The wonders of (Associative) Memory, Emotional Overwhelm and othertricks of mind:

When I was between 8 and 10 years old, I used to speak Telugu fluently. 

I can't string a basic sentence together properly, if you asked me now.

How we are adept at forgetting things more than remembering!!

I grew up with my parents being able to speak 4-6 languages each, none of which I was taught to speak (or read or write for that matter) except for Tamil and English.

But today, if some one talks in those languages I was exposed to as a child, I can follow the meaning of a conversation or at least work out the context of it.

I would feel as if I was invading the privacy of the people conversing.

On the one side I would be eager to know how much I could understand and on the other, I would want to stop listening.

An Associative Memory is when some semblance to an old (archived?) memory brings forth responses/reflexes that you were not aware that you could/knew.

Two of the aspects of this have always fascinated me more than the others, that arising from music and that arising because of scent or odour.

Note how I said Music specifically and not auditory in general. 

Yes, I know... It does makes more sense when there is an order to the sounds as in the case with music and not just noise or abstract sound to evoke a long dormant memory or reflex.

And music being an easy & well known mnemonic (remember all those school rhymes), should only make it easy for my awestruck brain to make sense, every time it sings along a whole song without missing a beat or word, when that from a dusty memory, plays somewhere even I have no memory of actually listening to it ever.

My family was quite into Music when I was a child.  Our pursuits of music in its various forms have reduced and we almost do nothing but listen and may be share playlists these days. (As I'm sure is the case with most of us with "busy" lives making a living...) 

Today I got reminded of Meera Bhajan songs by LataMangeshkar (apparently recorded in the year 1978, I just came to know) that my mom used to listen to a lot.

And the surprise in store was that I could remember every song (and even the little breathing pause she takes in one of the songs which got recorded mistakenly.... :))

Similarly, this past week I was listening to quite a few of the old Indian Music either from Movies or those sung by the greats from their 'singing for Indian Movies' careers.

And some of these songs I still have not seen videos of, hardly ever heard them on radio or cassettes (given these are easily 40-60 years old) but I could remember (if not sing) every little 'nuance and tricky trek on the notes' along and at the exact places.

Always a pleasant surprise when that happens!

But a scent evoking memories is a different story altogether for me... This is something that I can't explain really well. 

The memories it brings back are sharp but still shadowy...

I wish I knew how to tune in to this and figure out the teasing memory... 

I've sometimes stopped in my tracks, trying to really reach out and snatch at the memory when a scent hits me bringing back half a story.

Sometimes it's like a puzzle, dropping a piece at a time, right on my head so it would jolt me (to being awareof it?) but pieces not always of the same puzzle.  

This is one of the most intriguing experiences.  Makes me curious (obviously), aware (of some foggy memory residing in my head), zoned out (from the present trying to remember the past), sad (when not able to completely recall) and all of this at the same time. 

Not to sound like a creep, I am pretty confident that everyone has these experiences especially if one has moved around a lot or has seen a lot of changes in life.  Some are just more aware of it, some less.

Who knows, may be I am just connecting to my 'present' on a parallel universe... ;)

Now not just memories but there's another activity of the ever busy neurons that intrigue me...

When I feel emotionally overwhelmed while I watch an extraordinary performance of any kind.

Idol and Talent shows are my best and worst entertainment in this sense.

I absolutely don't mind this in the confines of my own house and that of my loved ones, definitely a nuisance when I am out and about.

The best way to become the butt of jokes when among friends... Huff!!!

Well, memories and emotions are/were always my favourite topic of discussion even if it was only in my own head.

May be they are overrated like people say but I am sure I will always stay fascinated by them!!

OneNote and EverNote

Evernote clearly states that you can't edit an attached file on a phone.  

Could use a clear statement like that from OneNote too!  

#cantOneNote2013  

Ennayum arasiyal vaadi aakkitteengale!

 

Ennayum IT blog eluda vechiteengale!

 

As I have stated many a times before, I am no geek nor a tech wiz of formidable experience or knowledge!

