Deep Adhya, PhD

I don’t know why I couldn’t wait to install Windows 8 on my laptop. My laptop is almost three years old and had windows 7 working quite fine for that whole period. Sure, I was getting a bit bored with Win7, and Win8 was like an enigmatic temptation which I knew I would succumb to eventually, with time.  Win7 is like your honest housewife who is always able to get things done in the way you like it. For most, it is the mundane things like writing a document (like this one) or editing some images on Photoshop or most importantly surfing the vast empty space of the internet which keep us occupied on the PC. Win7 does that very well and with lots of gusto and resilience as never before seen. Then why Win8?  Win8 is akin to giving your wife a makeover to make her more attractive, yet not at the cost of losing any of her functionalities. So now you can have a hot wife cooking your meals and washing your dishes, and you don’t even need to peek into the menu of your neig...

Grace I have recently noticed that there are more lesbian couples than gay couples. I have always thought it should be the other way round.  Jim Well, and why do you think that is so?   Grace Maybe women have the womb, so it is easier for them to have babies if they want even if they have come out of the closet. But it is probably difficult for men to come out in the open with their sexuality, as they are more likely to be worried about finding a woman, to have kids.  Jim That’s a point, but men can get surrogate mothers if they want.  Grace Yes, but it is not the same. It is more difficult for a woman to give her womb as a surrogate and not complicate matters.  Jim A little trivia. We know that testosterone is the primary male hormone and estrogen the primary female hormone which are known to be involved in the sexual dimorphism of the human brain, right? Funny thing is research shows that the hormone responsibl...

It is easy to spot an Indian in a British crowd. Of course I was talking about the colour of the skin. But there are a lot of other ways an Indian can distinguish himself in Great Britain.  One of the most prominent characteristics of an Indian growing up in tropical climate is his propensity to take off his shirt without application of stimulus. His most important activity in a day is to take a bath. He usually goes to the bathroom half naked with a towel flimsily wrapped round his waist. When he arrives in Britain and tries the same, the exposed layers of his fat shiver to keep him warm till common sense prevails and he decides to wear full uniform and march towards the bathroom. But little does he know that he needs to march to the loo as well in full uniform and without the customary bucket or mug of water, to be greeted instead with sheets infinite of toilet paper while the force lie within him.  Most Indians are very careful with money, as it is part of an ...

Whether it is cloudy or sunny (as one can never tell with the weather in Britain), one is always hooked to a ‘cuppa’. High up in the latitudes closer to the North Pole, one expects it to be cold, no matter how the Sun plays its dirty tricks. There are shops selling cuppas and offices storing cuppas, but they are only cuppas, and a cuppa (or more) a day can (supposedly) keep depression at bay. Which is good as our brain which is so entrained to the whims of the Sun, and our bodies so slow to recover from insult and injury can result in our psych going into an overdrive and jumping into the sea for no sane reason. The head becomes heavy, and it can’t keep itself above water (save for keeping it on an analyst’s couch with a nice satin pillow).  As the sleep deprived crowd of human beings (biologically speaking) walk past the apple, pear and maple trees lining the streets, which slowly turn an autumn yellow, they do not for one moment observe the slow fluttering motion of the ...

A Hippie Paradise A narrow uphill lane of concrete, called Jogibari Road happens to be the main causeway of Mcleodganj. Though it is steep, it does not discourage the unquenchable human spirit from scaling it. An unending stream of cars is always plying up the hill making life miserable for the innocent inhabitants of this hilly town. On both sides of the road lie the main hotels and restaurants of Mcleodganj. There are also a number of curio shops, the occasional bar and some unique meeting places for cross-cultural gatherings to discuss the present and future of Tibet. Mcleodganj is called little Lhasa and the Dalai Lama stays in exile here at his famous monastery. Sadly though, Mcleodganj is replete with foreigners and it is difficult to understand their business here. India has always been the ‘exotic’ land, the place where different forces are always at war amongst each other. But here, philosophers and preachers have always emphasized on finding peace in the middle of grea...

The unruly chaos of the Indian political scenario is in stark contrast to the stringent conformation to rules practiced in Western countries such as the US and the UK. The social scenario though is quite a different story, and the indomitable structure of the Indian society is far vigilant than the disorderly mess seen in the temperate climes of the Western world. The net entropy may seem to have been maintained. But, where from does such irregularity stem, considering the fact that both the systems are highly successful in their own way? For an individual ignorant of sociological theories, it is a wonderful riddle to be pondered upon while sipping a cup of tea in the evening. There is no doubt that the argumentative Indian will eventually stumble upon a solution, or at least bring it to a rational conclusion. In India, while the vegetarians wrap the myelin sheaths of their nerves with pure ghee, the fish-eating populations revel in the nutritional benefits of polyuns...

