The Porn Industry in Crisis?

(Point 1: This is a NSFW blog. (Not Suitable for Work) Of course, I know that warning just made you read further just like the "Video is Flagged" tag actually increases the tendency to watch a video on Youtube. One of these days I am going to put a NSFW tag and make people read a boring post on Indian economy or something)

(Point 2: What with this being a momentous days for our polity, the topic below is... somewhat... unsuitable. I figured the net must be full of analysis anyway, so I might as well do my thing)

I have been extremely disturbed by the emergence of Youporn and Redtube. As I shall demonstrate below, the problems in the internet porn industry are a reflection of the troubled times we live in.

First of all, look at the names Youporn and Redtube. Both are plays on the same word Youtube which is anyway a boring word to begin with. Booble is not innovative but does merit a giggle, but on the other hand how unspiring are Youporn and Redtube! Can't they atleast play on some other thing. How is "Porn R Us" for example? Funny in a twisted and audacious way methinks. :P If anything, there are red light districts but blue films, so not to be anal or anything, but shouldn't it be Bluetube?

Gone are the times when sites had names like Milfhunter. Now that was a name that launched a new word in the vocabulary, a signal of who was in and who was not. ("In" as in... oh forget it)

That invention alone places the founder of the site in the ranks of other word inventors like Shakespeare and the black rapper dude who says shizzle, dizzle and all that.

Exhibit B. Look at the name of the actresses. It is always a Nicky, Vicky, Heather, Sandra or Nicole. As a result of this, every "dancer" from Wan Chai to Shinjuku gives these as their fake names. Another example of American standardization killing Asian creativity.

Exhibit C. The wonderment of porn is lost with these free sites. There was once a time when teenagers found a lost credit card, exclaimed hallelujah and tried it for porn. Imagine, the modern day youngsters growing up on this... this free stuff. Galling!

Exhibit D. I am getting bored of augmented assets. As they say, if they do go either way, they are usually fake. How about going natural this season? Go girl power!

Last but not the least, the days of wonder are dead. Gone are the days when one saw certain videos and thought to oneself, "Damn, they can do that!". Now it is all the same stuff. A typical outcome of our times where self aggrandisement leads to boredom. Where is the shock and awe I ask, where is the shock and ugh?

My Two Pennies

It is the admission season now and a time when only mad dogs and admission-seeking parents step into the merciless May heat of Chennai. I understand these must be stressful times for a lot of people. However, one recurring theme leads me to write this blog.

In casual conversations, I see many parents gushing over how hard their kids worked. Statements like, “He/She has sacrificed soooo much for these many years, I don’t care where he/she gets admission as long as they are happy.” Other common refrains are “This is all madness. Is any of it worth it?”, “Everyone gets an IT job, so how does it matter what we do” and so on.

These statements irritate me a lot simply because they are defeatist and escapist. True, the college admission process is a major step in anyone’s life. Given the intensity of the competition, disappointment is inevitable. Just admit things did not work out and move on! However, I find that most people try to justify their disappointment by resorting to specious claims and making arbitrary theories.

To give an example, one hears this comment quite frequently. “He tried so hard and gave his best, if after that he did not get it, then such a thing is not needed”. This is NOT how to react to your first disappointment. Remember, it is not as if that one kid alone gave his best while others were counting hair. Everyone is trying hard and sometimes, shit happens. By justifying failure, parents are setting up their kids to fail. Another such situation may come up where a project may have to be executed at considerable energy and the outcome may not be certain. According to this value system, if after all that hard work, you don’t complete the project, then it is not worth it. Then why do it in the first place? Let us just sit and work on solved problems.

The other more irritating thing is when parents wallow in pity for their kids. “How much he studied? He used to attend 6 hrs of coaching daily and sleep only for 4 hrs a day. After that he has not got what he wanted. We are soooooo sad for him.” Often the kids only know how well “all those hours of coaching” were utilized. I have always held that there is a critical amount of time one must spend taxing the mind. It is important to relax the mind. If you believe this and in the process lost a few marks, don’t bother justifying it to others. You can always fashion a suitable way for yourself or take the exam again. Just, never ever, wallow in self pity.

So if you have overly fussy parents, most probably they will not tell you some things which are necessary for every young man stepping into the real world. Let me dispense my two penny’orth of advice.

Between the ages of 18/20 to 36, life is a jungle. Make no mistake about it. There are lots of young men jostling for the little space at the top, so that may shine from the peak. To beat this, heck, even survive this rat race, is no mean task. Don’t dismiss it as a rat race that is beneath you. That is also escapist in my opinion. The rat race is a natural consequence and everyone has been through it. Expect no sympathies.

Political instincts that human beings possess, is but a natural outcome of this jostling for visibility. One of my favourite axioms regarding human behaviour is that, most human beings crave for power within limitations imposed upon them by society. Why the qualification? It is as if human beings take the limitations imposed on them by society as given, but work within that to establish their power. Curiously, few people go one step further and question the limitations thrust upon them. If they are indeed power hungry as my axiom claims then should they not be continuously subverting society? Perhaps, religion and moralistic codes are the drugs that smother the animal instincts. I mean, think about it, what prevents all of us from lusting after absolute power? To most readers, just the term “absolute power” may be distasteful intellectually. But don’t we all wish we had that?