 

But I am forced to continue expressing review-like-opinions due to my experience trying to work with a few popular apps on my iPhone 5 with iOS 7.

 

It was a simple task of trying to open a text file attachment on my mail (app) and editing it or at least even 'selecting all' and pasting into my blogger app.

 

To make the long story short:

 

1. Evernote would only accept the file from the Open In action on my mail box (or even from browser mail) and keep it as is - an attached text file into one of its notes.

 

Thankfully though I found Apple confessing this limitation(?) explicitly on many of their forums or help topics.

 

2. OneNote 2013 mobile app though kept it more of a left to interpretation and common sense may be as some of you Wiz's might call.

 

Alas! I am not a power user and I am a mere mortal that is usually a READ ONLY user.

 

Anyway, it was not clear that until I wasted a lot of time searching around and checking various forums before my accepted that my TEXT file was suffering Unrequited and even Unacknowledged love towards OneNote 2013 mobile app.

 

An early indicator was that (made sense too), it said it needs an underlying app that can work with these attached/embedded files to work with them.

 

3. After several futile attempts it was apparent there were not many simple (free apps) that would do this job though this seems quite basic for a smart phone to handle.

 

I am aware that I can convert it to different file formats that work better and then use it with various free apps such as PDF, DOC etc..,

 

But my "precious" is a 16 GB lightweight and while experimenting I conscious of the space that each of these apps claim.

 

4. Another nasty surprise came from another close to my heart - the very "friendly" Google!

 

Yes, Google drive accepted my TEXT file graciously into its folds but did not let me Select All the lengthy content of my text file either to do a simple COPY!

 

Neither would it interface with Google Docs and let me open try opening it there.

 

5. The work around was to open drive in WEB mode from Safari and then open the TXT file.  Then I could send it to Evernote, not as an attachment this time but a friendly Note, with all of the TXT file contents laid bare for me to Select All and Copy.

 

  6)    The easiest route thus far though is to Simply Drop Box and use it on my Phone where I don't need another "Editor" but rather can open, Select All and Copy then and there on my phone's Drop Box!

 

The reason I chose the other routes initially were because I use these Apps already for other purposes and it was natural for me to go there and try given all the world singing praise for Evernote and OneNote for much more advanced things than copying All content of a mere TXT file attachment.

 

Well, guess I lost a little bit of my "dumb" through this exercise and it was definitely worth it for I learnt about a few of these below:

 

1. IFTTT -- https://ifttt.com/ --- I am going to try this out this weekend and see if I can overcome my disappointment of finding Google Drive not being able to talk to Blogger or Google Docs directly sharing files across (talking about all of them iPhone apps here specifically). 

 

Google family iOS (phone) apps needs to be a little more sharing and caring!

 

But it's not limited to just that, you can apparently set up rules for various Apps and Sites to interact.  Worth checking out if nothing else.  Worth skipping a Sunday afternoon nap… :)

 

   2)    Plain Text (free and basic) and other editors (paid and rich ;)) from Drop Box!  Or their many rivals in the paid apps world of course.

 

http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/49557/how-to-open-and-read-txt-files-using-iphone

 

   3)   Wonders of OneNote 2013 and Evernote.  Yes they do a lot of cool stuff unlike the boring and dumb - open a TXT file attached without an underlying text editor app!!

 

   4)   Little tips and tricks with each of the apps' settings on my phone and some of them lying in disuse (if not use, at least remove them).

 

  5)   Got me started with drop box - an app that I didn't care to use much before.  I know!!

 

Glad I hit a problem and spent some time waking up my common sense and bringing in some absent "app-sense"… :)

 

 

 

 

 

What pad??

I do not remember how I got introduced to this new friend but I did.

And we have been thin and thick over time... WATTPAD

I am pretty sure there are scores of Apps out there that does the same thing, may be some better and some worse.

This one does enough for me... For now.. Thought I should write about it before I tire and move on to something else...

