Liar

Everyone of us must have lied at least at one point of time. At least, you must have lied to your kid to make him eat properly. However, we are always scared of being identified as a liar though we are comfortable with its synonyms ("a successful salesman"). The psychology and even vocabulary books classify liars into different categories.

Here I just think about those who lie habitually - just as they go. Not those who strategically or prudently lie for serious matters. I just think about those who naturally lie whenever something comes upon them. What I understand is that such a liar makes all those who are around him liars. For example, there are friends standing together in a party. The power went off suddenly and Mr. A has spilled the drink on floor. When the lights are on again, the guys naturally ask Mr. A, who is standing nearby the spilled drink, how it happened. He habitually lies that he didn't do that. Now, no one else in the group can admit the responsibility simply because they didn't do that. Thus, one habitual liar in that group has made everybody a liar to each other. This is the potential danger with the habit of lying habitually. the danger is because it happens in ordinary occasions.

The danger for the habitual liar is that he is often caught; he is also often doubted in his circle for the mistakes he hasn't committed. However, it is only with respect to those who know about him personally. Otherwise, he is potentially dangerous in portraying others as liars.

We may also have that habit hidden inside - not manifested in all the occasions, but in few. I believe that such a habit develops in us because we do not recognize the thrill in being faithful to the incident that happens in front of us. Once we start registering the incidents as they happen without allowing our feelings or thoughts to interfere, the habitual lying is likely to disappear. The key is how we register the incident in our mind - no matter whether we are invloved with the incident or somebody else is invloved. Most of the habitual liars do not have the right record of the incident in their minds - it is recorded or attempted to be recorded by their minds in the way how they wish that it should have happened. This false record or the confusion in their minds the between the original record and the desired record is exhibited as a habitual lie when it is communicated out.

It is very much important that one has to come out of this confusion or false recording of any incident. The observer should distance himself from what is observed (Zen?!). Once recorded as it happened, the observer then has the choice how to communicate it outside. He can 'choose' to communicate it how it happened or he can still 'choose' to lie. But, it is in his hands - that is the point. He no more lies habitually. Even if he lies, it is a conscious decision to do so and therefore, he minimizes the chances of being caught! Enough for this post!

Not a joke!

I have heard this joke and am not sure if it had really happened. The joke goes like this. It happened during the rule of Joesph Stalin in Russia. One of the costly wrist watches of Stalin was missing (Interestingly Stalin was a watch collector as some netizens discuss here.) He immediately alerted the police chief and asked him to trace the thief and the watch. However, after half an hour or so, Stalin could locate his watch and realized that he had misplaced it. He called the police chief to convey his regrets and stop searching. As soon the police chief lifted the phone, he informed Stalin, "We have arrested five suspects and one has already accepted that he has stolen. Don't worry. We will get your watch soon." This may be a joke. However, it has just happened in Delhi in real life.

The real story goes like this. A boy has fallen in love with a girl. The boy and girl were missing for few days. A dead body has been located by the police and the boy's parents have identified that the body was of their son. The police have arrested that girl's brother and he has accepted that he has murdered the boy. The news attracted the media under the heading of 'honor killing'. The next day, both the boy and the girl have appeared in front of the police. The boy was alive. You can read further in the following links:

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article425797.ece

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/-Honour-killing-victim-reports-to-police-station/articleshow/5910378.cms

Mervin

Eavesdrop

The dictionaries ask us to pronounce as 'eevz-drop'. The word appears to have originated from architecture. Eave is an overhanging lower edge of a roof. Eavesdrop is a small, but not very visible hole specifically designed to listen what 'drips' from the eaves. A picture of eavesdrop may be found here. Henry VIII of England used such a set up at his Hampton Court palace and appointed spies to listen what his staff were talking. These spies were called eavesdroppers.

Thus, an interesting meaning of 'eavesdropping' is derived. It is an act of listening secretly to a private conversation. I was curious about this term because the eavesdropping of telephone conversation is a serious issue in the modern age. It often makes furore in our parliaments when the phones of the members are tapped. The word 'eavesdropping' generally suits to the act when a telephone conversation between two parties is recorded or listened by a third party without the knowledge of the two who are involved in the conversation. There is another variant where one of the two parties records the conversation without the knowledge of the other. Nowadays most of the mobile phones are in the market with a feature of recording the conversation. Even if the feature is not provided by the manufacturer, we can have it by installing a software designed for that purpose.

I tried to find out from the net if it is legally allowed in India or elsewhere. Can we legally record our conversation on phone without the knowledge of the one who is on the other side of the phone? It seems that it is legally wrong unless the government authorizes to do so. Agreed. If it is recorded illegally, can it be produced to the court as an evidence against the person without whose knowledge it was recorded? It seems that it is also allowed. Perhaps the one who recorded may also be punished independently for the illegal recording. Let me search more on this and write about it in another occasion.

I came across this adage: "eavesdroppers seldom hear anything good of themselves"

The Purpose

Anything can be a starting point for learning. Knowledge is hidden everywhere especially after the information revolution. Paying attention to a pin (just a pin!), which may be in front of us, and surfing the net with a key word 'pin' will take us to different domains of knowledge. What all required is our passion for the knowledge that is hidden behind the pin. Pin is only an example. The starting point may be a book, a comment by a friend or just a spark of thought in our mind. Once absorbed by the mind, it creates a chain of thoughts leading to a kaleidoscopic path. The knowledge, thus, transforms into wisdom. Most of the times we do that, but forget to register it or lose the track. Knowledge is volatile and it just evaporates unless it is stored appropriately. I started this blog to keep track of such knowledge - probably turned into wisdom - and store it. Of course, the definition of wisdom and knowledge varies from person to person!