In Prof. DeLong’s inbox:
In Agatha Christie’s autobiography, she mentioned how she never thought she would ever be wealthy enough to own a car – nor so poor that she wouldn’t have servants…
Jayakanthan revisited July 18, 2009
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Meant to do quite a few things and ended up doing something else. That I am now used to. While talking to Balaji somehow the topic went to Jayakanthan. I’ve never really read Jayakanthan except one short story about widow remarriage, which I liked a lot and decided that I need to read a lot more of his work. So downloaded a few of his stories and printed them with a resolve to read them all. Well I never did read them all.
Today I again found the link http://www.scribd.com/doc/3181674/Tamil-Stories-Jayakanthan-Sirukathaigal and read one more of his stories (called Thuravu). What I like most about it is that it is simple, not preachy, not weepy/sentimental, and it is a fast read. There are no “punch” dialogues or any other extravagances, the story is told very efficiently. And I find that he treats his characters with kindness and I like that - based on the two stories that I’ve read so far I’d be surprised if I encounter a villain in his stories.
The short story that I read today was about a little kid who decides to renounce everything and go to Himalayas and become a saint. In places it felt like I was reading about myself; for instance I think to myself that everyone dies in the end so {I might as well enjoy the life that we have as much as we can – or no worries if I lose X amount of money in the stock market etc..}. I have a feeling that these thoughts are more common in the India than anywhere else. Overall it was a satisfying experience and this time I might finish the rest of the stories as well.
BTW, Jayakanthan is Jnanapith award winner which is quite a feat considering that he is a school dropout! I think he was brought up by communist leaders and he considers himself a communist – I like him enough that I wish he weren’t one though 
. But I find nothing about his politics in his stories (He has written a separate book on that ver topic A Literary Man’s Political Experience which might be an interesting read as well). If you like short stories and can read Tamil, I’d urge you to give this a shot, you might enjoy it.
Anyway that is how I wasted my Saturday – I wouldn’t call it a complete waste though as I managed to get some work done, did a few chores, wrote a blog post, etc.
new found respect for kamal… July 13, 2009
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was watching hey ram today and it is impossible for me to name a more committed artist. it is relatively easy to do new things if u’ve done nothing of note, it is even easier to do what he does in the western cine field. He’s trained his fans to expect different thigns from him, even that is understandable but he goes the extra step to deliberately compromise his talent by starring in crappy movies in order to make enough money to do what he wants. he is living life as if he is playing one of those video games jumping every now and then to catch a pot of gold so he can progress to the next level. amazing clarity of thought, and well-defined mission in his life.
PS: grew up as a Rajni fan, hence the new found respect
the easy-way-out June 28, 2009
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methinks, foolproof systems turns us into fools. For instance, if I knew I will miss out on something that interests me if I did not focus, then I’ll focus hard but if I knew I can rewind and watch the segment any time I want to, well then the incentive to focus is substantially weakened. I believe the ability to rewind has made it acceptable to be less attentive.
There is an interesting story in a book that I read recently called “Predictably Irrational” by Dan Ariely. The Chinese commander Xiang Yu in 210 BC on his quest to defeat the Qin dynasty did something remarkably counter-intuitive. While his troops were resting on the banks of the river, he set fire to his entire fleet of ships that brought his troops to the battleground. To his puzzled and panicked troops he calmly explained that they had no other choice except to fight their way to victory or perish. Incredibly enough the troops fought ferociously and won 9 consecutive battles and obliterated the main units of the Qin dynasty.
I’m constantly reminded of this story, for different reasons. This time it illustrates to me that it is very hard to resist the lure of “the easy-way-out” and it takes some serious thought to avoid be trapped by this. It is effortless to push the rewind button repeatedly and “watch” the program or the movie or whatever it is that it might be or leave the directions to the GPS knowing full well that it is very forgiving of your mistakes. I’m allowed several attempts to get it right, so I allow myself the liberty of not being focussed. It is this non-linearity* that trips us up – a little GPS is better than no GPS which surprisingly is better than a lot of GPS. The trick is moderation but there aren’t courses to remind us about this.
I have a feeling that many of us often take the easy-way-out on severa such things, without fully understanding the consequences of living in a fool-proof system. Being aware of this helps – but only to a point. A better way would be to design a system that will remind us of this impulse (i.e. if you knew you were walking in an area with quicksand, you might want to tether yourselves to some tree – so that you can extricate yourself. Of course coming up with analogies is always the easiest part, finding a working system is hard work but it is also interesting and maybe something nice will come out of this !!)
* – non-monotonicity to be more precise and nerdish.
wonder why Buffett’s after railroad stocks? February 27, 2009
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http://awesome.goodmagazine.com/transparency/web/trans0209gettingaround.html
Buffetts buying railroads that carry coal & goods though; but i s’pose it aint very different
amusing: changing relative prices February 27, 2009
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http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2009/02/changing-relative-prices.html
what has the sports world come to….? February 1, 2009
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Federer weeping after losing the Aussie open, Arizona cardinals in the superbowl….nothing makes sense anymore
happy new year January 2, 2009
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Happy 2009 to all. 2008 was a memorable year, lots happened but becoming a dad was definitely the highlight.
My one and only new year’s resolution is to be at work before 9 in the morning. I sense that would be a better way to handle things as I might be able to plan my time better. Leo Babauta’s blog convinced me to do just one this time. You can read more here… 9 rules for forming a habit
What’s in your wish list?
pissed off… November 8, 2008
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how would you feel if a researcher took your idea and a few months later comes back to you and says it was his idea after all…. (not that it was any ground shaking idea) one clearly needs to learn to market himself better. i wonder how many decent ideas fail to get air time for fear of being poached by others.
easiest way to lose weight October 11, 2008
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here’s a quick way to lose weight and this will work for everyone; just remember to remove your clothes and weight yourself, you’d have lost a few pounds. You might also want to consider a haircut before weighing.
Now to the confession part; i’m ~16% heavier these days and my center of gravity has shifted a little. I’ll leave the rest to the your fertile imagination.
