Mind of my Stroked Brain

In the past decade more than anytime earlier, our media (print, traditional tv, internet, social media, OTT, etc) they have all evolved and become more and more complex with more choices. While these categories of content have existed in the past also, they have increasingly got merged (amalgamated) making it hard to distinguish them with hard boundaries. There might be many more, but I broadly bucket them into 3 categories: 1. Entertainment 2. Information 3. Noise/ Disinformation 4. Purposeful time  Even news, which is supposed to be only information, depending on the channel, has various percentages of disinformation and entertainment. Of them #3 is the hardest thing to identify. Usually it is very difficult to identify it in isolation. We can Only recognise that it is mostly noise and disinformation when we consume similar content from different sources for a period of time and are able to recognise the patterns in them and be able to contrast them. The first two categories however

From the last 1 year, I have been able to select what I see. Initially it was a lot of entertainment (Netflix, prime,etc) and now a lot more things on YouTube that are interesting/ informative. I guess I have got bored with entertainment and have realised while it is very enjoyable, it is basically a waste of my life. I don't want to pretend like my mind doesn't need the distraction/ entertainment. I do indulge every now and then, but I have cut it down a lot. Of course, when I am not watching any of that, I have the news playing. Any news will do. I do so - so the TV creates noise and keeps my company. I don't have to pay attention to it, it just screams uninterrupted. I can do something else... What I have realised (it is well known, but difficult to appreciate) is that there is no end to knowing anything. I just have to get interested in some topic/ information and it opens up a different rabbit hole. A whole new world I didn't know existed. And this is just with You

When I got to some ability to comprehend (about 4-5 weeks), I was told I had a stroke. (I am sure everyone would have told me earlier too - but nothing would have gone in) Everyone around me had that lead time to do any research, understand it in detail and know the details of what had happened to me. I on the other hand, knew the the summary - "I had a stroke". Generally aware and informed about many things, but I had spent my entire lifetime being ignorant about this aspect. I had absolutely no idea what a stroke is. So I knew I had a stroke. But I was perplexed as to what had really happened to me. On some instances in the past, when someone had said someone had a stroke, I had just assumed it was something with the heart. I had never bothered to find out more about it. Then I was told I had a surgery and they removed a colt from the brain. I found it hard to understand as I couldn't see any visible bandages or scars on my head (or near the heart). If they had to opera

Today, during having an intense conversation, my nurses turned to me and asked whether I agree on a very controversial topic, which is political, religious and also probably quite regionally important. This is the first time I have been dragged into their conversation and asked to offer an opinion. They regularly have very animated debates on varied topics ranging from current policies, political parties, political leaders, religious matters to movie stars. Basically anything that constitutes a juicy topic for conversation. They talk freely with the comfort that I don't understand the language. True, I don't understand the language, but they don't realise how many english words are peppered all over, how many words mean similarly in other regional languages which i can get, there are some words I do get due to constant usage and most importantly the actions and body language. So, sure, I don't understand the language fully, but most often I get what they are talking abo