" I first of all felt Joyous.I felt what Joy is made of, and i realized that Joy itself must have been the impelling force, that which was there before we were there...and that somehow Joy was in every ingredient of our making.When the world was an ooze without any shape or direction,there must have been this force of Joy that prevailed everywhere and that was reaching out to express.And somehow the word Joy became the most unmeasurable word. It was the essence of creativity, the force of creativity.I realized that if i were a painter and about to paint a great catastrophe,i could not put the first stroke on campus without thinking of Joy in doing it.

You cannot do architecture/make a building without being joyously engaged.
I would like to feel that i've not forgotten nor have you as i speak to you about the stream of Joy which must be felt.Otherwise you really dont feel anything.If what i say somehow activates that feeling,I would ofcourse be terribly pleased and honored "

Lou Kahn

TTYL

Hmm well I thought all this being by myself, made me pretty unexcitable.
Damn it !
Man! Ive got a long lonely semester coming up and I have to start all over again.
urghhhh!

The polititcs of asking How are You?

Well, couple of things.

1. I like Howdy. Howdy is good.
It's not just because it is the official greeting of Texas A&M.
It works. I mean its functional. Some one greets you Howdy and you say Howdy back.
Case closed. Done .Finito.

But when you are asked, "Hey, How are you ?" the landscape changes drastically.
You've gotta say " I'm good/great/fine." pause. "How are you ?".
Now it's not entirely that its too long to say back you know ?
I mean it is, but it isn't that long - for normal people.

Words like normal come into question for anything related to me.But anyway.
Thing is I'm never thinking in terms of the visual data in front of me while I'm walking/ moving/ passing through a place...whatever. That is I'm almost always thinking of something else, sometimes related to reality(relatively) , but mostly it is completely and ridiculously unrelated to anything at all.
So the " Hey How are you......." takes me completely by surprise...knocks me out.....like a bird crashing into a glass pane ! ouch! reality check. Then I have to suddenly connect to stuff happening around me. Identify which way the voice came from. Recognise the face and then say the rest...and of course if it's someone you know, the rest of the being sociable crap.

It might not sound like a great deal. But it is. Each time, the entire process I described above happens in extremely slow motion for me....you know like keanu dodging the bullet ? Only difference being what if he moved slowly and still all the bullets struck him - dead on target too. Same thing. By the time I am ready to say the "Good, How are you"....the person might have already passed me by....and I can't run behind, tap them on the shoulder and say it you know? It's not that kind of thing. Or worse still, you wait for the elevator, which takes a hell of a long time to come up , and people shoot out of it as it opens up and someone says the dreaded greeting words...... and before you know what hit you they are gone. And you spend the rest of the time in the elevator, feeling bad....about your lack of response, your being slow, you being a misfit in society esp american etc. Yes the hard part is the guilt...lol...of not being able to reply. It's tougher than you think....

I mean americans are used to it. Its their form of greeting. So they are obviously good at it. And original too....as in they have various forms/types/variations for asking it and replying. The Indians are bloody predictable. That includes me too, don't worry. But at least I do not keep shooting that question, at the slightest chance. I mean I don't know that many people.... :) :) but if you indeed know someone well, that means you know them, so....you would have something better to say, or you would talk longer, so the whole "how are you" paradigm is bypassed.
And even if I manage to return a volley of "Good .How are you doing?" back at them.... they shoot back the reply...(I don't even know what it is they say) ... so fast I don't know what hit me(sometimes you are going somewhere so fast, that you are out audible range....lol). I mean the whole exchange has to take place in less than 4 seconds, if you are on the move...which is usually the case. And desi's shoot it out like they've been practicing it all their life. It's good in a way shows their commitment....... they are here to stay....lol. :)

There is of course the larger issue, of the redundance of the question. Why do you have to ask a question to which you already know the answer ? That too like a zillion times over. People are all "fine/good/pretty good or great" There is no sorrow or want on the face of the earth, if you go by the response to this question ... lol. By now anyone reading these thoughts would definitely have come to the conclusion that I'm cuckoo..or seriously messed up. But try to believe me, I have nothing against this form of greeting. I means it's polite, civilized...all that. Its probably just my small town typically overtly sarcastic mallu thinking that makes me a bit bitter of this greeting. I realise that. But I sometimes still do get unreasonably angry when Indians/desi's shoot this question at me. I almost feel like replying..

