Thats-so-Raja !

When it comes to creating tools, some people just don’t get it. Consider this continuum. At the left end, man does everything. And at the right end, the tool does everything. The fundamental decision a tool designer needs to make is – Where to draw the red line! How much should the tool do? Its an evident fact that the more the tool does, the successful it becomes. "Human shall sweat less" is the design mantra. Google is one good example. The engine keeps watching your activities and understands your preferences. The inferred profile is then used to make the search results personalized for you. You are not expected to describe about yourself anytime anywhere. Now, I am ok if you make the tool do a very minimum initially. The bottom line is - it has to be a decent amount of function, well defined, well delivered and well composable. Like a motor. It makes a decent part of many big systems, composed of many such parts. And the intelligent of creators further take effort to mak...

My last blog question was, “What makes people popular (in facebook)”. I was busy as a dung beetle to post anything about it. Blaming again my father, mother, mother-in-law and my wife for not being rich people, here I am squeezing some time on it. Remember the “7 deadly sins”? If not, let me be the badass to whisk them up - Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Sloth, Envy and Pride . Now, I think the 7 deadly sins is a fantastic framework that explains one’s popularity. Believe me, thousands of years of research has gone into this. Let’s take ‘ lust ’ for example. Everybody loves seeing naked bottoms? We invented fire to see them even in the darkness. We invented printing press to enjoy seeing their images too. Motion pictures to see them in action. And, not to forget - The Internet. What is the internet full of? Okay, that’s stretching it too far. But lust plays an important role in making one popular. I am seeing my circle of friends in facebook. The sexier ones are almost always popular (...

I have reached a slump in blogging. Oh, the well has not dried up yet. But, in the first place, why does one blog anyway? Expression of creativity? Making people happy? Contributing to the collective intelligence? Rubbish! Freud and Maslow would say it’s the pure primitive urge for the feeling of importance. Yes, I want to be noticed. I want people to know the depth in me. I want followers. I want to change things. I want to rule the world. Ok, that’s asking loads too much. But you are getting the drift here, yea? But my blog remains crumby and unnoticed. Like a pigeon poop in a crack of a cheap hotel in Mozambique. My muddy soup of cartoons, parody, post-modern elements… All have failed to tickle a little too many funny bones. My cacophony of science, philosophy, economy… All have fizzled reaching a little too many ears. I want to try writing on Karl Marx, world music, Kim ki-duk, non linear and transgressive narration styles… am I encouraged now? Hell, No. Cutting all the hyper-venti...