What to write?

First, a new year's resolution: no more than 1,000 words per blog post. I have occasionally exceeded that limit in the past but will strive not to do so in the future. If I need more words than that, either I am communicating poorly or the topic is not suitable for a blog post. I have lost the patience even to read longer pieces, so it's not surprising that my enthusiasm to write PhD theses has waned.

I spent a large part of the day thinking about what to write.

Cricket has vanished from the list of subjects that interest me. The proximate cause is the pathetic performance of the Indian team in Australia but the ultimate cause is the realization that there is a complete disconnect between what I would like to see and what the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) wants. The BCCI's main goal is profit maximization and the avenue to achieve that objective is to keep churning out IPL-like events that attract the eyeballs of grannies, aunties and others whose staple diet is made up of saas-bahu serials and who squeal with delight whenever Ravi Shastri bellows, "DLF maximum". Winning test matches abroad is not on the BCCI's (and perhaps even the players') list of priorities. So, bye-bye Cricket.

I have written extensively in the past about religion and politics and have nothing much to add on those subjects. Especially in the context of my view on the absence of free will, it is clear to me that I am deterministically impelled to write certain things. Some people are just as deterministically impelled to read what I write. My words act as environmental influences that impinge on their neurons. They trigger certain chemical reactions. Looking at things objectively and analytically, few minds are changed as a result, some are made to pause and think, most remain unchanged. And, as of now, my own neurons aren't pushing any new thoughts on these subjects into my consciousness. So those topics are also on hold.

Economic freedom was another hot-button issue that I wrote about in the context of the "Occupy Wall Street" protests and various discussions in the media on the global economic situation. "Inequality", "equality of outcome", "equality of opportunity" are all terms that have been thrown about wildly and have ended up creating more confusion than clarity. I'm all for "equality of opportunity" but think that phrase is misleading. In my opinion, the closest we can realistically get to achieving equality of opportunity is to minimize corruption, favoritism and nepotism. Those three evils cannot be eliminated, they can only be reduced. Beyond that, everyone is dealt a certain hand of cards. Some people achieve great success even with lousy cards through good play, others throw away great hands and fail. That's all there is to it. Making any more of it eats into economic freedom and will inevitably prove counter-productive. Artificial constraints will lose, free markets will win. That process may take years, decades or centuries but it WILL happen. Again, minds steeped in ideology will continue their futile quest for utopia while those that have the common sense to be pragmatic will thrive. Enough said on that too.

I could pump out one more list of Bollywood movies or songs. That has always been and will continue to be my default option.

Or I could talk about my annual medical check-up. In addition to the, er, "digital" examination of certain parts of my anatomy, I went through the usual battery of tests. The only observation of note was that my blood pressure is slightly higher than normal, which is not unexpected considering that my father was hypertensive and my mother is too. The doctor did not think there was any need for medication but just told me to exercise more regularly and monitor it carefully. The nurse who took the reading of my blood pressure told me that I should have more celery. The way she said it sounded like "salary" and my first thought was, "Sure, I can see how more salary will reduce my BP" but I quickly figured out what she meant and did not make any silly comments.

Of course, the reaction at home was more severe. The Supreme Editor has imposed various requirements on me based on her internet medical research. Knowing that I will not act on recommendations unsubstantiated by scientific evidence, she pulled out some article on how eating crushed raw garlic first thing in the morning is helpful. Obviously you don't need Sherlock Holmes to find out why my colleagues now recoil and flinch whenever I am within six feet of them and upwind. I happened to mention the bit about the celery. Even though I intended it as a joke, that has also been made a staple feature of my diet. Further, I have been ordered to consume some multi-vitamin tablet every day. I have absolutely no idea as to whether these things will lower my BP in any way. But I do know for a fact that arguing about them will definitely increase my blood pressure. So that's that. I comply.

Keeping all that in my mind, to the three and a half long-suffering regular readers of this blog who may have noticed the delay in the publication of this post, I would finally say, "Please bear with me". And thanks again for your support.