Life of Pi: My interpretation.

I have read the book and watched the movie. I cannot describe how awesome it but also can not help realise how disturbing it is.

The story starts off by making a promise to you. “This story will make you believe in god”.

Did it delivered the promise to me?... Well, we will see. I am a Hindu by birth and agnostic by choice. So this story gave me an idea as to what exactly it means to have faith in something, logic aside. And this has been a more psychological journey for me, rather than spiritual.

Let me give you the synopsis of Story: Pi (Piscine Molitor Patel) born and bought up in Pondicherry his father owns a zoo, and that is also the family home where he lives with his father mother and one older brother.

Pi is raised in a non-religious fairly forward thinking family, but his religious and spiritual curiosity developed at a very young age, and he starts practices 3 religions. When Pi is 17 his family run in to loss and they decide to move to Canada to start a new life by selling the zoo animals to foreign countries. So the family packs and transports their animals with a Japanese freighter Tsimtsum.

The Tsimtsum sinks in the pacific. Pi is the sole survivor and ends up on a life boat along with a hyena, an injured zebra, an orang-utan named orange juice and an adult Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. By obvious turn of events, the last remaining ones on the life boat are Pi and Richard Parker.

Here the story tells us about Pi’s painful, difficult yet courageous story of how he first establishes a territory with Parker, provides food and water to it and then develops deep bond with the Tiger. It also involves them stumbling up on a carnivorous island filled with a huge population of meerkats.

After deciding that the island would only kill Pi, he decides to go back in to ocean however painful it is. (This act tells us a lot about Pi’s mental built, and will to and let go move on to find land). After more suffering at the hands of ocean, the life boat reaches the shores of Mexico; Pi makes it to the shore and is barely alive. He then sees Richard Parker disappear in to the jungle on the beach. Soon the locals find Pi and his oceanic suffering ends.

When the Japanese officials meet Pi to get their report, they try to gather facts on how the Tsimtsum sunk. Here Pi tells them his story. The Japanese officials refuse to believe him. After a while Pi now tells a different story, a story that is more believable, very disturbing story with no animals but the survivors are all humans.

The 2^nd story:  Pi, a French cook with creepy taste buds, an injured Taiwanese sailor and Pi’s mother are the ones that make it to the life boat. Pi describes the French cook as a nasty man who despite plenty of emergency food on boat, killed a rat dried it in the sun and ate it. The injured Taiwanese sailor is in deep pain. The French cook convinces Pi and his mother to help him cut off the injured leg, makes them believe that this act will help the sailor survive. However the act doesn’t go well. Post amputation, the sailor dies an extremely painful and a very slow death. Pi’s mother later on gets killed by the cook when she confronts him about his cannibalism. She spots him eating the dead sailors flesh. Witnessing these actions on the boat and losing his mother are too much for Pi.

He later on gets in to argument with the cook, and ends up killing him as part of self-defence and also to get even for killing his mother.

Now Pi is alone on the life boat, he goes through extreme starvation and painful fight with elements of nature. It is indicated that Pi might have indulged in cannibalism as a result of unbearable starvation.

Being a vegetarian boy who was well sheltered and being raised in a rich culture, these series of ordeals were just way too much for him.

The Interpretation:

Richard Parker was Pi. The hyena was the French cook, the orang-utan was his mother and injured zebra was the injured Taiwanese sailor.

Now Pi does not confirm which story is true he simply asks the Japanese officials (the readers as well) to pick a story.

He just asks us which story we prefer.

Here is what I feel. I like the story with the tiger, but I have a strong belief that the 2^nd story is actually what happened with Pi.

The tiger acted as an incredible shock absorber for Pi to live through the events, survive, and recover from this indescribable pain and suffering.

Reality and rationality is important to survive, but what will you do if you are faced with a reality that is made up of stuff even your nightmares refuse to show you?

