When Grammar Met Clarity

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Writing has always fascinated me. It’s such an interesting aspect of communication; you can pretty much convey anything you want, in any way you want. Even a grammatically incorrect sentence can carry its full meaning. Yet, somewhere along the way, we began mistaking good communication for intelligence. “Oh, he writes and speaks so well.  He must be smart.” Good communication can create a false sense of technical pride. I grew up believing that grammatical precision was the measure of knowledge. But in hindsight, that wasn’t entirely me; it was my teachers. They were absolutely particular that every sentence not only conveyed meaning, but also respected the sanctity of grammar. A misplaced article or preposition could invite the harshest of corrections. Yesterday, my wife and I were talking about writing and as all conversations these days eventually do, it veered toward our kids’ writing. We were laughing over Sahana’s recent schoolwork: a delightful mix of humor, dialogue, and im...
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Mechanics Rolling

Back from holidays where I did nothing to school, where I am doing nothing. I think the best thing to do these days is to spend as less a time as possible in front of the computer. Obviously, what would anybody do as soon as he boots the system:
  • Open the list of email applications where he has registered
  • Since there are N email applications, sometimes it so happens that not all of them have the same password
  • Take up the challenge of answering the hint questions - its not easy you see
  • One has to find out what is happening around the world - Come on! you can't be doing research all the time
  • One has to be upto date with sports, how else will you find out how many more runs did India and pakistan score more than 600 runs in a Test match
  • Crib about the lifeless quality of pitches in Pakistan as if that's the only concern on your head right now
  • Entertainment is a key to happiness! Rang De Basanti has to be found out through reviews!
  • With a painstakingly high resolve, click on that orange icon on the desktop (Thank God, its on the desktop) to open the Matlab Editor that stutters its way amidst a lot of obstacles
  • Open Google to find something which you don't understand and then suddenly realise that you forgot to respond to your friend's mail
  • If all this is not enough, your stomach too doesn't realise the situation and goes empty
  • You run home to grab a quick meal and run back as if you are running short of time
  • Even Einstein will get a complex to see you running back like a hare
  • Your research work commenes!!!

Finally, you realise that you are not getting the right results and I don't blame anybody for it!!!

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2006 at 11:56 AM

    You have given your work in a typical day....
    Why dont you give a list of websites which you visit everyday?

    May be it will help others to do the samething as you do :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 15, 2006 at 10:43 AM

    see ...i only have to say one thing...stupidy and research are the same...we do the same actions again and again ...repeating different results all the time....

    ReplyDelete

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