The World Isn’t a Happy Place..

Don’t ask me why. You know it isn’t.

In the last few days I’ve been here in Coimbatore. I had a lot of things pending to get for my upcoming game development course. I wanted to get a Lunch box, a College Bag, a lot of forms and photocopies I should take for the first day of my school (Yes, school — That’s what me and Chetna call it). This post is just my ramblings in the past one week, skip to the last part if you just want to know what I really wanted to tell.

So, for the past two days, I’ve been roaming around the city buying t-shirts, things I’ve mentioned above and since I was kind of too alone, I began analyzing the people a lot. Clearly, the World isn’t a Happy Place. Well, you wouldn’t call it as the World if its always happy, would you? You would be probably calling it heaven. Me and my parents went to Pothys, here in Coimbatore to fill up my wardrobe in my hostel for my school. I’ve been to a lot of boutiques but Pothys was something different. With good business tactics, they clearly had a notion that if you could make your customers happy, you make more money. I was surprised to see a Food stall built right inside of the cloth store where people could buy chat times, tea, coffee and soft drinks. And consecutively, there was many surprises such as an announcements for muslims that they can go down to the basement where the management has prepared special arrangements for their prayer, a fancy store where girls can buy perfumes, fancy jewelry, and even teddy bears? The most shocking part of the day was that they had a full fledged super market at the basement to make customers get everything they want from the same place. In addition, with advertisements about giving a free coinbox/piggybanks for kids to save money, they give those to every customer based on their bill amount of their shopping goodies. It’s kind of weird to see people get more happy to get the “free” piggybanks, than the clothes whey bought with the money they “paid” for. The thing is, You make people happy, you earn more money. You give small funny things for ‘free’, people ‘buy’ more stuff. Makes sense. When the guy who would have proposed these ideas at first to the management must have been considered crazy, but when they actually implemented and looking at its success, they must be calling him awesome.

And of course, there’s a different kind of people, who use that technique too much, which sometimes could be evil. Yesterday, I went to a temple at R.S Puram named Kamaakshi Ambaal Temple. I’m usually don’t like to go to the temples because of all the evil I see there. I’m a very firm believer of god, but I don’t believe all those superstitions which doesn’t make any sense at all. Whenever, my mom says something superstitious, I’ll alwyas ask the reason why. I very well know that every superstition created by our ancestors must definitely have a strong reason behind it. But in today’s culture, only the superstitions live, whereas the reasons do not. Even the ancient poet, Thiruvallur, he’s one of our ancestors right? In all the 1330 thirukkurals he wrote, he has mentioned god only as “Kadavul” (which means god in Tamil) and not by any name of a god. Looks like he also believed in one god. The temple, I went yesterday, is situated amidst the center of one of the most popular areas in Coimbatore. There’s a lot of crowd, we couldn’t park our car there. Using the people as an advantage, the temple authorities have placed various idols of various gods, making it look like a real business. There’s Iyappan, there’s Guruvayyurappa, and there’s more sacred special gods who can be worshiped only in several places. I got real angry with it, I asked my dad and my mom why is it so. My mom answered we should be thankful for that, as this temple contains all the gods in one place. I couldn’t get it, a person who is really dedicated and worshiper of god, would actually go to the sacred place where the god is meant to reside, just like my friend Dharani goes every year. If people really want, their god to be portable, why not have an app for that in their smartphone and a picture of that god in their pockets. Okay, I may be somewhat wrong here, because it’s actually a good habit to visit temples as they actually free our minds and give peacefulness but wait. While we were going around each idol, I noticed a gurukkal (the guy says mantras) was actually was not even seeing the god, and he was chanting the mantras to the wall and worse, he was even yawning while saying. I got extremely crazy on seeing all this. I wanted to move out fast, it wasn’t like a temple at all. Furthermore, there was one guy dressed a saint, sitting over a cloth textured like a tiger skin. I asked my mom, why they cheat people with fake tiger skin, why not use real tiger skin instead? She said its against the rules of the government to use those. Then my doubt was, why can’t that guy sit over some ordinary cloth instead of having a cloth with a tiger skin texture. Then I saw the main deity of the temple, The Kamaakshi Ambaal but I couldn’t find her name anywhere near it, since there was a big board “Sponsored by some XYZ Bank” hiding the god’s name and the people don’t even seem to care about it. And if I say, that people don’t respect God as they should, they would find me crazy!! Then I started looking everywhere, and everywhere I see, it was some marketing technique to make people pay more and more! It’s just pure business inside that temple and I believe many places are the same. I felt like even if I took an idol and built 4 walls around it, the stupid people would actually believe it and start paying me. Some of the women were busy seeing other women’s dresses and jewels they were and the people around them, than praying to god. Even the jasmine flower knitters run their businesses well because of these ignorant people. So, you give people peacefulness and a portable god, they give you money. And the people who believe true facts and true god, will be considered crazy, whereas the people who built temples to earn money, are called great.