The mind needs to adapt and let go, it needs to protect itself. By transferring certain action as the actions of Richard Parker the Tiger, he was able to cope with certain heinous events he had to face under desperate circumstances.

By my understanding that is fate. When you cannot handle the burden of life that is so cruel you share you burden with a higher power and that helps you cope with the disturbing reality. Sometimes, in certain situations reality can be deeply scaring and does more damage. Reality will not let a person survive an adversity and worst the reality of that doesn’t let him move on.

Being aware of reality and transforming it to help you move on is one thing and forgetting the reality altogether is different.

So in a way Richard parker helps him cope and it represents faith.

I have a new obsession!

I have a new obsession now, 

Although I have no money for college, currently unemployed I want to study Art and Design. Scary right? I was worried I had no goals, but now that I know what to do, I have no idea how to go about it. 

My first choice of country to study in was UK, found it incredibility expensive, next was France, what better place to study Art and Design than Paris right? still working while studying is not an option there, my last option is New York.

I do not know what took me so long to realize this. All of my high school text books are filled with art , scribbles I did while attending those long conceptual lectures. I always thought that was my way of concentrating, it certainly helped a lot for my attention, I mean I scored a lot because I paid attention in class, I did all this doodling away to glory instead of jotting down notes.

But now that my HR career is not working for me, I want to transition in to either 'Art and Design' or 'Advertising and communication'. If there is one thing I can do is present and idea and speak about it, for hours and hours. Next my hand has a mind of its own, while thinking it automatically start drawing, almost like it is possessed. 

All day every day all I can think about is a career where I get to present ideas create art and innovate. I feel naive for thinking this but yet that is all I see in my mind. 

I think I can probably survive studying while working but that seem to be a wishful thinking, there is only few hours you are permitted to work on a student visa and it doesn't seem like it would cover the costs. I wonder if having prior work experience is a plus. 

Anyway, I feel as lost as ever, may be this is a bad idea I should not pursue further, I mean, at the end, I would be immersed in student load and would be spending next year or so paying it off, that if I get placed in a good job, it seems like an awful lot of risk, on the other hand, studies were never my weak point, I am sure going by my past experience I would be doing good things whist in college, it's post that  joining a job where problems arise. 

What if I face the exact same problems I face now while working, even though I hang on by the hope that I would be doing what I love, what if that is not enough.

Before all this happens, will I even get the student loan approved, and what if I am unable to pay off, What if there isn't much of scope from art and design students. Sure before joining the course people would say good things about it. I know. That was the case when I was about to join MBA, I did all the research, spoke with everyone, and explored all options, everyone said MBA was a good idea, now I know better, there was tons of things I could have done except for MBA, not like I did bad int he course, came out with flying colors, but I chose the more deadly profession for me. 

Now I am having a physical reaction to the work human resources. I do not like it, I do not want to pursue it anymore. 

I do not know what to do anymore, all I know is I want to draw, illustrate, design and create ideas and brain storm new ideas, I know very well what hard work is, I just want to LOVE what I do, I do not are if i end up in a state of Koroshi in the process. If I love what I do , it would be an honor. 

I can not pretend, I am not designed to pretend, I can not bitch about my work and continue in the field as if nothing happened, I do not want to fake smile and ive fake assurance to people. 

Sorry for the long rant, just thinking out loud, more like transferring out excessive thoughts in to pensive ( High Five for Harry Potter reference) :P :)

I hope to post something cheerful in the future :)

Viva La Siesta!

Spanish though the word is, Italians are the ones who popularised the concept of siesta or commonly known as afternoon nap.

Most of us are aware of the importance of 8 hour sleep in life. This is important for us in learning as well, and we will discuss this in future posts, on how to cash in on all precious 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Though for now let us assume you are struggling to fit in 8 hours in to your sleeping time. The body will get its rest by hook or by crook, and you know what this means, the one who fall asleep standing in subway trains, cars, cabs planes, rickshaws, side walks and.. ....wait, why are you looking at me like that, no I am not kidding, and no I am not over exaggerating either. oh al-right.. here take a look at this.

and this..

