Life Lessons from C&H

http://www.policymic.com/articles/42731/10-life-lessons-from-calvin-hobbes

Now, this is something I wish *I* had written! :-)
Some of these lessons are bang on target...

PS: Hat tip - FB Friend. 

Mobile-Mania

(C) Bill Watterson - Calvin and Hobbes

This...is exactly why it is dangerous to rely on mobile phones for building nascent relationships. The imagined accountability of the person being called tends to infinity. Even amongst well-established relationships, if the people involved are unreasonable, highly demanding, psychologically challenged (unable to understand others' priorities, pressures, preferences etc) or paranoid, it leads to more misunderstandings than it leads to the strengthening of bonds. Not to forget, the icing on the cake of confusion are network issues, incorrect service provider messages, the mysterious reachability question, audio break-downs, over-reliance on the tone of the voice and no visibility of expressions and gestures. Ha ha ha. Did someone say we are better connected after the mass adoption of mobile phones? Tsk. Tsk. :-)

The Dawn of Realization

(C) - Bill Watterson

Knowledge is indeed paralyzing. You know anything that can change will change and that means you can rarely declare anything in a dead-sure way. You know there is no single truth and that means you can rarely anything in a dead-sure way. You know people can change their minds any minute with or without reason and that means you can rarely declare anything in a dead-sure way. You know what is meat for one man is poison for another and that means you can rarely declare anything in a dead-sure way.

If you zoom out for a bit and catch the world's compressed timeline, I guarantee (paradox, eh?) that you'll discover a clear pattern of people swinging from one extreme to the other at irregular intervals. What is inevitable change for some is annoying inconsistency for others because each of us thinks and operates at a different level and is in a different context. At any given point of time, there is a school of thought that believes deeply in something and another school of thought that dismisses the very same idea as absurd and impossible to accept. This holds good for almost every idea out there, be it religious, psychological, political, economical, commercial, social, medical and even the so-called scientific and mathematical ones.

In the last few days, for example, I have seen different people argue passionately for and against the same ideas. A leading business publication has two contradictory articles in the same edition, one that proposes leadership is replaceable and another that says it may be indispensable. With a lot of people arguing in favor of leading passionate lives, someone suddenly pops up and says passion may be dangerous. While many people believe that meditation is good for the mind and body, out comes someone, with data, to prove it can be dangerous. A scientific research proves that a particular food is good for health and another research says the same food can have harmful effects. A section of people believes a man is determined by his thoughts and another section believes it is better to just be.

For those holding on to both sides and playing a confusing tug-of-war on themselves, things are likely to be stressful after a while, unless they are crystal clear about the criteria to use for eventually adopting one of the views. Picking up one view and using it in moderation is a good strategy. Individual experimentation and openness to what emerges is a good strategy.

If you are a leader, being able to communicate your moderated approach and criteria may be critical. Not categorically declaring things means people may not take you seriously or may believe you are clueless. Therefore, they may not align themselves with what you need them to contribute to. However, let's not forget that these are dilemmas that arise only when talking about a certain category of perceptions, ideas and approaches. A leader would be expected, at the same time, to provide invariable and dependable support and commitment to a well-considered goal or value.

PS: I, honestly, did not start out with the intention of making this a dizzy-sounding article. I planned to stop after the first paragraph and look for something humorous to end it with. Look what I ended up writing! I'd rather settle for some ignorance and action.....for it is a blissful combination, uh? ;-)

Bliss & Learning

I wonder if there is any other cartoonist on Earth who can say it so well. :-) Three cheers to short-term stupid self-interest. None of us need to be trained on that. 

The Nonsense of Laughter

Calvin and Hobbes - (C) by Bill Watterson 

There's something profound about this cartoon strip (like many others by the brilliant Watterson). 

Watterson on TV

C&H by Bill Watterson

Close on the heels of my previous post on Kids addicted to TV....

Hehehehee

If Calvin were a dog.....

Super!

Author- Bill Watterson. Source: Gocomics.com

One of my all-time favourite strips from C&H.

Ping-Pong

Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson (C). Source: gocomics.com

I have picked up three important articles that struck a chord in the last three weeks. It has absolutely nothing to do with the C&H strip above...except perhaps that Calvin is also convinced that he has what it takes (albeit the wrong skills) to do what he wants.

1. Change yourself. Find your own mistakes first. Become more patient, accommodating, forgiving, understanding and what not. The easiest thing to change is yourself, not others. Never ever give up. It's ok to pursue efficiency, knowledge, excellence and the rest but that's your personal choice and chase, not others' pursuit.

2. Do not "take" whatever comes to you. Learn to send back the things that don't belong to you, things that you don't deserve. Free yourself of other people's baggage and burden. You do not have to defend yourself every day of your life.