It's been both good and bad. Bad being I don't read or finish the 'hard' books anymore and I get quite distracted with this when I am supposed to be doing other things... Like work for a living...

But well...even with 'hard' books I did that so this is only making it easier to do... The frequency of the crime is the only thing increasing not the crime or the gravity of it ;)

Now going for the good things:

I am usually slow in exploring things say an app. I don't just go in and try every feature on the day 1, just because...

My enthusiasm to explore is usually overtaken with a fascinating feature and there it stops till something bores me of it or if I feel like taking a break.

So the point is if you are looking for a review of the App and all its features then  I'm sorry this will be a disappointment.

Now there, that said...

WATTPAD has scores of people like you and me writing on it.  Anything and everything they feel like, stories, poems, shorties of any sort, series, read soaps where they publish the story in parts every week or every two days or any which way they prefer.

And then people like you and me read them, rate, 'fan' as the wattpadians call, even comment at any point in the story giving it good and bad feedback then and there!  

When you think about it, it's quite the same formula.  Writer's and readers social media.  Really.

You post, we read, follow, comment, vote etc.., But the opportunity like never before for budding writers to get live feedback, giving them a chance to change things to suit the mood.  And for established writers to gauge the reaction of the crowd.

Yes in a way I was debating with myself if this was truly good.  If you think about that was the beauty of writing, you write what you imagined and people either accept or reject. That makes you a true competitor or candidate.  Not knowing the judges preferences even as you are competing.  Oh well, I know, I am an idealist sometimes!!!

But what I noticed is all these 12 and 14 year olders writing! I just absolutely love that idea. A platform for children to cultivate an interest in writing.  

I've read several books on this App, the good, the bad and the ugly.

As far as I've checked the writing part of the app seems to be quite basic but again I have not really forayed into this yet.

This is more from me as a reader...

I think there could be more work on the writing part as well as privacy settings.

An app that is certainly keeping me more than just company! :)

P.S:

I almost forgot that it also allows other languages apart from English to be written in and read in.  I couldn't find any written in Tamil yet though.

Oh and it has loads of free ebooks and classics available too!

It's Cold... A Perpspective

Every single person out walking, from little kids to old women...are smoking!

Morning Potty Philosophies

Morning Potty has always been a time for thought... I have always found them to be my most creative and imaginative thought process time... It's almost as if you are asleep and dreaming solutions to your everyday problems or searching for an inner meaning to even the smallest of things in life that you wud usually ignore...

Right from my childhood days of indian commode habits I remember using this time to experiment with my various muscles and joints, in my legs, trying to see how long they hold still, when exactly do they start hurting, how much water I am using and how efficiently can I use the water while I also keep a constant flow to keep the commode from drying up...

Recently facebook, whatsapp and ebook readers (and some games too yes) have stolen this precious time from my brain exercise schedule I realise...sadly... 

Potty in this era of smartphones, has changed from being 'an extremely private and intimate time spent by a person completely inside their head and body, pushing out creative thoughts and 'not so creative' (some may disagree) body excrements' to a time when we connect with family and friends... 

It is not even funny anymore and in many cases true even, if you were to imagine your friend on their respective bathrooms and replying to your messages and watching the videos you shared...which is sad... Not just because it's not funny...

That said, try as I may, my hand automatically picks up my smartphone the minute I feel my bladder full or my rectum signal...

Times when I realize my battery is dead but I need to potty are almost emergencies where I borrow Suresh's phone shamefacedly (for the fact that I forgot to charge it).

From a girl who never opened her mouth to respond to any questions/conversations or provocations from outside the door while at potty to one who utilises her time on the potty connecting with people vie e-media is quite a (still quiet) transformation that I believe many women of my age and era wud agree...

And in fact this blog and the thoughts for it started this morning while at potty... 

