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Thiruvalluvar, known as Valluvar is a Tamil poet and philosopher. He is the author of Thirukkural (திருக்குறள்), a collection of couplets on virtue, wealth, and love. Thirukkural consists of 1330 Kurals and each kural has only seven words. The above picture is a statue of Valluvar standing on an island in Kanyakumari. Thiruvalluvar day is usually celebrated on Jan 15 in the state of Tamil Nadu to honor him and his works on Tamil Literature. Here are a few kurals with English translations.

உடைமையுள் இன்மை விருந்தோம்பல் ஓம்பா 
மடமை மடவார்கண் உண்டு (8)

There are fools who choose to be poor despite possessing wealth, by not being hospitable to guests.

குழலினி தியாழினி தென்பதம் மக்கள் 
மழலைச்சொல் கேளா தவர் (66)

Only those who don't listen to their baby's sweet babble will claim that a flute or yazh sounds melodious.

புகழ்பட வாழாதார் தந்நோவார் தம்மை 
இகழ்வாரை நோவ தெவன் (237)

Why do those, who live no fame, instead of blaming themselves, blame those who revile them

புணர்ச்சி பழகுதல் வேண்டா உணர்ச்சிதான் 
நட்பாங் கிழமை தரும் (785)

Friendship is forged on shared feelings; physical proximity or long association is inconsequential. 

பகைநட்பாக் கொண்டொழுகும் பண்புடை யாளன் 
தகைமைக்கண் தங்கிற் றுலகு (874)

The one with the virtue of turning a foe into a friend, the world shall rest under the sway of his virtuosity.

கள்ளுண்ணாப் போழ்திற் களித்தானைக் காணுங்கால் 
உள்ளான்கொல் உண்டதன் சோர்வு (930)

While sober, will he not think of his crapulence, 
when he sees others sloshed under the influence?

உழுவார் உலகத்தார்க் காணியஃ தாற்றா 
தெழுவாரை எல்லாம் பொறுத்து (1032)

Farmers are the linchpin of the world, 
All others not farming, it does hold.

இன்றும் வருவது கொல்லோ நெருநலும் 
கொன்றது போலும் நிரப்பு (1048)

Did not my privation kill me yesterday?
Does it have to be back again today?

ஏதிலார் போலப் பொதுநோக்கு நோக்குதல் 
காதலார் கண்ணே உள (1099)

We give each other such distant looks, like we're strangers. 
Only Lovers can do that.

கண்டுகேட் டுண்டுயிர்த் துற்றறியும் ஐம்புலனும் 
ஒண்தொடி கண்ணே உள (1101)

The five senses of sight, aural, taste, smell and touch come alive 
only with this girl of gleaming bangles.

மதியும் மடந்தை முகனும் அறியா 
பதியின் கலங்கிய மீன் (1116)

The glistening moon that wanes and waxes is marred by vacant spaces. Is there a single taint on my maiden's face?

உடம்பொ டுயிரிடை என்னமற் றன்ன 
மடந்தையொ டெம்மிடை நட்பு (1122)

What is the soul to the body? 
Such is the bond between me and my lady.

Cheers!

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One such solitude led to the discovery of multiple versions of myself. This isn’t about resolutions or achieving the highest productivity using mental models for the best version of oneself. A little more introspection.

We are different when we are with family, friends, relatives, colleagues, acquaintances, strangers, and especially with ourselves. Our relationships with our family and coworkers are not the same. The most would have been witnessed by family and close friends, the best and most humble version by coworkers and superiors, and the worst by haters. Might be because of the expectations, culture, social norms or social conditioning. Enough that, when we’re by ourselves, are we truly ourselves? That, in which the brain highlights every mistake made since childhood, will be the worst.

Are we fake around people or multi-faced? Or Can we define ourselves as a whole irrespective of people and situations? I am not quite certain about it.

Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. –– Stephen Covey

How can one make wiser choices? There are a lot of mental models for making better decisions. So far, I’m learning from the mistakes that I have made.

People have unique personalities and may behave differently depending on their characteristics and tendencies. We are complex evolving individuals with many facets, layers of experiences, and feelings that cause us to behave in various ways depending on the situation. It is better to embrace different versions than to defend against them.

The best part is that enhancing ourselves and exploring who we truly are is an iterative process.

Ending this with a quote from

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man – Heraclitus

Cheers! Lets root for the best of 2023!

Check out the previous post: Who am I

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There are a lot of female-centric movies coming up in the cine industry. The focus of the aforementioned films is domestic violence, or more specifically intimate partner violence.