3. Unconditional love exists but only within yourself. Learn to like (and forgive, as appropriate) yourself rather than expecting other people to know you and your 'wonderful' qualities. Focus on your talents and allowing them to bloom rather than wasting time in expecting others to give you room.

One of the Best

Awesome strip this. The concept, the pictures, the expressions and all that sort of thing. What would we do without C&H to cheer us up when everything else in life seems a bit - temporarily, given that we are all optimists in the long run - dismal? Uh?

Source: gocomics.com

Happy Monday, Folks

Source: gocomics.com

Big Mouth

This one makes me guffaw.

Source: gocomics.com

The Curse of the Idiot Box

This strip stabs me harder than you'd think. I seriously wish I could do something to rescue children who have been captured for what seems like forever in the sticky, useless and miserable web called Television. I know generalizations are not good for the world. TV does have its merits (Think Nat Geo, Animal Planet, Discovery, Music, Dance, Sports, Humor etc) but it, unarguably, has caused more harm than good. 

By Bill Watterson - Link

Consider this: Most channels, most of the time, air absolutely meaningless programs, serials, shows and movies. 9 out of 10 times, people watch a meaningless program rather than one that is 'nice', useful or thought-provoking. It distracts us - actually tears us away - from a lot of important and even essential chores. Parents neglect their responsibilities and children in their attempt to catch up with TV. Children neglect (and stay unaware of) the 'real' world, their studies, their friendships and what not because of their fascination for TV. Families fight over the remote constantly. House wives after being fed on a constant diet of horrible and infuriating characters through soaps and serials are subconsciously influenced to assume everyone around them are similar to these characters - or worse, they themselves begin to behave like that. Many research programs have proved beyond doubt that watching TV causes ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)....and God knows what else. Finally, I personally believe TV is one of the key reasons why most of us today are unable to enjoy 'silence' (apart from nature). An occasional humorous program for the family, a program that helps the children learn something new, a program that brings good music home etc are fine. It's up to us to draw a firm and thick line and keep ourselves from falling into this meaningless audio and video whirlpool.  

Quantity over "Quality"?

The fallacy of putting quantity over 'quality' (where quality might mean things like purpose, clarity of thinking, long-term goals etc), with a typical Calvin and Hobbes flavour.


Strip sourced from here:

By Bill Watterson

C&H on Life

If you are a Calvin & Hobbes fan, you might want to thank me a million times for sharing this. At least, that's what I'd like to do when I see the person who shared it with me! :-) @Kirti (and then @masareus)

Picture courtesy: From the page shared above

I exaggerate but this is the bestest discovery ever. What? Every C&H strip drawn by Bill Watterson, on the topic of Life, collated on one phenomenal page! Wow! 206 pages and 282 comic strips! Sigh...wish it could be downloaded as a PDF! :-| Or will someone please publish a nice book on these lines?

Too Cool for School

HT: A C&H fan and friend on FB.

Retail Price Index Vs Inflation

For some unknown but strong reason, I am in one of those phases wherein all I want to do is put up a lot of cute pictures on this hapless blog. Don't you think this one here looks utterly peaceful and serene? Had me wishing I was there too, leaning on the tree, right next to Hobbes. 

Calvin & Hobbes - Bill Watterson

PS: If you're wondering what the title of the post has to do with the contents, stop wondering. Friday madness in progress.

Life and a Couple of C&H Cartoons

Pic 1: Cartoonist: Bill Watterson (Source: Google Images) 

The last three days have been pretty busy and focused. Been staring at presentations, doing online training programs, creating and juggling slides, testing applications, thinking hard (you'd better believe me), reading up on and learning about some new topics and following up with elusive people etc. So, time for a silly, relaxed, prolonged and deliberate smile. Plus a bloggy breather like this one. 

Pic 2: Cartoonist: Bill Watterson (Source: Google Images)

Closely observe Pic 1 and Pic 2 above (by the world's best cartoonist ever). Do you see what I see? The clue is obvious in Pic 2. Give up? Hold your breath. Let me reveal my stunning, mind-blowing and overwhelming discovery. If you let your eyes swing between these two pictures, you ought to have these words popping up in your mind as you move from Pic 1 to Pic 2.


These pictures are a perfect reflection of life as a function of time.



January --------------------------------------- December
Monday --------------------------------------- Friday
AM -------------------------------------------- PM



Now that I am done with my quota of both the silly smile and the silly bloggy breather, allow me to lead you to Bill Watterson's first ever interview since 1989. Should have been a much longer one given his silence and reclusion all these years...!

