Law of transfer - of pieces and feelings

Heres another hair brained quasi-theory (I say quasi thoery cos its mostly based on one-off instances that i like to generalise and call reliable data!):

My line of work (manufacturing) involves a lot of numbers; Specifically, pages and pages of spreadsheets giving breakups in every which way, of quantities of pieces that are circulating in different departments at all times. These spread sheets, detailed and specific as they may be, still cause a whole lot of confusion cos by the time the tally is put down, pieces have moved from one dept. to the other and you end up doing the whole thing again after a few hours. (Yes, there may be some serious problems in the systems at my work but thats not the point right now!) So what i usually end up doing after all that research is looking at the overall figure at the end and obtain whatever little piece of mind by knowing that whatever the breakup, atleast i know for sure that x number (the total) is somewhere in the building.

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Ever since ive been in this introspective mode (i think blogs and inertia do that to you) ive come into contact with more and more people who all seem to be down on some issue or the other (notice how the above line somehow sounds credible while being no more than a general statement!) which sort of made me wonder where all the happy people are? (incase youre one of them, go to http://www.listofgoodthings.blogspot.com/ and pen some thoughts down so that we not-quite-as-happy folk can take some pointers!)

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So when the whole spreadsheet business started getting too much, coinciding with my awareness of the low / bored atmosphere around me, i began to wonder if there are some parallels to be drawn between the two.

What if there's a set amount (one final figure) of emotion - happy, sad, angry, peaceful, jealousy, pride, shame etc etc in the world. Would that mean that everyday these emotions are just being transfered from one person to the other? (if theres a total set number to be shared, anything increased for one person will cause a reduction by the same amount for the other) Flowing in and out from one another in one continuous motion.

If so, imagine the process. Imagine that every moment that you are getting happy, sad, angry, ecstatic, depressed, theres someone else, somewhere offsetting what youre feeling. Seems like a good deal no?

However, while further playing with the hypothesis, it also brings to light that while our "quota" of emotions remains fixed, more and more people are added to the equation every day. Would that imply that people would begin to feel lesser and lesser (smaller slices of the "pie") ? Im already aware of the general desensitization that we have undergone, and we blame it on T.V etc. Could the real reason be that theres simply less feelings available in the "emotion-pool?" Or maybe it means that the rate of transfer between people will be slower (like an overloaded internet server) or faster (like 8 players using multi-taps playing ea fifa 06 on PS2)? Thereby meaning that depending on the case, people will either be explosively bi-polar or victims of long periods of joy or depression. (not quite sure whether people experiencing long periods of joy can be described as victims. or can they?)

Maybe thats why people refer to older times as better times? (More for everyone)

That would definately explain why countries with big populations seem less happy or more numb (on the whole).

I suppose most sports and competitions show a clear transfer of happy and sad (think of Italy and France in the Fifa world cup finals 06). Its easy to see it there cos the transfer is instant.

Maybe, things like jokes came about to artificially boost the flow of happy. If you really think about it, whenever you go out or meet someone or talk, you always share the funny stuff. Maybe we all are just trying to put more funny and good out into the "system" in the hope that it'll come back to us sooner too. Sort of like a ripple effect. Is that where "what goes around comes around" came from?

Once again, i seem to have opened up a whole lot of questions that i'm too lazy to elaborate on.

At first i thought this theory (like my daily production reports) would give me a sense of security as it implies that whatever may be the current situation, somewhere out there, is your share of happiness thats gonna flow into your life. Nothing more, nothing less (cos the bottom line will not change) However, instead, its made me more aware that in between all the fluid times of good, is gonna be long periods of bad just cos youre experiencing someone elses share of happy! and we all want to be happy now!