I'm good/fine...DAMN IT! What do you expect !!
..........................................
And How are you , You fuck !

lol..just that...that might lead to a very deconstructivist outcome ...eh ?

"What do you mean,Diotima " I said, " is love then evil and foul ?" "Hush" she cried;" must that be foul which is not fair ? " "Certainly" I said. "And is that which is not wise, ignorant ?do you not see that there is a mean between wisdom and ignorance ?".......
"Quite true," I replied. "Do not then insist," she said, " that what is not fair is of necessity foul, or what is not good, evil; or infer that because love is not fair and good he is therefor foul and evil; for he is in a mean between them"
.................................
"And who" I said, "was his (love) was his father and mother ?". "The tale will take time, neverthless i shall tell you," she said. "On the birthday of aphrodite there was a feast of the gods, at which the god Poros or plenty, who is the son of Metis or discretion, was one of the guests. When the feast was over, Penia or Poverty as is the manner on such occassions, came about the doors to beg. Now Plenty who was the worse for nectar(there was no wine in those days) went into the garden of Zeus and fell into a deep sleep; and Poverty considering the circumstances she was in, plotted to have a child by him and accordingly she lay down at his side and concieved Love, who partly because he is naturally a lover of the beautiful, and because Aphrodite is herself beautiful and also because he was born on her birthday, is her follower and attendant.

And as his parentage, so are his fortunes. In the first place he is always poor, and anything but tender and fair, as the many imagine him; and he is rough and squalid, and he has no shoes, nor a house to dwell in; on the bare earth exposed he lies under the open heaven, in the streets, or at the doors of houses, taking his rest; and like his mother is always in distress. Like his father too whom he partly resembles, he is always plotting against the fair and the good; he is bold enterprising, strong, a mighty hunter, always weaving some intrigue or the other, keen in the pursuit of wisdom, fertile in resources; a philosopher at all tiomes, terrible as an enchanter, sorcerer, sophist. He is by nature neither mortal nor immortal, but alive and flourishing at one moment and dead at another moment, and again alive by his fathers nature.He is never in want and never in wealth and further he is in a mean between ignorance and knowledge.

The truth of the matter is this: NO god is a philosopher or seeker after wisdom, for he is wise already; nor does any man who is wise seek after wisdom. Neither do the ignorant seek after wisdom. For herein is the EVIl of ignorance : that he is neither good nor wise is neverthless satisfies with himself: he has no desire for that of which he feels no want. "But who then Diotima" I said, "are seekers of wisdom if they are neither the wise or th foolish ?" " A child may answer that question," she said, "they are those who are in a mean between the two; Love is one of them.For wisdom is a most beautiful thing and Love is of the beautiful and therefore love is also a philosopher or the lover of wisdom, and being a lover of wisdom is in a mean between ignorance and wisdom. And of this too his birht is a cause, since his father is wealthy and wise and mother poor and foolish"

"Such my dear Socrates, is the nature of the spirit Love. The error in your conception of him was very natural, and as I imagine from what u say, has arisen out of a confusion of Love and the beloved. For the beloved is ttruly beautiful and delicate and perfect and blessed; but the principle of love is of another nature"

2. "This my dear Socrates", said the stranger of Mantineia, " is that life above all other s which man should live, in the contemplation of beauty absolute, a beauty if you once beheld, you would see not to be after the measure of gold and garments, and fair boys and youths, whose presence now entrances you; and you and many a one would be content to live seeing them only and conversing with them without meat and drink, if that were possible - you only want to look at them and be with them. But what if man had eyes to see true beauty- the divine beauty , I mean pure and clear and unalloyed, not clogged with pollutions of mortality and all the colors and vanities of human life - thither looking and holding converse with the true beauty simple and divine ? Remember how in that communion only, beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabked to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities(but he has hold not of a nimage but of reality) and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may. Would that be an ignoble life ?

from Symposium, Plato's philosophy of beauty

Well....interesting aint it ? I am not going to write what all this signifies. This was an insignificant part of my philosophy reading....and it was part of a larger discussion of truth and beauty and art.
You can draw your own conclusions from Plato's account...
But know what else I learnt from reading this ?
But I can't help mention two very philosphical observations.

1. LOVE IS A BASTARD CHILD
2. THE GREAT GREEK PHILOSOPHERS WERE GAY !!!
LOL....amusing

lol