Well of course hard working professionals supporting families and in pressure to maintain their end of projects and deadlines face this all the time, and we face the pressure to do so often, for some its even their professional way of life.

But you get the picture of what happens when someone is sleep deprived, like literally..right? We take these risks because we think we are doing the best we can, which most of the time we are.

So lets us discuss the concept of siesta. Unlike the scenario in the above pictures, siesta is a natural nap cycle that exists in us. The body requires this in addition to the 7 - 8 hours of regular sleep.

Siesta lasts for about 20 to 30 minutes in the afternoon, which we experience inevitably as post lunch yawning marathon. Around 3 pm to be precise. It may vary from person to person, but the general time zone is around 3.

So what we do, even I fall in to the category of get a cup of coffee and get to work or meeting scheduled. Other wise we risk loosing out employment. Sleep and naps are designed for the brain to shut down from outside world and concentrate on what it has learnt till now from a few hours or a day before. A nap helps energize brain. I know that now as I have been trying it for past 3 weeks and it has results. But I need to emphasis on the fact that the nap can not exceed 30 minutes or else the brain gets in to full on sleep mode and we end up waking grumpy like we do in mornings.

In fact, those naps in the cabs and subways are also refreshing, provided that you hadn't skipped sleep all together the previous night, or else be ready for a drowsy dull day ahead. 

So how does one incorporate or tackle the siesta time. 

1) Take the 30 minute nap or reduce it to 15 min power nap even. Sure this might sound ridiculous now, but you need to create your schedule around it. Once you train to just rest and go in for a total nap and gradually get the napping practice.

2) Do not schedule meetings or heavy load of work during this time. Get to your current deadline, but from now on make sure you do not promise any projects are assignments to be submitted around this time, where  you will be running to comply wit the deadline.Margin of errors also increases. And we know that is exactly what gets us in to trouble and pushes all our hard work down the drain.

3) Students have much more flexibly of avoiding tasks at this time than working professionals, so take a break during this time and nap away. For professionals, take the break, and take time to shut down for few minutes, try deep breathing excesses which are already part of your ADHD coping mechanisms. Remember that errors cause more damage than slightly delayed submission. Late submission will be forgotten if your work is flawless. 

Observing your sleep pattern and working in tandem with them is much more beneficial than working agaist them and pushing your body. 

Remember, a Ferrari is made to run on smooth roads and not on murky roads with water puddles. Forcing the Ferrari will only result in damaging result.

Pre Study: Even Einstein did this.

Do not believe me??? Go Google it and then tell me I do not know what I am talking about.

First let me tell you, since preschool all the way until 7th grade, I hated school and studies. In fact the word hate doesn't even come close to describe the feelings I had for school all those years. Unlike some lucky nations, we here had school 6 days a week and only Sunday's off, I used to look forward to Sundays as if my life depended on it.

School life and studies back home was a stressful affair. The education system and parents had made sure I look at studies as a gross bad medicine, very early in life. I never could concentration for more than 5 minutes at a stretch and this was frowned up on by everyone. Still somehow I managed to never fail in any subject and that was because I always wrote in exams the gist of what I had heard in classrooms. Homework( If  managed to remember at all to at all ) and studies later on did very little to enhance my knowledge or learning capabilities.

It was around 8th grade when I started to figure out what subjects I like, what subjects I could graze by with out studying and what needed attention.

The trick was to go to any class fully prepared before hand. Yes you heard me. Study before you step in to the class.

See you need not grasp very concept or every formula, every meaning being each paragraph. You need to go over the topic that would be discussed in the next class. Remember, this is the best time to use your imagination. No pressure of understanding the topic, just stress free exploration of something new. Now you need to do what works for you. For eg: I need music to paint. No music no art. I need absolute silence to study and any noise would result in me having am melt down ( not proud of it).
Use cue cards, or colour concept fr visual topic exploration. Write everything in yellow( yellow triggers memory) if you have to. Draw charts, what ever you want. Key is to experiment, It all takes surprisingly less time to do than it really seems like.

