Category Archives: weakness

What is Pareidolia?

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I am a huge, huge fan of Derren Brown. He is a true master of Magic & Hypnosis. A perfect trickster. In one of his latest shows, he covered ‘Pareidolia’ in brief. I finding it quite bemusing, decided to cover it in my next post. So here we go people.

Let’s first be familiar with the literal meaning of the term and who defines any term better than Wiki…

‘Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant, a form of apophenia. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records when played in reverse.’

Simply put, Pareidolia means trying to observe patterns in everything. Attaching meaning to randomness and common happenings. Having said this, I want each one of you to pause and think…aren’t we all Pareidolic?

Superstition and Pareidolia do overlap in the Indian context. And most of us like me are born philosophers-cum-pareidolics (or think ourselves to be). Others are blind followers of superstitious beliefs. We pick up a gnarled potato and claim to see Lord Ganesha vested in it. When I was 8 years old, I accidently stepped on a black stone with white markings. My gardener told me that I had disregarded the holy Lord Shiva and would have to pay the price. I couldn’t sleep the entire night, thinking what would happen to me. I was terrified. Some days later, I observed very similar stones piled up in a rivulet bed at a resort- ‘Bhagirathi Resort’ if you are so keen to know the name. Coincidentally, the resort also had a python encaged and many tourists clicked photographs, posing around the snake. I was absolutely sure that the python would coil around my neck and choke me to death, the moment it spotted me close. To my international readers, Lord Shiva is widely seen with a snake around his neck, though it is a King Cobra; to me as an infant, snake was snake…cobra, python all alike. I couldn’t shake off my ‘ophidiophobia’ till the end of teenage. Now I can pet one…Hahahaha.

There are so many other instances which I can point out. But I want all of you to share your experiences too. Tell us about similar sightings/stories in your house/ family/ locality/ school/ college/ place of work etc. so that we can have a big compilation to go through and enjoy.

 

 

Stop Staa…aa…mmering!

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Source: kidshealth.org

Source: kidshealth.org

‘If blindness is the worst curse God can give you; stammering is surely the second.’

–  Stranger I met in a bus in 3rd year of college.

‘I try to speak as little as possible in public. Not that I don’t want to, but I can’t.’

– My friend.

‘During my placement interviews, the interviewers focussed more attention on HOW I was speaking instead of WHAT I was telling them!’

– My close buddy & benefiter of this exercise.

I am not a speech therapist. Neither do I like boasting about my knowledge & experiences. The problem with me is that I did things in college and life at large which seemed insignificant at that point. Now, I want to share those insignificant learnings with you. Besides this, I had faced some similar speech problems during my stint at forced ambidexterity.

      And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;

    Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

    A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

                                                         –  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (A Psalm of Life)

I know it’s very easy to list down the following activities and how difficult it is to put them into action. Still how bad do you want change ? One of my friends was even ready to pose all nude if he could just get rid of stammering and the accompanied shyness through it! Dude, it might help!

Step 1- Accept and Expose yourself. Do not try to hide that you stammer. In fact, approach all your friends boldly and talk confidently and stammer frequently. Yes do it! Once, this shyness is overcome, look to change yourself.

Step 2- Sing songs every day, every time. Any passerby should always hear you humming.

Step 3- Adopt a sing-song voice. Don’t say things. Sing things. Probably, this would make your friends around you laugh. Laugh with them and sing with them.

Step 4- After singing melodies, turn to rap. Not the English ones. I would suggest, go for Bollywood Honey Singh raps.

Step 5- Make raps impromptu when you are alone. Self-talk in rap. Think in rap.

Step 6- Take out 15 minutes from your busy schedule and live this moment…Imagine yourself to be successful and all the media is crowding next to you. They want to hear you comment on the cricket team’s performance OR the SENSEX OR where do you plan to spend your next summer vacations. Talk to them. Entertain them, amuse them. But all this while, you won’t be stammering. You won’t be pacing too fast or going too slow.

Some of you really are poor at fantasizing. No worries. Get yourself a talking buddy, a real one. She/he could be your mom/dad/brother/sister/best friend/girlfriend/boyfriend/best friend’s girlfriend or boyfriend etc. Try not to bore her/him. Discuss nice ideas. If you are a girl, gossip!

Do this and magic will happen! A firm believer in the ‘Right to Confidence’, the most important right of every individual, I’ll end with my favourite quote.

‘Abhi bhi & kabhi bhi der nai hui’

– Nandu.