Therefore, when young men rise up the rungs, older men are bound to feel threatened that their power will be snatched away. Some of them may be powerful. They will use it against the younger men. Don’t hate or cry about these people because chances are, in that position, you too would do the same. The way out for a young man is to play the game the way it ought to be played. Just as there will be some who will try to repress you, there will be others who may like you. Invest in those relationships. I find that the value system taught in most well educated middle class families is naive, idealistic, inconsistent and foolish.

There is another reason for politics to exist. When there are too many bright people in an environment and some sort of selection has to be made, then subjective parameters will play a greater role. Given two equally good people and for some reason the boss “feels” more confident about one, the decision has to be ascribed to politics. Is it unfair? Yes, very. Is it unavoidable? Yes, very

So is life unfair. Yes. But no one can complain about it. For we only count the times when life is unfair against us and never the times when life is unfair in our favour. Therefore, over a period of time, life is kind of fair.

Which brings me to my primary gripe. While creating pity for their children, parents set them up to fail.

Then what is the right solution? Simply, to tell the truth that “Kid, life will kick you on your balls at times. Face it!”

Peace Out.

The Extra-Curricular Scene - Need for Introspection

(This is a very IITM specific post. Please do not attempt to draw any conclusions unless you are realy well versed with the scene.)

When I heard that one of the Hostel Nites was scheduled for April 18th, I let out a whistle. I just couldn't believe it! The guys involved with organizing that Hostel Nite will have less than a week to go for the end semester examination. This is cutting it too fine!

But you could hardly blame them. They were waiting for the Lit. Soc. and Schroeter events to get over. You can't blame the Lit. Soc. Events Cores because they had to set dates which didn't clash with Schroeter or Tech. Soc. or one of the innumerable festivals. Surely, you can't blame Schroeter! That is the mother of all extra-curriculars at IITM. That is the definition of Hostel Spirit. Then why did Schroeter stretch? Well, even the mighty Schroeter needs to look at Lit. Soc., Saarang, Shaastra, Mechanica, Wavez, Amalgam etc etc. Why blame Mechanica, Amalgam et al? After all, aren't they small fests, mere two to three day affairs, nothing when compared to the bigger distractions of Institute and Hostel elections. And in all this mess, we have the coordinator selections as well! But one mustn't crib for that because the wheels of Shaastra and Saarang are too mighty and have to begin rolling in May or June!

You may counter that you are exclusively a Schroeter or a Lit. Soc. guy and therefore, this argument does not apply to you. Think again! Due to the plethora of events, schedules keep getting pushed. Therefore, you may find your event happening a couple of weeks before the exams even though you may want more time. That is why one has a Hostel Nite occurring this late!

There is a more subtle problem. In recent years, I have noticed that for a team assignment at least one more person is missing due to one of the above reasons. Worse, he/she may come late. That screws up the schedule even more and what is a one hour discussion becomes a two-three hour drag. So it becomes a ripple effect and in this madness some other nicer things are lost like the opportunity to attend the rare Extra-Mural Lectures that IITM organizes.

Ideally it would be nice if say Schroeter gets over by the last week of March. Then the Hostel Nites and then a clean two weeks for the end sems. I am assuming Lit. Soc. would have gotten over by February. Saarang, Schroeter, Lit. Soc. make for a packed calendar. Shaastra was pushing the limit but it is needed. But in our case things keep happening on and on.

Let me tell you one more thing that people never admit to but it happens nevertheless. After a good sleep you get up, all ready to attack the books, then something else springs up and that is very irritating and affects the momentum. Worse still people resort to night-outs. I hate night outs! I strongly believe it affects one's health. A night-out once in a while chatting or drinking with friends is not a problem at all. In fact, it is absolutely essential. But people actually put night-outs for exams, pass muster and feel happy about it!

When confronted with this people go into denial. I don't know what people think. The prevailing thought seems to be this: 'A few "studs" (A term which I now think is extremely misleading) can manage. Therefore, I must try to do so too'. Or 'Only if I have all this can I aspire for institute elections'. God knows what people think!

Often a crib is heard that students are not working hard enough. Bunkum! My crib is that students today are working too hard. There is a tendency in IITM to take our extra-curriculars too seriously. We push the limit and kickass. No two doubts! But my question is, is it necessary?
I wish people took more time off, just farting with friends trying to analyze and understand things. Do keep a lot of time to waste in addition to sleep time and academics time.

Do these credentials help? Yes and no. Yes because working for these events / competing for the hostel and winning gives enormous confidence, not to mention lots of Kodak moments. However, a lot of plans that are made require extreme professionalism. Other than for sports practise, no one here turns up on time for anything. If you can't assure me that basic discipline, then we can't go for grandiose plans.

