moving

Long overdue and one of the oldest items on my to-do list was moving this blog. 
You can now read what I write at umangjaipuria.com/blog.

If you had subscribed to the feed, it should automatically update.

hold your funny

Why is there so much pressure to be funny?

Yesterday we entered the elevator at home, and there was another couple in there. The man was making some remark about how the elevator is temperamental about opening and closing its doors, and we acknowledged him with a slight chuckle. That must have triggered something because they launched into this tirade about the elevator. Especially the walls - which have been recently swapped out from a nice upholstered one to steel - how they are like cheese graters (which is perhaps a valid metaphor). And it's not just a remark; this is full-fledged stand-up action with the woman turning to the wall and heaving mightily trying to grate a massive wheel of imaginary cheese against the poor wall.

Ha ha ha. Not.

Perhaps the recent urge to let loose your inner comic is driven by the Facebook culture of getting more likes and comments and shares on something that's funny. Perhaps it's because it's easier to be on the side of funny and ignore everything else. One of these days society is going to swallow itself up in a binge of funny banalities and have nothing else to say any more.

Be grim.

yet another two kinds of people

a) Those that talk to you as though you had the IQ of a newt, and 
b) Those that give you the benefit of doubt, and assume that you are at least as intelligent, if not knowledgeable, as them.


This is one lens to apply to any conversation within the first few seconds, and watch how the parties behave. If you are one of (a), try shifting to (b) and see how amazingly you can make people resonate to what you're saying.