Mind of my Stroked Brain

I watch many things that generally interests me. In that process, I end up watching news from various geographies, watch some interesting things on YouTube and watch a lot of podcast format talks. Most of the time, it is usual facts and explanations etc . However, sometimes I come across something very different. Very impactful for everyone. It is very less, maybe < 5% of the stuff. When I come across such matters - maybe scientific, maybe economic, maybe political etc, I also look at how exclusive is this content/ knowledge. Ie, how difficult is it to get to this knowledge. Almost nothing is exclusive and hidden. Anybody can reach it easily and freely. Most of them have very far reaching consequences to people - whether it is global, geographical regional, as a society, as a social group, as an individual, etc. And when I see how many people have watched it - it will usually be in many many thousands .  And I keep wondering, why is not there a bigger reaction to this by folks - I m

I am a very simple fellow with a very simple mind and thinking. I don't know much about economics, global economics and macro economics. To my very simplistic understanding, inflation is because of 2 things 1. Visible inflation: increasing prices of almost everything constantly. In India, the published inflation is ~ 7%. It is usually because of supply and demand imbalance. (Growing demand for everything and lesser supply of things). 2. Invisible inflation: as the name suggests, we can't easily perceive it. I generally think it is around 4-5% in India. It is caused not because of increasing prices but because of reducing value of the money we have. It is usually called reduction in purchasing power. It is caused by infusion of new money in the economy because of the need for it by banks, by governments etc. If there is more money available then it goes without saying that the value of the money you are holding goes down. Put together I think the real inflation in India is aroun

We have heard about Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It's very simple - Basic and important needs have to be met first to aim for the next rung of higher level of needs.  It might have started the same, but now It will be different for different sections of the society today as the order of needs are very heavily dependent on economic realities and affordability - as everything is organised nowadays and nobody usually stays in the jungle looking for things. I don't know about all segments of the economic strata in the society but I can take a shot at myself (I will say middle of middle class. I think even in middle class , there is upper and lower). I have a feeling it will not be very far from others in the similar economic strata and above... The very very basic thing is air to breathe - that is the same for everyone. After that, it becomes complex. It should be water. Water is indeed needed, but most dwellings today have a backup - a borewell. On top of it, usually there mig

When I was younger, maybe till about late 30s till early 40s, I was not very sure about my purpose in life and was kinda hunting for it . Not overtly I guess, but there was an undercurrent of finding that purpose of what I was doing. Whether in what I read, what I did, what I chose to spend time to think about, etc.  It was a bit frustrating I think. I didn't realise or feel or understand the frustration, but it was there. I guess it was building up for a potent eruption later which is usually referred to as " mid life crisis ". Luckily or unluckily, the stroke got to me sooner. I had a even larger crisis presenting itself, dwarfing all other potential eruptions  Even after the stroke, many have told me there should be some purpose otherwise I wouldn't have been kept alive. I just have to find it. Even if I don't think about it very much, this thought seeded into my mind has played with the mind many many times.  I won't call this final, everything changes al

I come across many quotes , memes, messages, forward, etc, everyday. I am guessing most of us have the same experience and have kinda become numb to all of it. However, there are 3 things I have liked very much and think about everyday sometime. It helps me avoid wasting time now/ procrastinating things for later...  None of these are my own thoughts and I have no memory of where I read these. The exact words might have been different but this is the essence I guess.  However, I feel it will help if we think about these 3 things everyday or as often as we can. 1. Death is inevitable for me (& everyone else). I am ok with death. 2. What I need to do tomorrow/ future if I can do today - do it. What I need to do later if I can do it now - do it . 3. Today is the youngest I will ever be in my life again. Ever!

  ​ Warning : reading this may affect your belief and affect you adversely. Read ahead at your own risk. ____________________ Couple of days back, I had my bout of hiccups. I have written earlier about my hiccups after the stroke. It is quite bad. This time it lasted about 2½ days. Earlier it used to last longer and more continuous and more intense as well. It has gotten slightly better over the 4½ years. When I am in the "hiccups zone" now, it typically starts soon after I am fed, lasts for about 1½ hrs and stops . Soon it will be next feed time and the cycle starts again. Usually the nurses quickly become immune to it and they get the pattern. However, both my current nurses are new and I had not been in a "hiccups zone" after they had started. They both got replaced at around the same time and did not have the benefit of knowledge from the other person. Naturally, they assumed it would go away as per normal. When they saw it not going away quickly and it was comi

I watched on TV today a dignitary of one country visiting another country - friendly countries. They gave a grand reception. It was a " Red Carpet " reception. Needless to say - everything was Red. The carpet, some clothing draped here and there etc . I was thinking about this. Why is it " Red " Carpet? Everything we do and associate with "Red" isn't really friendly. Red lights means stop. Red flag means war, red flags mean alerts/ alarms. Red status means things are not going well all the way to an uncomfortable to speak profession being carried out in a Red light area. So why do we use Red? I tried to look into it online. Surely, there must be some concrete rational that I don't know. Actually, there isn't. A common and general explanation I found is Red is majestic and grand and hence is used. "In which age" I ask? Maybe couple of centuries ago, when tyranny was respected, wars and agression was prevalent etc. Right now we are loo