When it comes to Darlings, the main character takes help from her mother to teach him a lesson. The most likable part is when the main lead narrates the story of a frog and a scorpion at the end. The scorpion asks the frog for a piggyback ride across the river, but the frog has trust issues. Eventually, the scorpion stays true to its nature and stings the frog.

Ammu revolves around a traditional family where domestic violence is considered to be normal. The main lead is married to an inspector who pretends to be against domestic violence. His true nature and intentions were exposed within the four walls. She seeks help from a murderer to set a trap for the abuser.

Though both movies enlighten on the issue faced by married women, the protagonist seeks support from others. I am not quite sure about getting assistance from others in real life. Yes, I understand; it’s a film.

JJJJH was quite different from the above and was realistic in some parts. The film starts with her childhood, when her parents appeared to be liberal but were actually a normalized patriarchal, conservative middle-class family. Being brought up in a family where her brother gets all the attention, she falls in love with a professor in college who fakes feminism to gain credibility. The story begins when she is married to a person who runs a poultry business. Most of the female characters in this movie (be it mother, MIL, or SIL) normalize intimate violence. Having realized that there is no one to rescue, including her parents, she learns self-defense.

Most of the women would have related to many parts of this story. It would be much better if the writer gave more importance to her thoughts and her agony, along with the male lead, who is more concerned about his bruised ego than getting beat up. The movie also brings out how the male lead relatives tame the heroine by suggesting the idea of impregnation. When she struggles to find work after moving away from her family, the value of education is emphasized. It’s hard to bring about a change when the partner (male or female) normalizes the intimate violence.

This kind of situation reminds me of a conversation between Tae oh and In kyu from the world of the married. It goes as

You want to ruin her and make sure that she doesn't go anywhere. ...... You probably want to destroy her and make her admit that you're the only man in her life. 

Will it bring a change in the minds of victims and abusers after watching movies/series based on domestic violence? Or will it be just a film that entertains people for hours?

Cheers!

 PS: Link for Darlings, JJJJH and Ammu

ChatGPT3 is groundbreaking, and it’s trending on social media. It is a conversational AI assistant that provides answers to the user’s questions. The database has been cut off until 2021 and doesn’t crawl the internet to search for new information. This is made by OpenAI and programmed to write and simulate human conversation. It’s free for now.

ChatGP3 is not the first AI bot, there have been Tay, Xiaoice and others. Its not surprising to see that AI is evolving, but that’s happening so soon.

This reminds me of a reel shared by Joe Rogan on Instagram. I am not very sure how it’s going to be in the future. There are possibilities for jobs to be taken by AI, and I wonder where humans can gain the upper hand. Some may have been discouraged by AI writing tools, and here is the response I received from ChatGP3.

“It’s unlikely that AI will ever fully “take over” humans. While AI systems can perform certain tasks more efficiently than humans, they are still limited in many ways and are not capable of replacing human intelligence or consciousness. AI systems are designed to assist humans and make our lives easier, but they are not capable of replacing us or making decisions on their own. It’s important to remember that AI is a tool, and like any tool, it is only as good as the person using it. As long as AI is used responsibly and ethically, it can be a valuable asset to humanity”.

And, of course, there is concern about the evolution of AI. Perhaps they will take over. Who knows! ChatGP3 takes a few minutes to respond, yet it was fun and interesting.

There was an article written by Seth Godin titled, “And what if you can’t tell?” As the AI tools get better, it’s harder to differentiate them. I believe sapiens still have the advantage of creativity and consciousness.

So far, humans have written content, which has been crawled by robots and indexed in search results. Later, the stuff will be created by AI bots and indexed by them. Isn’t it funny? Are we participants in an unknown game with unpredictable rules and regulations?

Lol. Maybe I am hilarious right now!

Let us keep on playing the game.

I’d like to conclude this conservation with a quote from Richard Feynman.

...... drink it and forget it all!

Cheers!

PS: It was written by ME and reminds me of HER.

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I was on the train just like this old man, staring out the window, lost in my thoughts for the last weekend’s travel. It’s usual for thoughts to attack us with gun-pointing truths. This question, in particular, stayed with me for a longer period, and I was convincing myself of the best possible answer.

This is one of the unanswered questions. I am not quite certain whether it should be defined as qualitative or quantitative. I believe there is no universal definition, and people’s perceptions of themselves and others differ. Here is the conversation that I had with myself.

Is it appropriate to say “career” when the question is posed? Adulthood is spent working for the career we choose. Can a person be defined in this single bracket of being called a doctor, scientist, engineer, nurse, salesman, or day worker? What if the person changes their path to becoming something else? Then, it appears to be an ineffective metric.