Also, all these core groups are evolving into bureaucracies in themselves. You have one group to do the job and you have another group to monitor them! Interviews are held late at night for posts of coordinators. Recently, there has been discussion on increasing the minimum attendance requirement. Expectedly, this met with a lot of opposition from the student body. There the convenient villain was the Dean. However, no one seems to be reprimanding these cores for keeping interviews so late. Are we to believe that this practice has nothing to do with the bad attendance? But you mustnt blame the cores. They are stretched themselves.

This leaves the individual. The blame then is on the individual. Yes. It is tough for anyone to kill something. Cores will make grander and grander plans.(I hear the craze now is to do a MIT. Well, most of the pseud things in MIT are done by grads. Whoever has heard about MIT undergrads? My my, there must be a reason, mustn't there? And just because of the Narayanamurthy comment on 60 Minutes, when a guy passes the JEE he suddenly feels obliged to take inspiration from MIT. Well, Einsteins, we must realize the JEE of these days is nowhere near the class of the older JEEs. So stop comparing, cock up and just do whatever gives you intellectual fulfillment. That is why you are here for.)

In this kind of a scenario, the individual has to make up his/her mind. The implicit promise/expectation when you leave IIT is that you are academically competent. You could have a low CGPA and still be very good. Lots of people are uncomfortable with the quiz system, but it is still a good system. And IIT has to grade students in some way. So if you have a problem with that, live with it, but there is a lot of other things one can do. The excuse is not to put off doing any sort of intellectual activity to the night before the exams.

The biggest casualty of the one-night mug concept is the art of figuring things out for yourself. Sure, when people work for these fests they do figure out a lot of things for themselves. Agreed! But after a point the learning is incremental. That is why 2 coordships = 4 coordships = 6 coorships = Core = Insti. Sec. in this respect. Anyway, coming back to the initial issue of one-night mug: since only one day is left, people get fundaes from a group, use older question papers and pass muster. But then you lose out on studying from text books. To give an example, however good one may be in say, chemical engineering thermodynamics, if you have not read Lewis and Randall, you have definitely lost something in terms of intellectual experience.

Therefore, you define your involvement. Extra-curriculars help for bullet points but not at the cost of academic and intellectual competence. You decide the trade-offs. if you think you can't meet expectations or the expectations are stupid, don't apply, don't participate, walk out. We may love our friends and seniors but a line has to be drawn. I think the tipping point has been reached. My God, April 18th it seems... and Saarang interviews are not even over! What the fuck!

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Have been slightly overwhelmed recently. The feeling that things are going on in a totally unexpected manner… pleasantly unexpected though. Have been thinking a lot, just thinking. Some general thoughts in no particular order:

• The first time I got smashed, that is the uncontrollable blabbering smashed, was one of the greatest things to happen in my life. I strongly suspect half these prophets got their ‘revelations’ after a triple absinthe and coke. That time when you get that Fuck You attitude, that time when you start thinking so what, that time when you feel It doesn’t matter.
• This leads to my new found philosophy in life: (Please note, all these are not original more like a collection of my favourite lines from various movies, I guess mostly from Trainspotting or Fight Club)
• You are not the money you make, You are not the car you own, You are not the school/college you went to, You are not the chick you bang etc. You are simply the all-singing all-dancing crap of the world. It doesn’t matter, you were crap, organic matter, into which life was induced for some reason, some reason and that life shall be taken away again for some reason, if any. So we are propelled into an essence- less existence. But what makes this fundamentally pointless journey meaningful are the two great gifts we have: intellect and sexuality. So concentrate and satiate either one or both, things should fall into place.
• Middle class parents pile up too much pressure on their children nowadays. I feel this is an expression of insecurities induced by the widening inequalities in India. It is like if you miss out now, you are fucked son, so bust your ass out. I have this gnawing fear that increasing inequalities is going to be the biggest problem for the next generation in India.
• Pain at the correct times can be SO pleasurable. Nothing new in this, but I am starting to experience all these only now. I love that occasional drinking binge, a binge just to puke out everything you have ever eaten. The constant throbbing in the head the next morning, the pain in your stomach give a different dimension to life. That lingering feeling of nausea… then you eat and puke one last time… go to sleep, that helpless feeling… and get up. It is like starting life afresh.
• I also love to create that “Copy of a Copy of a Copy” feeling that Edward Norton talks about in Fight Club. Purposely go without sleep, induce insomnia, wreck your sleeping pattern, then when you walk around, you suddenly zone out, you are in a conversation, suddenly not, you are seeing equations on the board, then suddenly you see the sheep game… this seamless blending of reality and subconscious – one word… beautiful.
• A friend spoke about this… Get up early in the morning say 4 AM, even though you have slept late, waste time till 6-7, watch a movie, eat, then a slow numbness will begin to set in… curl into a couch with a book and you will feel sleep take over you… the sweet numbness spreading to all parts of the body… Bliss!

(Note to Friends: These are from conversations with friends. So you may find your ideas here. But you don't want to be linked to such a blog do you? :P )