Back in Circulation

Usually, when I am back after a break/vacation, I tend to be slightly jittery for the first few days just thinking about the tons of emails and work that I need to catch up with. Life is brutal to people who go on vacations. Isn't it? Makes me wonder if it is ever possible to 'invent' a vacation on returning from which one has nothing to catch up with. Or perhaps a vacation that one doesn't have to return from....err, I mean to the business of catching up and the like. I am not sure I've made myself crystal clear. So here we go again. What I actually mean is why not have a vacation that's sort of permanent and so enlightening that one either manages to drift along without any catching up to do later on or whatever? If you go on a vacation to recharge your batteries and come back only to let them be drained in no time just seeing the pending pile of emails and other such things, what's the big deal? I'm just making up for not being able to ramble last week. Ignore me.

While on the topic of vacations and catching up, have you noticed? When you come back to see what has changed with the world, you are, more often than not, likely to be staring at a situation wherein every single thing (that you are not so interested in but will however have to catch up with) except what you really, desperately, wanted to see some progress in, has progressed at a phenomenal rate. Sigh. I told you. Life is brutal to people who go on vacations. 

But when one gets to read a hilarious and yet thoughtful cartoon strip by one's favourite cartoonist amidst the tons of other - mostly boring - emails waiting to be read, the act of think-laughing or laugh-thinking (Yikes, the term doesn't sound so creative. Reminds me of something to do with fixing erroneous machines) releases all or most of the tension and puts the ugly smile back in its place. Eh? So, here we are. Ugly. Smiling. And All.

Pic: Gocomics: Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

Two Thousand Ten Things

Pic sourced from here

Happy Holidays, Folks! Merry X'mas and Happy New Year in advance! :-)

PS: I spotted this charming cartoon today, for the first time ever I think, while searching for a good C&H Yahoo Group to join. It's quite surprising that I don't recall seeing it before. Obviously, Watterson himself drew this. Two things that intrigue me about the pic - One, I'd have thought Hobbes would appear to be as alive - be a real Tiger - to Watterson as he is to Calvin. Two, Watterson's ability to see Calvin as something that transcends his (Watterson's) identity as a cartoonist and not as a 'proud' creation but as an idea that jumps at him from 'outside' is admirable.

BTW, here's some unsolicited, borrowed (some...not all...ok?), random, unorganized, impulsive, holiday-mood-inspired advice....the more of these ideas you pursue, the better.

Enjoy your work, enjoy your life, be good, dance and laugh like a kid, sing as long as it is not cacophonous or..wait.... just go ahead and take the risk, laze around if you have to, be genuine, be straight forward and honest, write some profoundly silly poems, play with colours, run with the dog, tweet and chirp with the birds, scream out loud for no reason, make faces at yourself in the mirror, pretend to be the world's CEO, talk utter nonsense, find something great to do, ignore or learn to handle the trouble-makers, forgive more easily, see things from another person's perspective, smile a lot, pay attention to your physical health, mind and soul, read something hilarious, help someone on an impulse, learn something new, inspire yourself, inspire a sad soul (obviously a captive audience), listen to the hitherto inconspicuous rhythm in your favourite song, travel somewhere new even if it's just a few blocks away from your house, pray for someone who needs divine intervention, listen to your conscience, stop asking "what's in it for me" when you help others, stop calculating the cost (financial) of everything you do, cook a new dish and brush off a speck of dust from your apron when people say it looks life-threatening, break a bad habit, forget your worries, believe that you deserve some cool miracles in 2010, rescue someone from yourself (very very important), watch a squirrel eat, take deep and long breaths, trust yourself, do something different, be original, do something courageous, focus on something with intensity and concentration, look for the funny side of everything, stay optimistic, take your own decisions, claim your freedom, stand up for your values, respect everyone, appreciate existence, watch a tree breathe and exist, be still and travel within...... (Does this add up to two thousand ten things? I am too lazy to count but something tells me it does! He he)

Guidelines: Report progress to me in a month's time. Reports should be in Times New Roman, Font Size.12, With Subject Line as "Two Thousand Ten Things to Do in Two Thousand Ten". Attach a photograph or two for evidence but make sure it doesn't scare me out of my wits while at the same time noting that I am a person whom it is easy to scare out of her wits. Testimonials from people around you will fetch an extra mark or two. However, if the testimonials sound too good to be true, a lot of marks will be ruthlessly deducted. Total marks obtained cannot exceed two thousand eleven. (One extra mark for attempting to contest in this bizarre, er, contest). The winning entry will be added to this blog under the "Inspiration! Influence!" section and will find a place alongside other ordinary people like Gandhi, Shakespeare, Einstein et al. Run now! Or should I say 'slow down!'?