My ears pinpoint (a little literally too, because i can move my pinna), eyes narrow, brow furrows, whenever someone begins a sentence this way in an otherwise boring conversation. Suddenly, i am all ears. I want to know what the study studied, what it found. Was it peer reviewed? In what population was it conducted? Could they reproduce the results? My earliest goal in life was to become a scientist. I thought it meant inventing things. From third to seventh grade, i nurtured this dream. I built a laboratory in the yard (not even inside the house, mind you). It was just two small walls made of stones stacked one on top of the other. An old shawl of my mother's spread on top of it for roofing. Every evening, i would light a candle there, (i'd probably seen some pictures in Balarama Digest or something of old scientists literally burning the midnight oil. Also, it was dark out.) and grind stones, leaves and flowers in a chiratta add some Ponds face cream to it, apply it on myself to see what happened. Sometimes it itched. Sometimes, nothing happened. December nights were colder than now. We used to bring branches of casuarina trees to decorate as a christmas tree and after we took it down, after new years, it was around this time - first week of January - that we burned the old, discarded tree. Its leaves - or are they called pines? - would have dried by then. It smelled lovely. Childhood is such a treasure.
I still don't know where i got the idea to be a scientist. Nobody in my family was a science enthusiast. Families are funny that way. Once in a while, all the genes mix and spit out something outlandish as far as they are concerned.
In school, in eight grade, when our subjects changed from 'Science' to 'Physics, Chemistry, and Maths', i knew almost immediately that it was a 'Physics Reader' that i wanted to be. I had recently learned that universities had something called a 'Reader' which sounded way cooler than 'Professor' to me. Also, i wanted to show off to my classmates that i knew the word. 'What do you mean a reader? A reader is just a person who reads, right?' One of them would ask me, and i, careful to be kind, not braggy, would explain - that was the idea. No one asked.
So the thing is, under some Facebook post, a friend had shared a study which had some findings regarding new year resolutions and such. It was behind a paywall and he had sent his copy to me or something like that. It mentioned something about people being more successful in sticking to the plan if they announced it on social media. It wasn't exactly this but something close. I looked for the study again but couldn't find it. When i asked the friend, he was very mysterious about it. I didn't know what to make of it but decided to test it on myself.
I make resolutions almost every year. Sometimes mid year. The most i have stuck to it is a month. Vai Vow suggested reading 'Atomic Habits'. It was interesting for a couple of chapters but then i felt guilty about reading self help books instead of good literature and stopped.
One thing i realised is that before deciding to make a plan, you need to give yourself a lot of time to prepare. To prepare for the discipline, routine etc. that you intend to implement. That is, you need to give yourself enough time to live a life of decadence before cleaning up. I didn't have much time to do that this year because the last two months of the year were packed. I had to pitch a project in three pitch fests. It was a ton of work. That i was living a crappy life for the ten other months doesn't count. It's like going on a diet. You have to stuff your face right before the day you start. So this year, i am giving myself a couple of months to prepare myself for the discipline. Here are my resolutions.
1. One hour of reading (six days a week)
2. One hour of learning new words (five days a week)
3. One hour of uninterrupted writing (five days a week) Breaking it into twenty minute laps with a five minute break in between is allowed and encouraged.
4. Two hours of house cleaning (once a week)
5. Two hours of learning a new software (two days a week)
6. One sketch a month
7. Will lock the backdoor every night before going to bed
8. Will stay up only till 2 AM at the most
9. Will write one blog post a week (in addition to the one hour of writing)
10. Follow my diet plan (five days a week)
11. Will do laundry every Sunday
12. Once the clothes dry, ironing and folding shall be done the very next day
13. Will read two non-fiction books (in 2025)
14. Will note down the expenses daily
Ahhh... how different my life would have been if i had indeed become a Physics reader. A Physics reader wouldn't be making resolutions like these. A Physics reader wouldn't have to.
Happy New Year!
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| I hope i get to buy a phone with a camera that doesn't mess with lit objects this year. |