When I was really young, I used to watch the anime named, Dragon Ball Z. It was one of my favorite anime that time, me, my bro and my neighborhood friends all used to watch it a lot. There is a character named Vegeta(click here to see him), who along with the other baddies wearing a pink glass device on one of their eyes. That device, would actually help them to track other guys, their powers, show routes and more. Even on the first day of seeing, I fell in love with it. From that day on, I wanted to create something just like that we can use in our daily life, that can help track things, show routes, show the daily temperature and more. When I was small, I had no idea how and what to do to actually make something like that. I used to share my ideas to my friends that I wish to create something like that and they would call me as a loosu or a crazy one. Days went on, when I was in my tennis class, I used to virtually imagine in my mind and track the ball with a wire like path, where it is going and where it would pitch on the floor and where I could hit. I kept practicing that, and eventually, even without my knowledge I started imagining thoses path in front of me. It was really head breaking at first, and because of my time thinking to create that stuff in front of me, I even started to miss hitting the balls that my trainer used to rally me at. That was my first augmented object I created in my imagination to fit my real life. As I grew up, I wanted to take it a further level. When me, Prince, Freddy used to play soccer (football) at our school, I redesigned my interface in my mind, just like it looks like a big plus sign, focusing on the ball where the guys are hitting at. At school, we were learning, physics and math those times and so I used to try to imagine what kind of equation would actually fit that equation, what that projectile would look like. And even while I run, I used to imagine levels of speed, a counter to count the number of seconds (even today, some can see me counting my fingers when I’m running) I take to finish my destination. I began getting a lot of data from myself and that actually bench marked me to do better next time since I was having solid statistics recorded in my mind when I do some sport. During my 12th holidays, I wanted to make even more out of it. I used to listen to a lot of music, and I so I created my own music player in my mind named “Avozine”. I loved how that music player looked and so, I wanted to really make a software in the real world out of it. I made the basic design with the very little Photoshop knowledge I knew in those days, and its remains can still be found here. But due to the lack of knowledge, I dropped that too but the music player in my mind has evolved so much better now. I loved the concept what I was doing, I tried to create an application in my mind for everything I do. I started setting up themes, with colors based on month, with importance to a close friend who has his/her birthday on it. As I started growing even more, I wanted to name those systems with version numbers and so I started with Parithi OS v1.0. I tried to integrate everything creatively in my mind as beautiful and unique as possible, but I always wanted to share that interface with my friends. I used to tell my friends, that I can see those things in front of me, their happiness levels, their speeds, the objects in front of me etc, but everyone even the close ones, used to make fun of me and think I’m just crazy and I’m trying to live like a robot. When I was in my 3rd year, I was learning Adobe After effects, a visual effects software I loved a lot. Eventually, I got a tool to actually create what I see and add it to the real world through a video and show people how it feels like. When I was in Parithi v3.8.2, I made a video with what I know, and this is what I came up with. I couldn’t exactly create what I see but I could at least show ‘something’ which shows what it was all about. Yes, as some of you who play a lot of futuristic games, may be knowing, its called a Heads-up display. It comes in many movies too but I’m not sure why people didn’t try to invent it for real as a normal person could. With the video I made, there was very very poor response, my cousins laughed at it, my friends said it was nice, some wanted to learn how to make these kind of videos, no one was actually interested in what it was actually about. The world was definitely not a happy place for me, it was sick. In my view in those days, the people were interested only in making their lives better, they wanted to do what they wanted to do. There was no appreciation for creativity, something which is new and something that could make others’ lives better. I used to tell about my interface to Arumugam, he may have thought me as crazy but he never actually said it to me like others did. Then finally in my 4th year, I decided to stop thinking about it, I kept my Parithi OS to myself. I kept building it, part by part, as advanced and intuitive as possible. I used to close my eyes and process so much data inside it, that people would actually think and laugh that I’m sleeping while sitting or standing when I’m in the bus. In order to rectify that, I tried hard how I could fit that full interface into the real world. I started looking out for big black objects when I look and imagine that interface there, and process on it. As days passed by, I kept it evolving, soon blurring the background of the real world and fixing the interface in front of me. And when I was about to go to office, I didn’t want to blur the background either. I could fit the whole interface in front of me, with very less headache, inside the real world itself. Thanks to inspirations, I obtained from the games such as NFS shift, Split/Second. With continuous tiring practice, it became something very remarkable and a useful innovation that I created it for myself. Now I can see name tags near my friends faces, their happiness levels, a thinking box which can even popup out what they are thinking, the time, temperature of the day, what my day’s tasks are, how my health is performing, and what things I should remember. Something that started with a projectile of a tennis ball in my class, changed into something I can’t live without. And well, with all this interface in front of me, I can’t stop talking about it too. I know people are going to laugh when I say these stuff are in front of me, and so I made it as a joke itself. I used to make fun with Chetna, Ishwarya, and Boo Boo (Abi) that I see these things in front of me and making themselves think I’m a robot talking robot language. I can’t do the same with boys, well you know what will happen if I do. Nonetheless, I love the interface and I know if the people had the power to see what I see they would actually fall in love with it. There’s this movie named Bridge To Terabithia, in which AnnaSophia Robb stars as Leslie, a character who imagines magical creatures are in front of her by keeping her mind wide open, and she has a friend who tries to realize the the same with her friendship. I’m still in search of that person who wouldn’t think I’m crazy and what I see is something which is real, and you can see it only if you believe in it by keeping your mind virtually wide open. I know some of the people are like me, having their own HUDs, having their own imaginations trying to make their innovations real. I still wanted to make that device, Vegeta has and I want people to feel the world like I do.

