For as long as I can remember, I have contemplated the measure of these questions, and yet it is in their stubborn company, that I’ve discovered the foundations of my future ambitions, and dreams. It is a journey that I’ve recounted with great enthusiasm, and vigor in Our Last Summer, and of recent, in Agent X.
Thinking back over the 25 years that have comprised my existence, I’m grateful for all that life has offered me. It is an experience that I liken to a blissful dream or even a pensive reverie (no pun intended), and one that is yet to end. To cherish the memories of the past, to live the present to the fullest, and happily anticipate the future; this is my motto, a personal philosophy that I’ve maintained throughout the countless adventures, and memorable experiences that have made me the man I am today.
And yet, despite all my progress, life still manages to surprise me at every end.
On Love
What captivates me the most is the peculiar nature with which we carry ourselves; each of us dictated, and bound by what we accept to be true. But, truth is merely a vague concept. At times, it is a fact that is provided to us by the institutions that we are born into, or the ideologies that we digest from the surrounding environment. Ultimately, the reality that we find in its promises may all be a mirage, a world that is conceived by nothing more than our individual beliefs, and thus leading us to wrongly judge others based on our own preconceptions, and by their appearances.
It is a struggle that resonates in the very fabric of human communication, and yet it is in its assured reality that we also discover our greatest freedom. A freedom that is constituted by our ability to accept the same, and move forward with goodwill, and faith; a freedom that prompts us to accept our inhibitions, and misgivings, allowing us to find unity amid the differences that set us apart in an emotion that we call love.
It takes great courage to fall in love, for by falling in love we also admit to our greatest fears, and learn to rise above them (at least, that’s how it turned out in my life). I found the answers to my questions in love. As such, I’m thankful for the support I have received from my family; I’m grateful for the acceptance I’ve found among my friends; and I’m happy beyond words in the fulfillment of the bond I share with my partner.
Life, as it is…
Much of what I’ve learned has revolved around the complex, and diverse rituals of relationships that constitute the flow of daily life; a fundamental theme that forms the basis of my work in Our Last Summer, and Agent X. Now, as I venture upon the horizon of a new chapter, I can’t help but sift through the pages of my past in what has been a humbling experience from my childhood, to my teenage years, all the way to where I’m now contemplating, drifting amid the warm winds of a summer night, the wonders of life, as it is…
“A man is but a product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes.” – Mahatma Gandhi
Hi everyone, so here we are, already a month into 2017!
I’m now one week into my two-month vacation in Bangalore, India. Arriving on the wee hours of January 17th, my break got off to a rough start as I was sick for a week, not to mention the jet lag, and the time difference. Thankfully, I made a full recovery last weekend, and have been enjoying my time with my family.
Bangalore ain’t necessarily my hometown, which is actually further south at Madurai.
Prior to my departure, I had worked my ass off content editing Agent X, a two-week challenge that left me fatigued, and deserving a brief hiatus from the computer screen. While falling sick didn’t necessarily make for a great experience, I can confidently say it did the job of keeping me away from my laptop for long enough that I’m now refreshed, and ready to continue.
Apart from the rudimentary rituals of daily life at home, I also had the chance to embark on a wild-life safari with my family where I visited my fellow animal friends in tigers, lions, zebras, bears, and many others from the crocodylidae, and aves families at the Bannerghata National Park.
What are you looking at? Too tired to give a damn.
But, amidst all the entertainment, I discovered occasional pockets of silence that helped me contemplate on the roller-coaster of a ride 2016 has been, both personally, and on the grander scale of events that have “rocked” the world.
While completing my second book has followed on the success of my Masters degree, I still found room for improvement in my life, and my ambitions for the future; a future that seems to be rapidly changing in concert with the events that have occurred in 2016. Though many such events did not affect me directly, I felt compelled to wage a healthy debate on said occurrences, and their direct implication for the future of the current generation of youngsters.
I’m referring to the recent establishment of a new leadership, the breaking of an alliance, the carnage of war, the mass exoduses, and the various other events that have displaced the state of the world extensively over the short duration of a single year. Buried among the various differences that set these events apart, there remains one lasting impression: the monotonous manner with which the various bureaucracies of the world, have monitored, and administered the lives of its citizens, and those of others; governments that have embezzled peoples’ beliefs, leading them along a misled, and deceptive path of life colored with extravagant rhetoric, but vacant promises.