All i know is that next time i'm feeling sad, i'm gonna be on the look out for the joker whose stolen my share of happiness!!

theory of chaotic harmony - the delicate balance of our traffic

This is from the paranoid part of me. (Rather, I WANT to be paranoid about it, but thick layers of oblivion prevent me from feeling it)

So its like this - Imagine a circus performer walking a tightrope, high over a pool of sharks, balancing 5 razor sharp knifes on his tongue, while running a fever. Maybe just be able to pull it off no? Now multiply it by all day everyday from now till god knows when!! - It's an accident waiting to happen right? (Ofcourse one could hope that the knifes fall and kill the sharks and the guy falls into the pool safely, while the cool water from the pool brings his fever down, but thats another story!)

Well believe or not, that is how i see our traffic (delhi) nowadays! and i cant help but muse as to just how lucky we are just to get home everyday safe.

I call it chaotic harmony cos everytime i head out, i see a road filled with irate drivers swerving and screeching and braking. Everyone judging just how deep the next guy will cut into his lane, and when the car infront will slam its breaks. It all plays out like some extremely complex dance or ritual. And somehow, it works! (For now atleast!) People get to where they have to, and we're all ok(more or less), we only have a few minor scraps and scratches on our cars.

I mean think about it. How is it that the sumo behind you passes you from the left, squeezes through the two tempo trucks ahead swerves back into the extreme right lane and finally takes a hard left turn on from the other end and still not effect our road casualty tally (by and large that is, some accidents do happen)?? Somehow, it works.

But i say "for now" cos the drivers are fast devolving from responsible motorists to intoxicated, dyslexic muppets.

I imagine it went something like this. Somewhere along the way, some idiot (and surely i cant blame one guy for the entire situation, but rivers begin as trickles blah blah) must've said "hey, everybody else's stupid, the cops are too busy having chai pakora, what if i swerve through all the lanes and break the signals. That way i can even zip at a 100. And hey that pesky last stretch for which i have to drive that extra km, screw it, i'll just go down the other way!" And now there are probably ten thousand guys having that same thought right now!!

It is only unseen forces and our knack for adaptation that has brought us so far. (Incase you're ever feeling down about your skills as a decision maker or manager, take some time to marvel at the number of split second decisions one makes literally every moment one is on the road!) Now when im approaching an intersection, i pretty much bring the car to a stand cos im expecting the joker on the other side of the road to drive onto my side. Expect the worst, most irrational, unexplainable behaviour from every driver around .. is a motto that i, along with many other "consciencious" drivers (that is, compared to others) sadly, are having to get used to.

guess what im trying to say is that our low accident rate (compared to rate of recorded and unrecorded traffic violations) should'nt be mistaken for ok traffic but rather, it should be taken as an indicator of things ahead. a situation similar to a balloon lying on floor scattered with nails.

tic tic tic tic....

When the shine fades away...

I find myself in so many places right now that its diffcult to tell what one's feeling. Sort of like the rainbow wheel (5th class science experiment not some fancy candy or amusement ride) that spins faster and faster till all you see is the colour white.

Just when i thought this blogging stuff is here to stay, (probably cos for the initial weeks my mind would be on constant "blog alert" always on the lookout for stuff that i could put down at the end of the day!) i find myself less inclined to do the same. The duration between my last entry and this are evidence enough! Unfortunately, my mind didnt' switch off (contrary to popular belief!) during this time so im left with some 50 odd semi blogable notions and thoughts....you know how it is, you're driving around suddenly "hey, that would make a great post" followed shortly by "but how would that....aw forget it!" Guess my ideas are constantly battling this feeling of mental saturation and laziness!

I do find some solace in the the discovery of my fellow blogsters (the ones who were getting swept up like me) slowing down their post rates.

Of the blogs that i do visit everynow and then, the more i read bout like minded and aged people having very different and somehow more fulfilled lives, the more it brings up feelings of things i couldve done and seen and been. Though i cant imagine what those would be cos at the given time, everything seemed to make sense as it does now. A case of the grass is greener and all that i suppose...

Anyways, my white life (i refer to the colour wheel again not a 30 something suburban banker / financial analyst driving his volvo!! god im such a product of cable tv stereotyping!!!) and the recognition of it makes me turn to the web once again in hopes to find some answers, some insight, some anything!!! Cheaper than therapy no?

Inertia is a terrible thing