In the upmarket locality of Hauz Khas, Delhi, there is a palatial residence with a front lawn, large balconies and air-conditioning in every room. Behind it lived Phil Terry in an unventilated ground floor apartment.  Phil Terry was born in South Africa, of rich parents running a very successful toothpaste company. Disillusioned with the ways of businessmen, he robbed his dad of half a million rands to study photography in India. At his son’s breaking away with the money, old Terry had a minor heart attack. The half a million rands was stashed away in cash to install a new ultra-high tech artificial pacemaker for his heart. He had recently searched it out on the internet and had decided to buy it on the black market. The pacemaker had the ability to dynamically control heart rate during intense excitement such as during sexual arousal, in order to improve performance. His heart’s native pacemaker had always been lagging behind from a very young age. It was a setback for t...

It has been more that forty years since the first mission on moon. Since then, moon has been invaded many times, by man or unman. But all of these missions have needed rigorous planning and plenty of Government money. And, now Richard Branson aims at sending tourists to space and someday even to the moon.  But all that is besides the point. Mandi House is a seven-point crossing at the heart of New Delhi. It is located close to the famous Connaught Place and it is the cultural hub of the city. Other than the National School of Drama, it is home to several auditoriums and museums. But what is its relationship with Manesar?  Manesar is a little village in Haryana about 50km away from Mandi House. Other than the silly village folk who live here, it is home to the headquarters of the National Security Guard or the NSG. NSG serves the obvious purpose of protecting our vulnerable nation against evil-doers. It is also a seat of national intelligence (or so run the rumor m...

He sat in the corner, not able to decide what to do in his free time. Each day after he finished his assignments and came back home, he was faced with this unique problem. He was a cartoonist, and he was experienced in drawing caricatures of men. But that was at night. At day time, he worked in a lab.  When he was at home, there were so many people around, known or unknown. Just looking at them gave him weird ideas on how to turn them into cartoons. Often he went back home, put pencil on paper, then for a couple hours was transported to an imaginary world of facial elements floating, which through his willpower he harnessed and put together into a living form on paper. There was nothing dull about such days however trying the work might have been. He was satisfied with his life, happy with the little that he did.  On some days, he went to the theatre, watching whatever went on, getting ideas from individual performances. He rarely ever cared about the story, and even...

Silence! Enough said. Listen to the delirious rapture of hungry birds. Watch the steady eyes of the crouching cat. The aroma reaches the nostrils with the gentle waft of air as you walk with the bag of food to the dining room. The pet dog watches patiently, expectantly, his mouth half open. You slowly open the screen door to enter the room where hungry humans have gathered. There is no need to announce. Opening the bag, you find several plastic bowls, the food glistening through their transparent lids. Someone has to bring in the rotis. That has been taken care of, thankfully. Eating together had never been so systemized. You close the door on the eager dog and solemn cat. Once inside, your heart softens. You unpack the food. Humans, they eat all day, yet are the greediest of all animals. Looking at the food, they know they are going to eat it but soon start whining when they still don’t find anything on their plate after a couple of minutes. Whose fault is it? The momentar...

There is no point in writing a discourse on the facebook blues. Let us imagine hypothetical conversations from mundane day to day life, something that facebook seeks to spice up through their services. Photos How an average couple would spend their honeymoon before February 2004 : Romeo – Darling, stand in front of the fountain, while I take a photograph. Pretend that you are the poet in the statue behind you, thinking deeply about the next line in your poem. Juliet – Why, you embarrass me. I cannot be a poet. Romeo – Do it for our kids … Juliet – Ok. But make sure you get the best cellophane to wrap it in, so that even after both of us die, our memories will forever live on. Romeo – Honey, you say the most romantic things sometimes. [Click] How an average couple would spend their honeymoon after February 2012 : Rom – Hey Jul, you know how fortunate we are to be visiting Paris for our honeymoon? Would you please stand in front of that f...

My name is Hachiko. I live in the land of the end of the world. Here I have met many interesting monsters in my little life. These monsters have given me shelter, so they are not so bad. But sometimes, they behave rudely with me, as if I have done anything wrong by asking for some food. In any case, they feed me with all kinds of food. They have no idea how much acidity I have because of that. First, they used to give me biscuits, and sometimes milk. For how long can I subsist on biscuits? I stopped eating them. Sometimes I used to make a fool of these monsters by showing that I am interested in the biscuits. I used to sniff them, and pretend that I want them. How foolish these monsters can be. By the way, they call themselves humans. I am Hachiko the dog, the dog who is thankfully not a human. I can bark little bit. I am learning to clear my throat. These humans make so much noise in so many frequencies that sometimes I faint trying to understand what they try to say to me. I...

Life in a pinball machine can be a rather rough life, closed within the four walls with God watching from the glass window above. Within, inescapable scrutiny, there are obstacles. Even then, one never gets to know what one is doing, being controlled at all time by plastic flippers. One has to gather as many points as possible. That is the aim. For this, one has to bounce around aimlessly, since it is beyond one’s control to direct destiny. One cannot act on one’s conscience. One acts on the consciousness of God. To remain satisfied one has to either submit to this reality or be the one on the outside controlling the game. People who will read this will know that when one lives in such a system, as in a pinball machine, one bounces around, initially in the momentum from the plunger, then gradually as the juice dries up, and the energy seeps away, one is inevitably pulled towards the black hole, interrupted only by the divine intervention of the flippers. In between the close...