Nontest

The Economist recently ran a series of articles with the theme “Contest of the Century”. The cover page depicts two arm-wrestlers, a dragon and a tiger prominently tattooed on their biceps.

A billion each. In a couple of years, Economies #1 and #2, when measured in a certain way. Nervous neighbours, with only the mighty Himalayas in the way.

I’ll admit though, that I am clearly pessimistic. About India’s chances. My latest trip to Delhi left me feeling no better. As our bullocks steadily amble on the road to progress, they have switched to high-speed rail. Every time we bring a spoon to a pot, they bring ladles. And, so on…

Yet, the optimists have a few points. The younger billion. English. A mean entrepreneurial spirit (vocalised by the troupe of hooligans who picked up our bags at Delhi airport, uninvited, and charged us a handy sum after having largely loitered about in the carpark). Being on the right-ish side of the line with the incumbent superpowers.

As always, I sense we are leaving it to the last day on a crumbling pitch. For hope, we have a messy democracy as our Tendulkar.

Communication

To be taught in communication classes worldwide:

How to sanely string together the words: “Estamos bien en el refugio los 33”, when trapped 2300 ft underground.

Are
Good
In the refuge
The 33

Remote

China is a big country. The world’s biggest, in some ways.

Me: Going to Urumqi. Need Chinese visa.
China Visa Officer: There is no such place in China.
Me: !@#$%^&

Ok, ok… I should have said Wu Lu Mu Qi. Or, Di Hua.

But, a city of 2.5 million people?

Well, at least, they have taken my passport.

Happiness

One look at you, and one thought about us, and my worries grow wings and fly away.

Medicine

It has been four months since I stepped out of the island. Six months since I had a proper holiday – our honeymoon. After an unusually long pause, travel season starts again this weekend – fittingly, with my best friend’s wedding. Then, a short weekend trip for her birthday, my photography trip to the middle of nowhere in Xinjiang, and a weeklong adventure with her in New Zealand that I have spent all weekend planning.

Fingers crossed. Welcome medicine.

Overwhelmed

…by having set out to do too many things at once. Evidenced by an inability to get moving on any of those things. And, a sense of restlessness and desperation.

A full plate in the office does not help.

Quien paga?

Desde la revolucion industrial, nosotros usamos mucha energia en nuestras vidas, para las fabricas, los coches, y los electrodomesticos. Nosotros gastamos mucho, carbon y petroleo. Poreso, dioxido de carbono esta en aumento en la atmosfera. Hay calentamiento del mundo. El nivel del mar esta en aumento y el tiempo esta muy furioso.

Hay muchas soluciones por el problema de calentamiento del mundo, pero la pregunta mas importante es, "Quien paga?". Es posible que nosotros cambiamos a energia del sol, del viento o de la marea. Pero, estas tecnologias cuestan mas que carbon y petroleo.

Los paises ricos del mundo - El Occidente - Los Estados Unidos, Europa y Japon usan mucha energia en los doscientos anyos previosos. Ellos gastan mucho, carbon y petroleo. La gente en estes paises tienen una calidad de vida mejor.

Pero, los paises grandes del mundo ahora - China, India, Brasil y Indonesia - tienen los populaciones muy grandes y mas pobres que en los paises ricos. La gente en estes paises necesitan usar mucha energia para cambiar la calidad de vida, por que la energia es el base de la economia.

Este es el problema: Los paises ricos no desean pagar, y los paises grandes no pueden pagar. Pero, es importante que los paises grandes del futuro aceptan que ellos no pueden repetir los errores de los ricos. El mundo no puede permitirse los errores.

Binary

A curse on the human mind. An obsession with resolving ambiguity.

Good or bad. Better or worse. Success or failure. Now or later.

Powerpoint charts that force me to look left or right.

Choice is binary. I choose or I don’t.

Action is binary too. I act or I don’t.

The space in between makes me crazy.

Success

is to be judged by what you had to give up in order to get it."

says my desk calendar.

Crime

My little crime over the last few years has been to ignore the power of music.

For example, I struggle to describe the effect of having the words "All I Want is Everything" pounded into my brains, even if only for a few minutes.

It does not matter that the song is largely irrelevant.

Emptiness

I have read somewhere, "The blank page: The most challenging environment there is."

How true... it is time to run riot.

Hard work

...is what will make the difference, it seems.

My harshest critic reminds me that I have been more than guilty from time to time, of ignoring the simple merits of the hard slog.

It is time to sign up to that ethic to make sure I do not disappoint myself, or us.

Struggle

This idea is only just germinating. It is so easy to discard. To disavow. And, to relapse. Into tedium.

Odd

I seem to spend the weekdays planning my weekends. Surely, something is odd about that.

Compass

I have an old envelope with all my undergraduate admissions essays. I found it and opened it today. I reread what a naive 17-year-old had written. Some of them made me wince. Yet, some of them made me proud. I had dared to dream. All I had going then was an inexplicable belief in my ability. Nothing else.

And, in some of them, I found very simple, straightforward answers to some of the questions that I ask myself today.

When in doubt, ask yourself - preferably, a version from a dozen years past.