The Other Side of Life

Today I learnt, the exact way in which jet-lag works and my mind is boggled. I had the weirdest, worst possible understanding in my head. And I realized today, how wrong I was. I basically thought, your body clock matches the clock of the place you land. All you have to do, is catch up on sleep. For example, if you are flying to London from India and reach London at 11 pm, India time, which is 6:30 pm London time, it is just perfect, because now, you can immediately fall asleep and not wake up till 7 am, London time, which is 11:30 am India time. Now, you are all caught up on sleep. If you are confused, don't worry. This is the wrong explanation. The real explanation is this. Just because the time shows you gained 5 hours, does not mean your body knows that. (That I did not know this, when this is the exact definition of jet lag, is something so strange and surprising that I am amazed). You don't want to wake up till 7 am London time, but you will get up at 2:30 am Lon

This is easily the most embarassing post on my blog, till date. But I guess, most reality checks are. So, when I was 24, I wrote out a list of things I wish to do by the time I am 30 . I don't know what I was thinking, clearly, not about being realistic. I turn 30 in 10 days. Time to take a look at the list and hide in shame. First the unavoidables, lets get done with them first - Fall in love, get married. :P - DONE. Thank God for that. Travel. A lot. Europe, South America, New Zealand, South East Asia, South Africa, who knows maybe US also! - Well. I traveled a lot to Europe. Again and again to Europe. That does not count, does it? I did not cover any of the other places on the list. And I thought I traveled well. Visit all the major cities - New York, London, Paris,  Tokyo , Chicago, Berlin, Sydney. - Fail. Again. Done with London and Berlin. Travel. A Lot. In India. - Not much, again. The standards. Goa, Mumbai. Seriously start thinking about writing a book. - I se

Don't read this post. Please. It's not meant for you. Why are you still reading? Because you don't like being told what to do, do you? You, independence-loving, autonomy-addicted, you. Some call it Reverse Psychology. Some call it just the good old plain logic. Many years ago, the King of Prussia, Fredrick the Great, also known as Fritz, heard about a new root called Potato. Enamoured by it's nutritional value, he decided that his subjects need to start including potato in their staple diet. Grand announcements were planned. Drummers would walk across town, singing paeans of the benefits of eating this potato. Cooks would publicly demonstrate recipes with potatoes. I would go out on a limb and say, French Fries was not one of those recipes, because what happened next would just not justify it.  The public rejected potatoes. That's right. Rejected. Hard as it may sound, the people didn't want to be told what to do. So, they d

And just like that, we enter a new year.  Like a million other people, I did feel the past year just flew by.  But, you know what makes me happy? The knowledge that it has now been proven scientifically that time flies when you are having fun.  A bunch of scientists performed experiments where people were made to estimate time elapsed in different situations - when they were given a mundane task, when they were made to feel happy, when they were made to feel sad, when they were listening to a good song, etc. And without doubt, they proved that time indeed is a psychological construct, heavily influenced by hedonism or the pleasure we feel. In other words, if you felt the year just flew by, take solace in the fact that this means, you had a fun year!  With that out of way, how is the new year looking to you? Are you making resolutions? Here's a little truth about new year resolutions that you should know.  We are all victims of what we call the Fres