Starlit Soliloquies

I am not tech savvy so I am not up-to-date about major breakthroughs in technology, but artificial intelligence intrigues me. I recently watched a video about the robot Sophia, who is a milestone in this field. It (she?!) already has a Saudi citizenship! Yet no technology comes without drawbacks. In an interview, when asked if she wants to destroy humans, she replied that she will. Now that was way too much! Another scary AI incident would be the reports of Alexa, the virtual assistant by Amazon, laughing creepily for no apparent reason. Amazon justified this by stating that this was Alexa’s response to a misheard instruction “Alexa, laugh”. Not very convincing! They are already reprogramming the response to “Sure, I can laugh”. Similar talk of AI going wrong is Alice and Bob, Facebook’s attempt at artificial intelligence, that developed a coded language incomprehensible to humans. Facebook eventually had to shut down the program. All this is pretty chilling, especially if you...

Que Sera, Sera, What Will Be, Will BE Back when I was in elementary school, these were these cool things to be (for girls at least) - fashion designer, model, actress. Many girls still want that life. After all, it’s nice to walk on red carpets, have fashion shows and appear in magazines, ads and TV. It was different for boys. You sure know the cricket craze - boys on nearly every street wanting to be the next Tendulkar or Dhoni (Virat Kohli wasn’t in, in those days). Either that or join the army (this is serious). You can’t possibly imagine how many boys wrote, “I want to be a soldier” on the ‘What I Want to Be’ page of our pre-primary report cards back then. Not that these guys were particularly patriotic. It wasn’t at all so. Then in 4 th grade came an array of new options, varying from singer to pilot, and from dancer to RJ. Astronaut was popular too. So was Film Director, Sportsperson, Air Hostess and many more. Maybe, our eyes were opened or something, becaus...

Revenge of the sea A trillion years ago, a million miles away, The waves told me a tale, which I’ll tell you if I may. It started by the shore of a fairy lios, it will end only with time. It tells the tale of a worldly man, yet brave and sublime Who mistook the water god’s daughter for a maid fair and ordinary And when she started ageing, he disposed of her in a hurry. The father, enraged, sent a torrent of cataclysm And when the deluge was over, he vanished in a prism. The wrongdoer, sorry for having sinned, begged pardon from the aggrieved god Only to hear that he shall be partially pardoned by the water’s lord So, once the bereaved god’s temper tends to rise, We see the revenge of the sea before every sunrise.

It's not like India is the dullest place on this planet. We've got mouthwatering street-food, age-old recipes for delicacies that are finger-licking good, monuments, temples and palaces that stand tall in spite  of centuries worth rains, snows, hail and storms, heritage that goes back a long, long way, you just name it. It's more than enough for people around the globe.  But...still not enough for us Indians (the sad truth). What is wrong with our own country ... Singing patriotic songs to show   your love for India is just not enough... You've got to act like it, my dear fellow Indians. Yes, yes, I know once in a while you'll need the thrill of being at some 5-star resort at some exotic island OUT OF INDIA on a getaway from your tight everyday routine, but does it have to be like that always? How many of you have been to Abu? How many of you even know where Abu is (Take a not-so subtle hint: It's in the same state as Jaipur. Get it? Or is it still a...