word Ineffable itself becomes Ineffable.
The book has alternative and humorous takes on many concepts of the Bible such as Christ, Angels and Demons, Satan, Prophecies, Horsemen of the Apocalypse, etc. The plot moved along a bit slowly for my liking, but I am reading this genre (out and out fantasy fiction) after a long long time, and I think this genre demands you to get into a particular mode of fantasy reading. The build up towards the climax is quite exciting and it gets pretty heated up towards the end, with many threads coming together.
A fun read. Especially recommend if you are a regular reader of Fantasy.
Labels: Books
2034: A "techno-war" book factoring in geopolitics and cyber warfare
I saw this book at an airport. One of the reviews I read online described it as a 'potboiler, in that there is minimal character development'. Ahh- a clear aspect of what a 'potboiler' is- something that's not always been clear to me.
However, I think there is a decent amount of development around the key characters, in the backdrop of a global war between US and allies vs China and allies that breaks out in 2034. The author is a retired Vice Admiral, so a lot of the action is on the sea. The crux, as you would imagine in any future war, is Cyber attacks by China that incapacitate some US weaponry. This is also the underlying premise of the book "Ghost Fleet" published in 2015.
Cyber war is increasingly a hot topic of public discourse and debate, and the 2021 "FT/Mckinsey book of the year" (a good source of non fiction books over the years for me), was the book "This is how they tell me the world ends". That book is also on cybercrime. This book 2048 is also published in 2021.
I found the book interesting in parts, and if you feel like reading a book on war and geopolitics, then this is a good read. If you don't feel specifically like reading something in this genre, you can avoid. I won't go into more details, because it's a thriller and any more words from me will spill some beans.
Labels: Books
Two good girls: An ordinary killing: Journalistic take on a distressing episode
Till halfway in, I thought this book was Fiction which is 'inspired by' a multitude of such events, but well, that's the movie "Article 15" starring Ayushman Khurana. The movie's main influence is this episode but also draws from some other episode.
This book itself is masterly non fiction that tells the tale of the horrifying and sad episode of the death of two girls in rural Western UP. The book portrays the toxic mix of misogyny, casteism and illiteracy that leads to the episode, and documents the ineptitude of the local police and politicians in their response. The code of "honor" that underlies the day to day life in villages is suffocating. The author intersperses the narrative with sad-but-true stats about crimes against women in India.
In the village, women are relegated to indoor spaces and are forbidden to head outside the house. It reminds me of P's college project at Journalism school called "Her Jagah" (link ) which "is a webportal that talks about how women in cities claim their right to public spaces" . Ap went to Vietnam last week, and when I asked her if she saw many more women in public spaces in Hanoi than in Bengaluru, her answer was a sad but expected "Resounding Yes" . An intriguingly titled book that P recommended on this subject is called "Why Loiter?" which looks at women's access to public spaces in Mumbai.
While overall the situation painted is grim, the only hope is that the book is about an episode from 2014. Since then, the data revolution has swept by, making India the highest per capita internet data consumer in the world. Maybe, just maybe, the internet is spreading awareness on these issues and removing some of these ingrained social problems.
Labels: Books
Peer group shapes your eyesight- a "cold splash" experience after reading Quiet
I'm reading 'Quiet' by Susan Cain. (Subtitled - 'The power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking') Published in 2012, and given how insightful it is, I should have read it 10 years ago!
(Although it did make a splash back then in reading circles, I heard it but did not quite quite 'listen' or heed it. Maybe it was a "Quiet" splash. And not a "Bigger Splash" like David Hockney's iconic painting)
In Quiet- the author describes the famous and astonishing 'Solomon Asch' experiment of the 1950s. Student volunteers were shown lines of varying lengths, and were asked to answer objective questions such as which line is the longest. When volunteers went through the excercise by themselves, 95% of the volunteers answered correctly. But once imposter volunteers were inserted into their group who gave wrong answers, the volunteers also gave more wrong answers. The 95% plunged to 25%!
A 2005 follow up by researcher Gregory Berns threw up an even more startling insight. He repeated the experiment but with MRI scanners checking the activity of various parts of the brain. Two parts of the brain will be expected to light up- the part related to processing visual input (Occipital and Parietal Cortex), and the part related to decision making (Prefrontal Cortex).
Now one scenario in which the 95% correct plunged to 25% correct is that the volunteers actually thought X is the correct answer but to save face and kowtow the line of the group, said Y, so as to not stick out. In this scenario, the 'thinking' part of the brain (pre frontal cortex), should light up more in the groupthink scenario. However, that was not the case. In the groupthink scenario, there was increased activity in the Occipital and Parietal Cortex.
This offers a stunning insight. The sight was 'altered' due to what the volunteers heard from the group. They actually "saw" what was different from what they would have seen had they not received the input from the group.
Just a day after reading this, I had a 2 hour session of doubles Badminton. There were 5 players, so we took turns in sitting out. Now during a time when I was sitting out, during the game there was a close call on the sideline where it was not clear if the shuttle landed in or out. Since I was sitting out and watching the action, 3 players turned to me, asking - was it In or Out ?
I could feel my mind replaying the memory of the shuttle hitting the ground, and I could not make out clearly whether it was In or Out. However, just at this moment, the 4th player A confidently said- it was "Out". And I almost felt the memory clarifying itself in my mind, and now I could see the shuttle landing outside the line quite clearly! This understanding of how my brain works, read just the previous day and now illustrated so starkly, dawned on me like a cold splash to the face.
Coming back to the 'subtitle' of the book ("The power of introverts in a world that can't stop talking")- I can closely relate the subtitle to my favorite book of 2022- How to do nothing, resisting the attention economy (my review here: https://ashwinravikumarwrites.blogspot.com/2023/03/peer-group-shapes-your-eyesight-cold.html ) . There too, a point is made about relentless shallow "chatter" which pervades the social media of our times. The author quotes from elsewhere that "the regime we inhabit relies on the proliferation of chatter, the irrelevance of opinion and discourse, and on making thought, dissent and critique banal and ridiculous".
Labels: Books
Saturday, January 07, 2023
Groceries on Big Basket vs Swiggy Instamart : quick data driven recommendation
Tried to answer the oft thought about question of ordering on Big Basket vs on Instamart. Based on the analysis and findings below, the conclusion is that the apps live up to their names. For anything required instantly such as curd or eggs, you can order Instamart as their pricing and delivery timeline is better, but otherwise prefer BB for the the better pricing (14% better, 19% including Cash backs) and wider selection (3 of 11 items NA on Swiggy) .
As on 7th Jan at Bellandur |
Findings:
Analysis
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