Now in an age where we find limited invitations toward discussion, and recourse, there certainly are many youngsters, just like me, pondering their individual circumstances amid a changing world. A world filled with barriers, the least of which involves a great divide in communication. We either get bogged down in communication to the point where we are incapable of action, or vice-versa. But this inability of ours is also a daunting characteristic of human nature, and one which we must learn to overcome or make amends with if we are hoping
All of which brings me back to this pensive reverie, where I’d like to believe that by writing brief posts about the state of the world, my personal interests, and adventures that I may be contributing, at least a small bit, to a common desire of a generation that wishes its voice to be heard amid the swift tempest of the world. Now, I know this piece may have sounded quite out of sorts among the previous posts that I have uploaded on the blog, but it is a first step towards the greater plans I have in 2017 to branch out in the discussions I wish to provide in the blog. More specifically, it was just a play of words on the thoughts that came across my mind during my daily ruminations. Next up on the list, and certainly a tad different from the subject above, “Why is snow so bright?”
Just wanted to provide a general update, before putting up my review on Chapter 1 of Carl Sagan’s The Dragons of Eden.
I know it has been a long wait, and I apologize for the delay, but I’ve experienced quite a productive, and intense week. I was finally able to complete the content editing required on Agent X, and now have a first draft of the book. I hope to pursue further editing in the future before proceeding towards any plans to publication.
I had hoped for a wonderful beginning to 2017, and on the heels of this personal achievement, I can say my confidence is at an all-time high. Having just also traveled back to visit my family in India, I’m currently recovering from jet lag. Nevertheless, the wait is now over, and it is now time for me to get the ball rolling on my plans for the blog, but before that, I’d like to thank you all for your patience!!
Hi everyone, I’m back! Sorry for the delay in uploading the post. I’ve been busy with the merry season currently in full swing. I had promised that I would provide an update of my two week season of sickness, and I will stay true to that promise with this post, which will basically cover what has happened in my life so far, and what I’m really looking forward to with 2017 just around the corner. Now, I may be four days late for one, and two days early for another, but I would first like to wish all my readers,
Let’s begin! December 9 was the beginning to a memorable end of the roller-coaster ride that has been 2016, and it started with me falling sick. What started out as a mild cold became a sore throat followed by a week of quality time with my good old friend, the bed. While physically bedridden, mentally, I was primed. Aside from pondering the purpose of my existence as I lay in bed, my mind was overwhelmed with an insurmountable wave of creativity helping me set up the groundwork for 2017 regarding my plans for forthcoming writing projects, my career (as I will begin my PhD studies in September 2017), my work as a budding manga writer, building on the developments for The Pensive Reverie etc.
So many ideas! Why did I have to fall sick in the first place for this to happen?!
Thankfully, I was not alone in this wonderful exodus as I was accompanied all the way by my ever gracious partner who also fell sick. This meant some quality time together doodling about, playing board games, binge-watching TV shows, further discussions, now, on the purpose of our collective existence, and pretty much waiting for time to pass just so that we can feel better again.
Jenga (check), TV (check), fast-food (check), tissue-box (check), Are we both sick? (check).
But in the end, we were both able to make a complete recovery right on time for Christmas allowing us to round up this past weekend by celebrating the merry season as well as our four year anniversary together as a couple!
These four years have been a wonderful adventure, and I can’t wait for many more to come. Thanks so much for bringing so much joy, and happiness into my life.
To my partner Leina,
あなたはわたしのゆめのじょせいだ。
はじめてあたときからすきだた。
いつまでもいっしょにいたい。
愛しています。
Now, with 2016 coming to a close, I have successfully completed my robotics internship, and am currently going through a rigorous course of content editing Agent X [my second book!] I hope to get this done by January 15, 2017, and moving forward from there, set in motion my plans for publishing the book, as well as promoting my work on this blog! At about the same time, I will be traveling to India to visit my family on a much needed vacation.
Can’t wait to see you all very soon!
It’s been eight years since I last visited my hometown so I’m looking forward to returning home. In the meanwhile, I intend to keep up with my weekly blog posts, and discuss my daily adventures. I will keep you all posted in case of impending delays or absences.
And, that basically all there is to it! I wanted to keep this blog post short, and simple. I will soon be posting my analysis on Chapter 1 of Dragons of Eden where we will discuss the cosmic calendar, and have a brief adventure involving interesting theories, and discoveries in the field of cosmology!
I apologize for my brief absence. I fell sick with a severe cold coming into the first week of December, which pretty much brought my progress on a bunch of things to a stand-still. I’ve just made my recovery, and am now back on track to get the ball moving.
Being sick is not fun!