How about the wealth and money possessed by an individual? Well, people who own a Porsche, LV, Chanel, Gucci, or Rolex, as well as a beach house or stocks, cannot be compared to those who are below the poverty line. This only addresses one aspect of life with money-making abilities and more materialistic possessions. Then, it can be included as a metric of survival or competitiveness, not for the above one.

Next, would it be better to adopt the trait of doing good to others? But here comes the paradox: There are no good or bad things in the world. Everything varies from person to person. Can I consider education or the degree possessed? There are people who are privileged to study what they want; some are forced by their parents; some are underprivileged. That, in my opinion, is an inappropriate option to include.

Recently, I’ve noticed people defining themselves by the number of followers they have on social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter, where only the highlights/better side of their lives are displayed. Can that be included as a metric? I’m not certain either. 

Wouldn’t it be better if someone defined themselves by their actions, thoughts, feelings, passion, or dreams? They are all, however, in the past or the near future. They are susceptible to changes.

All of the above that is mentioned here is prone to change, and I am not here to say that change is permanent and blah, blah. What defines it if none of the above apply? When someone asks me the above question, a lot of things come to mind that I’m not entirely sure about. 

Perhaps the way a person reacts in the present defines him, her, or them. Actions or reactions at the moment can be used to say whether that person has had a certain number of experiences. Whether positive or negative, one’s experiences shape and define one. I am not quite certain about it either yet convincing.

Henceforth, there is no specific definition as such. Even, though I’m trying to express my definitions based on current perceptions yet not definite one. Find your definition using your terms, and following this up is not advised

Good Luck on finding yours! Cheers!

Recently, I came across a video on YouTube. It was a conversation between Edward Snowden (I didn’t completely read the wiki, I swear) and Joe Rogan. The podcast is for about three hours, and I saw a clip of that one for twenty-four minutes. Those few minutes of conservation gave me a panic attack. Lol. Edward points out how smartphones monitor us and how they stay active even when the screen is locked or turned off. The mobile nudges you every minute with a bunch of notifications. He also points out that the basic phones with removable batteries are better, but it’s way harder to go back to button phones.  

In the same week, I read an article about data breaches. The breaches happen even at giant companies, and here are the numbers for 2022 and 2021. In the world of the tech era, it is getting difficult to protect your passwords, credentials, important documents, etc. We have “n” a number of accounts (bank accounts, Gmail, Outlook, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, Netflix, Amazon, and so on), and creating a unique password for each one of them is such a hectic task. The most tedious task of creating passwords is remembering them exactly. This reminds me of a meme.

This has happened a lot. Setting a unique and strong password is important. I read that adding salt and pepper to the password makes it even harder to crack. Here is an article that explains it well.

NordPass, one of the password managers, has recently published an article on the top 200 most common passwords. 

Top five passwords used in the World

• password
• 123456
• 123456789
• guest
• qwerty

Top five passwords used in India

• password
• 123456
• 12345678
• bigbasket
• 123456789

They listed the passwords used by major countries like the US, UK, Germany, France, China, etc, and here is the link. The most common ones are “iloveyou”, “liverpool”, “arsenal”, hello, “welcome”, “Saibaba”, etc. Verify to see how many of the passcodes match the top 200 and if so, change them.

Having a password as the password to your site is one of the easiest and fastest ways to crack it, as it is used by many. Creating a strong, different password that’s hard to guess and uncommon is advised. Two-factor authentication can also be enabled so that a notification will be received if someone tries to access it. Most smartphones include an inbuilt vault or secure folder. Apart from that, there are a lot of password managers, some of which are paid and some of which are free for personal use, where your credentials can be protected.

Cheers!

I have been through some ups and downs for the last two weeks. I am unsure whether I am trying to find answers or getting convinced about things that I find on the way. Here is the list of some haunting questions.

• Why is there a need for identity?
• What makes a person humble? Does humbleness come after attaining a social status?
• What changes a person?
• Is productivity a life goal?
• Can acceptance and change go hand in hand?
• Why does one seek validation? Either external or internal?
• Why do certain memories never fade?
• Are humans really social animals? 
• Does true love exist?
• Why do mothers show selfless love?
• Is self-awareness bliss or bane?
• How does one behave after removing all layers of social conditioning? Still a human or an animal?
• How does one find his/her purpose? Is it a trial-and-error method?
• Can all emotions be expressed via words?
• Where to find the muse when you know nothing fills your void?
• How does one know when to rest? Both physically and mentally?
• How long does it take to stop one’s thumb finger from “double-tapping”?
• How does one handle the paradoxes of life?
• Randomness or a Creator?
• Fear or regret? Which is more painful?
• Does the true personality of oneself exist?
• How high does one reach from the lowest?

And so on…