Now what prompted me to write was a little insect I killed because I couldn't watch it buzzing around me... All I had to do was pour a few drops of water over it and it fell down twitching.  Then I couldn't watch it die nor accept that I did something that bad that I was torn between letting it go and ending its suffering (yes mahatma's words - or so I have been told - echoed in my mind) and I poured more water on it swearing (for the thousandth time in my life) that I wud never do that again...

So I was going to post on FB at once of my 

Morning Potty realisation #10000 or something...

One who controls the urge to kill an insect just because it's buzzing around or in sight is a person of supreme self control! 

One who does not feel the need in the first place to kill an insect just because it's buzzing around or in sight is a saint!

One who tries to get the insect out or find a way to let it out without harming it is a supreme being!

This does not include non veg food. I am talking about killing insects just because you see them or because they are flying around (and again you see them)...

(Based on the famous padayappa lyrics of the song 'vetrikkodikattu')

(Lines of the song)

இன்னொர் உயிரைக் கொன்று புசிப்பது மிருகமடா!

இன்னொர் உயிரைக் கொன்று ரசிப்பது அரக்கனடா!

யாருக்கும் தீங்கின்றி வாழ்பவன் மனிதன்...

ஊருக்கே வாழ்ந்து உயர்பவன் புனிதன்!!

(Lines of the song transliterated)

Innor uyiraikkondru pusippadu mirugamada!

Innor uyiraikkondru rasippadu arakkanada!!

Yaarukkum theengindri vaazhbavan manidan!

Oorukkae vaazhnthuyarbavan punidan!!

(Lines of the song translated)

Who kills another life (form) to eat is an animal!

Who kills another life (form) and enjoys is a demon!

Who lives without harming another life (form) is a human...

Who lives for (the good of) other life (forms) is divine!

But then it also occurred to me that even this has an exception.  Two... No some exceptions... Or may be I am just not a person of supreme self control.

And in my mind the exceptions are:

Mosquitos 

Cockroaches

Rats/Some viscious spiders and poisonous insects where it's either that dead, or you!!

Definitely in that order...

Definitely won't add lizards to the list...they are NOT harmful usually...

Thankfully though, for now I don't suffer the exceptions... But I know this is a global problem... Like poverty and illiteracy... 

So there goes my Morning Potty Realisation for the day number #ohsomanythatidontkeeptrack

The first reaction to NZ

A quiet seclusion.  A writer's paradise. A wintry sun but bird songs and cold hands. 

Houses undecided of the past or of future?! with their red roofs, large glass windows and spacious lawns but erected on and built in with modern household.

A long walk unto the beautiful skyline but on perfect roads and with whizzing cars.

Modern do I call this, or old, a glimpse into the future may be even...hopefully?!

Posting an old draft #unknown

The simple things that I've lost to:

Digital age? 

Cognizance of depleting natural resources?

Internetization of the world? 

Smart phonization of my life?

I don't know exactly which but they have compounded to the effect of, my losing touch with the tiny, simple pleasures...or even the desire for them.

For instance...

doodling on a piece of paper (/eraser/wall/water/back of a friend - any flat surface really)

This is such a lost art to me.  This simple silly thing that usually gets us a dose of 'scolding' from a teacher/parent/even an annoyed friend in the last case... Do kids do this at school after they have been introduced to the horrors of wasting paper and/or (the horror of) addictive, immersive smartphones?

I don't know... Well you do have apps to doodle with... But eh, isn't that the point?

Reading books let alone reading books while waiting for things...

Even though I try to go back to reading books (have successfully managed to read a few) I know I don't read as many or as immersed as I used to...

My attention span has reduced clearly and my smartphone does a good job of keeping me even from starting to read. If I've got just a few mins somewhere I know carrying a smartphone is much lighter and doing something with (even reading on it) is quicker and easier to leave when I have to than if I started with a book. I know I can't just read a page and stop if I have to (and it's relatively bulky)!!  Or atleast this is how the smartphone pro part of my brain argues (and mostly wins) over the meek and shy book loving part of my brain. :(

I salute the people who still manage to read a whole lot inspite of being gadget rock stars too of which I am certainly neither...