I will begin by writing the next post on my read along of The Dragons of Eden, which will be up by the end of this week. I will also provide a comical summary of what I had been up to while I was sick. Though I was physically out of it, I was mentally surging with ideas, and with the approach of 2017 around the corner, there is a lot I have planned for, and which I will provide a brief summary of as well!
This update comes a little later than I had originally planned. I’ve been quite productive over the last two weeks. Having recently completed my second book, I have been content editing the story, while organizing my agenda for the upcoming year, involving everything from independent course studies in Robotics, setting up my next three writing projects, traveling back home to visit my family in India, and a lot more. Just like I had mentioned in my previous post, I’ve also followed up on the changes I proposed for the blog. You should now be able to see a menu at the top of the blog’s main page, where I’ve categorized the blog’s contents accordingly as follows:
(1) About – A short introduction to the author of the blog, me, as well as a description of the blog’s purpose.
(2) Contact – Here is where you, my readers, can contact me, by filling in the contact form.
(3) General – Blog updates, and promotions.
(4) A Slice of Life – Here is where my posts concerning my daily adventures will be archived.
(5) Book Reviews – Here is where I will post reviews of the books I have read. So far, I have done two including The Silmarillion, and Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan.
(6) Read Along – Apart from book reviews, I will provide for summaries, and analyses on the contents of selective books I read.
(7) Let’s Get Thinking – Critical discussions with relevance to literature, science, philosophy, politics, and just about anything that can wrack my brain.
(8) Learner Space – I’m still yet to decide on how to go about this, but as of now, I feel the Learner Space will be an archive for posts where I intend to provide for detailed tutorials on various subjects. Unlike the prior category, these discussions will be a lot more involved, and will closely resemble one of my earlier posts on Electricity: Principles, and Applications!
All the blog posts will appear as usual, on the main page, but will automatically be archived among the above categories. This will provide a structure to the blog, as well as allow for easy access to specific posts you wish to read. Further changes I wish to implement in the coming days include:
-A link to my Goodreads account, which will keep you all well-informed on my current reading list.
-I’m trying to set up an autograph widget on WordPress for Our Last Summer: A Personal Memoir. I’m hoping e-book autograph sites like Authorgraph will help set this up, so that I can provide free autographs for anyone who has purchased my e-books!
-Commentary spaces on my posts which will help you all to personally interact with the blog, and its content. A comment policy will be announced in the near future.
Altogether, I hope that by 2017 the blog will be a busy haven for discussion, learning, and fun! I will keep you all posted on everything! On the other hand, I will upload a new post this week, analyzing the introductory chapters of Carl Sagan’s The Dragons of Eden (the first of the many books that will be a read along with you, my audience).
Great news everyone! As of yesterday, I have successfully completed the first draft of my second book (Agent X, as we decided to call it on my last post).
It took a few hours…Well, actually, an entire day of exhaustive writing, and by around 10 p.m., I was typing the last words of the epilogue. The rush of emotions that accompanied the completion of my second work was exhilarating, and in a way, bittersweet. I spent the rest of the night reminiscing about the two year journey over the course of which I had written the book.
Of course, there is still much that remains to be done. I will now proceed with the most arduous task of content editing my work. On the other hand, the end of this project brings up the excitement of various future prospects. Apart from the accompanying art work I intend to do for Agent X, I will now slowly make my transition into Manga school, while brainstorming my next three writing projects.
I will also be making a few changes to the content presentation on this blog. The purpose of this blog is to provide a free space where I can express my thoughts, as well as share my knowledge with all of you. To further help facilitate these discussions in an interesting manner, I intend to go about categorizing my daily posts. I’m hoping that a few months from now, I will have set up several categories of posts in subjects ranging from:
(1) Critical thinking
This will primarily involve weekly discussions on an interesting article of my choice in science, politics, philosophy, and just about anything that can wrack my brain.
(2) Teaching & Problem-solving
This will be a two-fold approach that would help complement my current duties as a student tutor at the university, where I typically face the following scenarios:
and which I try to resolve in due fashion, with ample flair,
Let’s get this over with.
I have yet to decide on how to organize this part of the blog, but it may predominantly involve discussions or solutions to the most interesting questions I encounter with my students on a weekly basis, or any other cool puzzles that catch my eye!
(3) Book reviews/Read-along
This is something I have always wanted to do. So far, I have done one book review (Star Wars, The Old Republic: Revan), but I would also like to try something new where I would provide a summarized read-along discussion of sorts of the books I read. An immediate choice that I will provide posts about in the near future is Carl Sagan’s Dragons of Eden, which I’m currently parsing through.
