Keeping up with the commitments prior to writing this blog has made me a beast.....of burden. I have realised....AGAIN, that I shall not be able to keep up with the deadline of a week....:( It requires a timetable to be followed. One that includes "6:00pm - Write daily blog" in it.
Among other things, my keyboard's missing its 'd' key and the spacebar tends to stay down on a whim, which makes typing a real pain in the excuse-me-please. I'm currently managing by using the age-old Ctrl+C-Ctrl+V method.
Anyway, first of all, let me explain the reason for the long absence. I had been on a month long trip to Shimla, my hometown. Not to mention the constant stream of responsibilities entrusted upon me by teachers, fellow classmates and seniors; pretty much anyone who thinks I'm trustworthy needs me to do something, sometimes its even non-personal.
Looking at it all in hindsight, I guess I was taken in by the grind of daily life. Besides, I am a Piscean, so I don't exactly work by the principle of "I do what I want". There's also a "When I want to" clause attached.Not proud of it.
Leaving out some more inconsequential details, you might have noticed the title and formed an opinion of me. Before commenting, I urge you to read ahead.
I recently submitted an article for the college magazine on the topic "Misplaced Patriotism". I did not state the views expressed as my personal opinion, for the want of being politically correct, but stated the incident from the eyes of a bystander (or in this case, a by-player). As I said before, I am an online gamer. Gaming, I believe, is right up there on the list of "Things Humans do Passionately" along with Love and Music. Not a lot of people will agree with me on this. Most will say that it is subjective to the hobby one has and I get your point guys. However, when I say "passionate", I don't just mean that the person follows the practice religiously. It all boils down to differentiation between character and personality. The minimal the difference, more passionate a person becomes about the idea/practice.
I guess the reason for this lies in the human nature of competition. People are sober enough when it comes to playing single-player campaigns or against AI. But all that changes when going online. Top games these days are played internationally where people are either too friendly or too crass, exchanging compliments and cuss words as if its second nature. This amounts to some leverage in terms of what they really are. Frequently, these exchanges are the result of instinctual reactions to people or situations and that is a condition which gives a lot of information about the person as opposed to real-life situations where people can wear masks easily. This might sound opposite to the "30-year old poses as 16-year old and kidnaps girl" stories reported by tabloids regularly. This is not pretension on face value. Its much deeper.
Anyway, the reason for this post is anguish. Like I said, I am an Indian and not proud of it. There are many questions that "die-hard" patriots would now like to ask me. I will start on them in a moment. but first, I would like to make some things clear.
1. I do not hate my country.
2. I do not hate my countrymen.
3. I do not hate the fact that we have people of all religions, castes, colors, creeds, communities, languages, ethnic groups and even genders in our country.
4. I'm not a Pakistani partisan (for the fanatical Indians out there) nor do I hate Pakistan (for the fanatical Pakistanis out there).
5. I do not intend to join politics (for the judgmental people out there....I was thinking when you would form an opinion again, I guess it would be by now).
I am ashamed to belong to the same country as some people who devalue the spirit of belonging to a nationality. That is the problem I have. By "devalue their nationality" I do not mean people who don't respect national property and values. I also don't mean people who give a bad name to the country at the international level. I just mean people who do not follow the fraternity that they are a part of.
There's a need to change this sort of mentality. I won't go as far as to point the people who purport themselves to care about this.
Just another little thingy. Glad I got it out there.
Among other things, my keyboard's missing its 'd' key and the spacebar tends to stay down on a whim, which makes typing a real pain in the excuse-me-please. I'm currently managing by using the age-old Ctrl+C-Ctrl+V method.
Anyway, first of all, let me explain the reason for the long absence. I had been on a month long trip to Shimla, my hometown. Not to mention the constant stream of responsibilities entrusted upon me by teachers, fellow classmates and seniors; pretty much anyone who thinks I'm trustworthy needs me to do something, sometimes its even non-personal.
Looking at it all in hindsight, I guess I was taken in by the grind of daily life. Besides, I am a Piscean, so I don't exactly work by the principle of "I do what I want". There's also a "When I want to" clause attached.Not proud of it.
Leaving out some more inconsequential details, you might have noticed the title and formed an opinion of me. Before commenting, I urge you to read ahead.
I recently submitted an article for the college magazine on the topic "Misplaced Patriotism". I did not state the views expressed as my personal opinion, for the want of being politically correct, but stated the incident from the eyes of a bystander (or in this case, a by-player). As I said before, I am an online gamer. Gaming, I believe, is right up there on the list of "Things Humans do Passionately" along with Love and Music. Not a lot of people will agree with me on this. Most will say that it is subjective to the hobby one has and I get your point guys. However, when I say "passionate", I don't just mean that the person follows the practice religiously. It all boils down to differentiation between character and personality. The minimal the difference, more passionate a person becomes about the idea/practice.
I guess the reason for this lies in the human nature of competition. People are sober enough when it comes to playing single-player campaigns or against AI. But all that changes when going online. Top games these days are played internationally where people are either too friendly or too crass, exchanging compliments and cuss words as if its second nature. This amounts to some leverage in terms of what they really are. Frequently, these exchanges are the result of instinctual reactions to people or situations and that is a condition which gives a lot of information about the person as opposed to real-life situations where people can wear masks easily. This might sound opposite to the "30-year old poses as 16-year old and kidnaps girl" stories reported by tabloids regularly. This is not pretension on face value. Its much deeper.
Anyway, the reason for this post is anguish. Like I said, I am an Indian and not proud of it. There are many questions that "die-hard" patriots would now like to ask me. I will start on them in a moment. but first, I would like to make some things clear.
1. I do not hate my country.
2. I do not hate my countrymen.
3. I do not hate the fact that we have people of all religions, castes, colors, creeds, communities, languages, ethnic groups and even genders in our country.
4. I'm not a Pakistani partisan (for the fanatical Indians out there) nor do I hate Pakistan (for the fanatical Pakistanis out there).
5. I do not intend to join politics (for the judgmental people out there....I was thinking when you would form an opinion again, I guess it would be by now).
I am ashamed to belong to the same country as some people who devalue the spirit of belonging to a nationality. That is the problem I have. By "devalue their nationality" I do not mean people who don't respect national property and values. I also don't mean people who give a bad name to the country at the international level. I just mean people who do not follow the fraternity that they are a part of.
There's a need to change this sort of mentality. I won't go as far as to point the people who purport themselves to care about this.
Just another little thingy. Glad I got it out there.
