Have you been following the saga unfolding at Jaipur Literary Festival?

I’m not so much outraged as mildly bothered. The way it all panned out ought to not come as a surprise to anyone. (That doesn’t mean it is right. Those for whom this is detestable must express outrage–and they are.)

I instead took the time to create some memes: One, two, three, four. (more to come)

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The line between humour and patronizing is fine. My intent and content often fall on its opposites sides.

The good news? Last week’s solar storm didn’t cause much damage and led to spectacular auroras.

The bad news? A bigger one is headed our way.

A couple of months ago, I wrote about how the earth might experience frequent coronal mass ejections in 2012.

There’s one coming our way on the 21st or 22nd, depending on where you live. The poles will witness gorgeous auroras (different from Gorgeous Aroras, a fraternity in South Delhi) but we know little about the potential damage in terms of communication and satellite failures.

Now is the time to tell your loved ones how much you really hate them.

Where am I?

I’m in India now–a slightly longer visit for three weeks this time. This one’s for flying. Kamshet, a place about an hour from home, has perfect paragliding sites. I drive to Kamshet everyday in the morning, wait for good winds, fly if I do get those, and return home exhausted. I love it.

A short visit to Kerala also happened. You already ought to know this: Kerala is one of the most beautiful places in India. The greenery and easy access to nature had me. I had one fascinating encounter there that I want to tell you about. (Like, not now. Later.)

All this is one reason why the blog hasn’t been updated. The other, more relevant reason, is that I’m finding it hard to give a fuck about things happening around the world. As a fantastical new year wish, I want you all to experience not giving a fuck about everything happening in the world.

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The Ecuador travelogue: It is 60% done, and it shaping up well (say those who are proof-reading it for me). Completing it is the first thing on my mind when I find the time–not because I promised it, but because I very much want it chronicled for myself. I hate to keep teasing you with only the fact that it was quite an experience.

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Meanwhile, here’s a friend who made this video of his flying stint at Kamshet earlier this last year. Check out the stunning views and the surreal experience that is paragliding. (And unlike a friend please don’t reply with, “He could’ve chosen better music.” It might be a debate to be had but that’s not the point.)

While I finish the travelogue, enjoy this:

Like you, I watched the reactions to Kapil Sibal’s alleged dream of pre-screening the internet. It was easy to see that some of the reactions were at most paranoia. Sibal sat down with Karan Thapar on Devil’s Advocate a couple of days ago. Watch it if you are interested in the issue.

Free speech absolutists such as I will have some disagreement with Sibal but he is by and large reasonable. And that is important to acknowledge. At best this is a disagreement where one side (I) is not in control and the other side is in control but not being outrageous.

I can live with that.

Those five words are perhaps the most important life-lesson I have learnt recently. I don’t need to give a fuck about everything. I don’t need to be paranoid about everything that isn’t exactly how I want it to be.

And I don’t need to jump in with a pitchfork every time someone deviates from absolute free speech.

Sam Harris interviewed psychologist Daniel Kahneman. Daniel has an interesting scientific perspective of happiness.

Sam: How should the split between these two points of view affect our understanding of the good life?

Daniel: Some conceptions of the good life take the Aristotelian view to the extreme of denying altogether the relevance of subjective well-being. For those who do not want to go that far, the distinction between experienced happiness and life satisfaction raises serious problems. In particular, there appears to be little hope for any unitary concept of subjective well-being. I used to hold a unitary view, in which I proposed that only experienced happiness matters, and that life satisfaction is a fallible estimate of true happiness. I eventually concluded that this view is not tenable, for one simple reason: people seem to be much more concerned with the satisfaction of their goals than with the achievement of experienced happiness. A definition of subjective well-being that ignores people’s goals is not tenable. On the other hand, an exclusive focus on satisfaction is not tenable either. If two people are equally satisfied (or unsatisfied) with their lives but one of them is almost always smiling happily and the other is mostly miserable, will we ignore that in assessing their well-being?

Rightly, Sam then brings up self-deception. No discussion on happiness is complete without talking about the biggest factor that hinders the honest introspection of happiness.

Sam: To what extent to do you think true self-deception (as opposed to simple bias) exists?

Daniel: I don’t know how you expect to distinguish true self-deception from simple bias. Suppose you like someone very much. Then by a familiar halo effect you will also be prone to believe many good things about that person—you will be biased in their favor. Most of us like ourselves very much, and that suffices to explain self-assessments that are biased in a particular direction. You will believe these biased assessments regardless of whether they are about you or about someone else. We resist evidence that threatens our positive image of people we love. And perhaps we love ourselves more intensely than we love most (or all) others. When does this become self-deception?

A discussion on happiness can go on for hours leading to nowhere, as I recently found while talking to a fellow traveller in Ecuador. But more on that in the travelogue. I promise it is coming up soon.

While travelling, happiness is the most discussed topic — in that I bring it up in conversations. I like to understand how others interpret the word and what it means to them in their lives. Visualize a scale with two extremes being actively seeking happiness and passively receiving it. I find that fellow travellers often like to reach out and seek happiness actively — indeed that is one reason why they are travellers. Most of the other interactions I have happen with those who are closer to the passive end of the scale.

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I’m looking forward to reading Daniel’s Thinking, Fast And Slow. I have read a bit of philosophers and spiritual people talk about happiness. It will be interesting to hear what a psychologist has to say.

Sawai Gandharva is an annual event of Hindustani music that we Punekars tend to believe is like Woodstock — only held every year with no topless girls. Actually there’s nothing in common between the two besides the wonderful music.

Among the strangest things I read was that Shankar Mahadevan performed at Sawai last week. Strange because Mahadevan is not a pure classical singer. The Sawai audience consists of purists who do not take well to anything that isn’t, well, pure.

Here are two videos of Mahadevan performing at Sawai: One and two. Judge for yourself.

On second thoughts, don’t. Yes it is possible to write a long critique of the performance. But it was enjoyable — which is all that ought to matter. No?

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That day, Mahadevan’s performance was followed by Pt. Jasraj. I imagine purists counted it amongst the worst days of their human existence.

What a wonderful world:

Here is Times of India’s report on the Kolkata fire incident that killed 89.

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Being enraged seems useless, offering condolences to relatives or peace to deceased seems pointless, questioning India’s rise to economic stardom seems orthogonal, mentioning India’s lack of respect for human life seems banal.

The bright side is a few hospitals will reevaluate their fire safety standards. That’s all we have to show for it.