Mind Blogging. Mind Boggling.

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. 

# posted by Ashwin Ravikumar @ 11:10 PM 0 Comments

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

# posted by Ashwin Ravikumar @ 10:47 PM 1 Comments

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

# posted by Ashwin Ravikumar @ 7:31 PM 0 Comments

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

# posted by Ashwin Ravikumar @ 7:20 PM 0 Comments

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

# posted by Ashwin Ravikumar @ 7:08 PM 0 Comments

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

# posted by Ashwin Ravikumar @ 6:50 PM 0 Comments