Now you will have certain doubts and questions about the topic. Jot them down and take them to class.

When the class progresses you will be surprised at how less of effort it takes to concentrate on subject. It almost feels like your concentration is on autopilot and learning the subject is as easy as breathing air in to lungs, now this may or may not happen immediately. It will take a bit of time for you to settle in to this momentum of pre study. But during the class, you will have most of the question you have in your mind answered or you will be the one raising specific questions. There will be no stress to grasp any concept since your brain is already familiar with the concept. You can concentrate on developing new angles or new ways to solve a problem etc..


you thought that is good? wait.. it gets better, the "go home and study" step is eliminated. Yes I am not kidding. You just finished 2nd cycle of study of the topic in discussion with the class just finished, you will be doing your 3rd cycle of study while doing the assignment related to the topic.

Wala! You are done. Now you may never have to touch the topic again ever. You can walk to the exam confident, by just referring to the cue notes you make while doing the pre study and running note you might have jotted down during the class. Feel to refer back to notes if you feel the need. Depends on what it takes for you to remember. But the core concept is for sure has settled nicely in to you brain.

Your answers in exam will be confident, clarified. You just avoided hours of rote memorization and last minute cramming stress. All this with the minimum effort with Pre-study.

P.S: It is said that Einstein finished all the chapters in maths and trigonometry even before the school year began, of course he was a genius to grasp everything with lighting speed, but his pre study most definitely should have helped him stay a head of the rest of class in his favourite subject. And what more, he aced mathematics and became one of greatest minds of 20th century simply because he studied what he loved the best and had fun doing it. If some one relentlessly forced him to study latin and biology( both subjects he hated) and insisted he became a doctor I doubt he would have become the awesome mathematician that we now remember him as.

Learning with ADHD.

It doesn't matter who you are or what age your are, there is always something new we need to learn, mostly on daily basis. You can be

1) A school, college, even PH.D student devoting copious amounts of time studying.

2) A working professional learning new skills to advance your career and prospects.

3) Just simply learning new skill as a hobby, be it a new language or a musical instrument.

One thing is clear, we are all working very hard to attain and learn the skills, but there are factors that are meddling with our effort.

Here is the thing though, learning something new is fun. Our brain loves it. You see the brain loves problems, tackling new issues, and coming up with solutions, one tool that it uses to do so is by learning new things and implementing them.

Now thanks to the amazing bunch of morons over the course of centuries who created the genius concepts called classrooms and cubicles, we are stuck with the most pathetic and inefficient mode of learning. Sure most "normal" humans learn to adjust. Yes indeed 'adjust', a concept that seem to be in short supply or completely absent in us ADHD folks. Now the advanced age brings us power points and excels, the ground breaking inventions that know exactly where our snooze buttons are located and trigger them. Normally our snooze buttons are well hidden and our brain is on over drive. These tools were invented for us to fall asleep, and yes they are used at the place we need to be alert the most. Now why would someone in their right mind place such counter productive tools at the very place where we are required to be alert or productive, and why would they design the place of learning it self to induce counter productiveness. Makes no sense right? Ye,s since we are set up for failure by the word at large at every stage of life, things that usually work for normal folks do not work for us. 

So here are some cheat codes I shall share in the first series of Life with ADHD: you are awesome: Learning

No no, I am not telling you to cheat in the literal sense.It just means that we need to get creative and get cracking. As we all already do, just work a little extra before so we do not end up looking like a doe in headlights later on.

Here we shall discuss all possible darts we can throw at the learning board and see which one will hit the bulls eye. I will be sharing the earning darts that worked best for me. Of-course the learning pattern that work for me need not work for you the best hence they are called dart. We need to customize them according to what  works for us and aim for the learning board with the right dart.