(4) My daily adventures & lots of writing!
This is fairly simple. It is what I’ve been doing so far, and will be the primary form of my communication with everyone. There is a lot to life, and everyday proves to be a grand adventure!
And that’s basically it for my update. The purpose of this post was to keep you all informed. The changes will be gradual, but I hope that you will all come to enjoy the myriad selection of posts this blog will host in the coming days!
So here we go! The title makes it quite obvious, but I have a few promo codes to give out. As I mentioned in my earlier posts, I will be promoting Our Last Summer, my autobiographical work on an occasional basis on this blog. Here is to a good start.
It is quite simple. I will be providing 5 promo codes today (at the end of the post). The codes basically allow for a free download of my book in e-book format. It is pretty much a first come, first serve recipe. So the lucky 5 who get to enter those promo codes will get to have a free e-book copy of my work.
Now, here are the five promo codes:
10600000090354
10600000090348
10600000090338
10600000090341
10600000090350
I kindly request that you pick just one out of the five! And once you have made your choice, get your way to,
I will continue to provide such e-book promo codes every now and then, along with other promotional materials, so I suggest everyone be on the lookout, and for the lucky 5 who get today’s codes, I hope you enjoy reading the book.
I also kindly request of my readers to provide their reviews and criticism on my work through online review outlets, for example, at GoodReads, or at prominent sellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iUniverse, as well as other bookstore chains. I would really appreciate your comments, and it would be of great assistance in further improving and reinforcing my writing skills!
The last two weeks have been quite eventful, and I had a lot to contend with including (takes a deep breath):
Finishing an online certification course in programming
Submitting an application for research funding (for my PhD in Robotics)
Finishing the last chapter of my second book
Starting my Research Assistantship in the Robotics lab at the U of A (very, very exciting)
Finish reading the The Silmarillion, and starting on Carl Sagan’s Dragons of Eden.
All in all, it was just about a lot of work and having fun whenever possible. I’m especially happy about #3. It was an amazing ride of feelings to write up the last few pages of my second book. The epilogue remains to be completed (this week), though it will be a short piece of work, followed by the more arduous task of content editing. As of now, I’m looking at a page count of about 120 or so, though given my past experience in editing Our Last Summer: A Personal Memoir, this number is bound to change.
Now that I’m nearing the completion of my second book, I can’t wait to get started on brainstorming my next three to four writing projects which will span various genres from politics, science fiction, and fantasy. I also intend to write a short story in my native language of Tamil (haven’t written in it for years, so it will be one hell of a fantastic mess) and which will serve as the third and final act of a trilogy of books that have been inspired from my personal life, including Our Last Summer, and my second book (call it Agent X). The coming week I will also begin my courses in manga art/drawing (a crucial aspect my upcoming writing projects, some of which will be in the form of manga/comics).
Apart from this, I’m keeping busy as we near the end of the year. Working as a research assistant in a robotics lab is exciting as heck, and I have lots to learn from my peers. My plans for this coming week are to post some promotional material for Our Last Summer as well as also provide for some new topics of discussion involving science and a slice of life.
I will keep you all posted in the coming days! For now, I’m going to sit back, relax, and just creep myself out with this beauty as for All Hallows’ Eve:
So, after a week of thoughtful contemplation amid myriad deadlines, I’m excited to finally post my discussion “On the Nature of Knowledge.” I contested two methods of approach in presenting this topic: one that is grounded in philosophy, and the other that is inspired from my personal experience as a student. Ultimately, I’ve decided to stick with the latter as it would be consistent with how I’ve addressed most of the topics posted on this blog. For anyone wishing to tackle the same topic from a philosophical perspective, check out epistemology (the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy provides an awesome introduction on the subject).
Our discussion will be divided into three separate parts dealing with the following questions:
(1) What is knowledge?
(2) What is knowledge from a student’s perspective?
(3) What is the purpose of knowledge?
Seems simple enough!
My objective today will be to share my personal experience and growth over the last seven years of my undergraduate and graduate studies, during which I actively and repeatedly engaged these questions. I’m well aware of the various generalizations that can be made in answering these questions, but my opinions will converge and revolve around the viewpoints I’ve accepted in my personal journey to discover those same answers as a student. Let’s begin!
What is knowledge?
I believe knowledge can be defined via three categories: personal, factual, and action-based knowledge.