The World isn’t a Happy Place, and it’s Crazy Place too..

Suddenly, in the past year or so, some guy/group like me had actually invented this device (sort of), and well, Google bought it. Google now owns it as Google Glass, its a device that you can use to see routes, explore places, show calls and notifications and more, right in front of your eyes with a special device connected to your spectacles. And the people actually go crazy for it. WTH!!! Believe it or not, an Idea that I and many have been telling the world that it would be awesome with such kind of technology — is made fun of, laughed at, and considered crazy. Whereas, when the people actually see that stuff in real, they call it awesome, mind-blowing and what-not, they actually become crazy for it! Seriously, what is this world anyway. Well in my point of view, Google Glass is something of a first step towards what me and many had thought it would be the future and I’m sure it is. If I had the money, and mainly if I had the knowledge about electronics, I would have seriously jumped into this futuristic business. If people are so damn crazy about the little 1% of what they saw through Google glass, just imagine an interface that every human would be mind-blown to see, and live without, is given to their eyes.

With Google Glass, still yet to reach the public, I don’t think it will reach bigger success. I believe such a technology will only survive, if its affordable, transparent, light weight, not-so-crazy looking, not disturbing to others, and seamless to user can make its way through the people. That device should also be something that people cannot live without and it should be something shouldn’t disturb or affect the real life. Maybe in the future, with the help of my only friend dolly in electronics (Boo Boo — Abi), and business partners (Prince) who loves to invest in research, I can actually create this device (in an incredibly thin form using the power of VLSI and other technologies that Boo Boo told me about) and make it available to the public in an affordable way that will definitely change the world. I think its the most ultimate innovation I have ever dreamed of. To me, the world is crazy, and to the world, I’m the crazy one, and to you, I wish to share a quote (I even wrote in it in my whiteboard in office once) made by Apple Computers (who have already changed the world, thanks to my mentor, Steve Jobs),

“Here’s To The Crazy Ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble-makers. The round pegs in the
square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules, and they have
no respect for the status-quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the
human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world — are the ones who DO !”

I’m On The Road To Become The Greatest _____, And I Won’t Quit Until I’m “№1”

This was the actual title I wanted to keep for this post as I had decided two months ago, but due to the lack of space, it came down here. Anyways, Today August 3, 2013, I’ve finally managed to reach v15.0 (But I call it to myself as v3X5 — as it’s a product of my birth date and birth month), with a focus to entirely see things different unlike never before with a strong focus to accomplish my dream with more fire within me. Actually, I have no other choice, I destroyed my life given by god, by myself, it’s now completely my turn to write it my way.

Today, I just got my Parithi logo printed t-shirt, one of my childhood dreams came true, and I’m stepping one more into the future. Of course, I’m extremely afraid and I have a lot of fear of what is going to happen to me, whether I can succeed in my dream or not. Failing is twice as fun than winning, it gives me a lot of more to know what I should do next. I don’t actually read books written by great winners, because I don’t want to win it their way and I want to it my way. Whatever, it is, I’m not going to quit trying. I will strive hard to my best, if not for me, I’ll do it for my friends, who have a lot of faith in me, that I can actually do it, the ones who support me and carry me forward. I wrote down, “№1” for the countdown on the day before my last day in office, no one actually knew why, and here’s the answer in the above subtitle. The line is a lyric in one of my most favorite songs — “Viridian City” (click here to listen to the song), — one of the Pokemon Jukebox songs, as always the Pokemon story always matches my life very well — where Ash Ketchum, the main character catches pokemon, I catch friends.

With this, I am going to catch my train and my dream, I’ll be joining the Game Development class on August 5th, 2013. And oh, by the way, I also wanted to tell, if the World isn’t a Happy Place, make it own. You don’t need to think, you don’t need to cheat, you don’t have to do anything difficult to make that happen. All you have to do is Smile. Keep smiling, and keep on smiling, make others around you smile for no reason, even if it takes, you being called stupid. And if you do, and if everyone around you do, the world will definitely be a Happy Place one day….