Personal knowledge revolves about the knowledge gained by acquaintance with the objects, the events, and the people in one’s environment. Having just arrived in Canada for my undergraduate studies, the foundation of my life was built around the expectations and experiences I had with my family living in India, Egypt, and Sudan. Commencing my studies at the University of Alberta while living in student residence, working part-time and volunteering in various activities, my personal growth as an individual continued as I mingled and became familiar with an alien environment. My new-found freedom allowed me to fully experience and question my individuality, a process that would culminate in my identity crisis several years down the road (one that I have thankfully resolved). Knowledge, in this sense, is acquainted with my familiarity toward objects in my environment as well as the delegation of my recognition to said objects, and was highly influential in defining my identity and my decisions. Altogether, personal knowledge is very much a book in progress in our individual lives. Its measures and ends are dictated by our environments, personal motivations, and growth while actively influencing all three of those aspects.
Action-based knowledge is the knowledge of how to do something. This would involve one’s abilities to do something, like driving a car or starting a campfire.
On the other hand, factual knowledge, as is obvious, is the knowledge of facts. Action-based knowledge is different from factual knowledge. One may know the theory behind driving a car, while not actually knowing how to drive a car. Factual knowledge is evident in both action-based, and personal knowledge. With personal knowledge, in order to speak with others, one must know how to communicate. One doesn’t necessarily know a person just by meeting them, one must also know a few things about them. Similarly, with action-based knowledge, one must know certain facts about driving, like the motion of the car with respect to actions on the steering wheel, to assist and help them actually drive the car.
Despite this, factual knowledge is alone not enough. Personal knowledge involves the need for action-based knowledge that helps an individual acquire the necessary skills to interact with his/her environment, and action-based knowledge may require some factual knowledge, but that same factual knowledge cannot amount towards action-based knowledge. In fact, one could say that there is no definitive standard of connection between these three categories of knowledge, seeing how much they intermesh. For the philosophy lovers, epistemology deals largely with the views of factual knowledge.
What is knowledge from a student’s perspective?
How does this all come together for a student? Well, one of the main reasons we go to school is to cultivate our knowledge and understanding of the world. At university, this may largely be oriented by our aspirations on a field that would preferably model our future careers. I say “may” as I believe the purpose of higher studies does not have to primarily revolve about one’s career or prospective choice of employment (this in itself, leads to the crucial discussion on the structures of education or educational systems).
Have…To…Keep…Going….
As a student, much of our time at university involves absorbing the factual knowledge before actually implementing them in the real world. Our action-based knowledge is attested to our success with such implementations. It is pretty similar to the notion of the scientific method, where theory precedes experiment in a repetitive cycle. This is where we also learn the difference between the static process of remembering knowledge versus the dynamic process of applying said knowledge. This is at the core of our ability to learn and interact with our environment, and is a social behavior whose roots are sown in our evolution as a species.
Factoring on to this is the personal knowledge that every individual inhibits. Being a student, you’re part of a community, one that we may or may not socialize with (each with its own share of circumstances). Putting aside the knowledge we gain from our courses, the personal knowledge we exhibit provides for the competitive play of our social lives from networking, to the establishment of our status, while satiating our thirst and drive for recognition.
All of which now leads us to ask, what is the purpose of knowledge in general?
What is the purpose of knowledge?
Personally, to this day, I believe an individual’s knowledge is characterized not only by their ideas, but also how they act upon them. The question on the purpose of knowledge derives greatly from the means of education an individual may seek, which by itself, is an even bigger discussion.
I’ve come to recognize how influential the methods utilized to propagate knowledge at an academic institution can be on its community (teachers and students alike). After my four years of undergraduate studies, I was spent, and in many ways had to rediscover my personal creativity and motivation. Following a gap year, I pursued graduate studies, which I just recently completed. Looking back at my experience, I must say that a large part of my journey also had its run of the mill circumstances surrounding my identity crisis, but I cannot deny that it came with its share of new and enlightening perspectives involving my personal opinions on the educational systems of modern-day academic institutions.
What is the purpose of knowledge? I believe it is what it is, for every one of us, however we wish to see it.
If there is one attribute to my personality that I have always been proud of, it would be my undying curiosity, and endless thirst for knowledge. In my life, this has changed from a wish to understand the world, to sharing said knowledge, and to contributing my own by enhancing the source of said knowledge. The Pensive Reverie is in fact a personification of my desire to share my knowledge, as an individual, to the world. Ultimately, as Francis Bacon put it, “Knowledge is power” but I also believe what we do with said power defines the object for each and every individual.
The Pensive Reverie 