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mcgillianaireRules of the meme:
1. Leave a comment saying you want to be interviewed.
2. I respond with you five questions.
3. Update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4. Include this explanation.
5. Ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.
Questions from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hybrid_beast:
1. What 5 items would you take with you on a desert island, and why?
My flute, lots of pen and paper, a playboy magazine, a comfy pillow and copious amounts of rum.
I like to philosophize and spend lots of time penning down my various thoughts. The flute will aid me in passing time and expressing my feelings while on the island while the playboy magazine's role is self-explanatory. :P A comfy pillow is a necessity for the large periods of time that I'll need peaceful sleep and rum will make it seem like I'm not alive yet living through the unique experience. Nothing quite like a few pegs of rum to the tune of mozart's concerto in c on the flute on a desert island.
2. Who do aspire to be like, and why?
My dad. He was born an idealist (like me) but due to the circumstances in which he grew up in had to compromise and make several sacrifices along the way to keep everybody happy while @ the same time try and find some enjoyment in life for himself. a workaholic to the point of making me sick. the beta version of an international indian. hopefully my generation will work out to be a worthy upgrade/replacement to the old guard. i admire everything my dad stands for and has accomplished. He showed what could be made possible to a generation of relatives who were stuck in the belief that poverty was the only way through life. We have so much in common, yet at times we can be poles apart. If I could take a little bit of all his good characteristics, refine them and make them my own, I'd feel like I've accomplished my worldly dharma. :)
3. How did you come to prefer social democracy over all other political-economic systems?
There is no perfect system but Social Democracy seemed to provide enough checks and balances to ensure, that capitalism would not go wholly unaccounted for and unregulated. Ideally I would like humans to be as free as possible, and go about their lives however they choose to do so as individuals, but unfortunately the way the world really works means everything is so interconnected and interdependent, that decisions by a few individuals can affect millions of people worldwide. Social democracy came across as the only practical political-economic system that would offer just about enough space for voices from every spectrum and stratum of society to participate and more importantly, be heard so that action could be implemented. In an ideal world, I would be a cut-throat socialist but underlying realities are such that I believe it's safer to join and/or become a part of the capitalist bandwagon - and then bargain your chips once inside rather than the other way out and get trapped into no-man's land. Every system is open to exploitation because that is what humans have most often tended towards. I think Social Democracy is best equipped to offer a fairly equitable deal to the millions of expectations the people have of governments and the political system.
4. What is the most salient feature of Canada?
The weather. Right now it's warm, humid, sunny and very pleasant. Less than 5 months from now it'll be snowy, gloomy, dark and bone-chillingly cold. This country freezes for over four months every year! That's a lot of short days, sunny skies and unpleasant subzero temperatures. Either side of the extended winter is a brief Autumn (Fall) when the leaves are in the process of changing into beautiful colors and the other side with Spring when there's a brief period of consistent precipitation and muckiness around. Everything is so beautiful this time of year. The weather in Canada beats everything else to submission. Even the obsession with Ice Hockey during the Stanley Cup PlayOffs!
5. Why are Bollywood films worthwhile?
They cater to a massive audience in India. For those living a comfortable life, perhaps even one of luxury much of what comes out of Bollywood comes across as cheesy, corny and cheap entertainment. But for the millions whose lives are mired in misery and small pay, the dream world constructed by these movies offers a tiny window of opportunity for these people to escape their real world and enter one of fantasy and extravagance. It's a sad fact I too have indulged in mocking some of those rural-type blockbusters but if cricket, religion and movies are the only way for them to experience an altogether surreal experience, all the power to Bollywood. I know that when I'm in India it wouldn't be smart on my part to refuse joining in with the family and watching rather ordinary Tamil movies. In all truth however, even if the direction was pathetic they don't lack in entertainment value. :)
1. Leave a comment saying you want to be interviewed.
2. I respond with you five questions.
3. Update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers.
4. Include this explanation.
5. Ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.
Questions from
hybrid_beast: 1. What 5 items would you take with you on a desert island, and why?
My flute, lots of pen and paper, a playboy magazine, a comfy pillow and copious amounts of rum.
I like to philosophize and spend lots of time penning down my various thoughts. The flute will aid me in passing time and expressing my feelings while on the island while the playboy magazine's role is self-explanatory. :P A comfy pillow is a necessity for the large periods of time that I'll need peaceful sleep and rum will make it seem like I'm not alive yet living through the unique experience. Nothing quite like a few pegs of rum to the tune of mozart's concerto in c on the flute on a desert island.
2. Who do aspire to be like, and why?
My dad. He was born an idealist (like me) but due to the circumstances in which he grew up in had to compromise and make several sacrifices along the way to keep everybody happy while @ the same time try and find some enjoyment in life for himself. a workaholic to the point of making me sick. the beta version of an international indian. hopefully my generation will work out to be a worthy upgrade/replacement to the old guard. i admire everything my dad stands for and has accomplished. He showed what could be made possible to a generation of relatives who were stuck in the belief that poverty was the only way through life. We have so much in common, yet at times we can be poles apart. If I could take a little bit of all his good characteristics, refine them and make them my own, I'd feel like I've accomplished my worldly dharma. :)
3. How did you come to prefer social democracy over all other political-economic systems?
There is no perfect system but Social Democracy seemed to provide enough checks and balances to ensure, that capitalism would not go wholly unaccounted for and unregulated. Ideally I would like humans to be as free as possible, and go about their lives however they choose to do so as individuals, but unfortunately the way the world really works means everything is so interconnected and interdependent, that decisions by a few individuals can affect millions of people worldwide. Social democracy came across as the only practical political-economic system that would offer just about enough space for voices from every spectrum and stratum of society to participate and more importantly, be heard so that action could be implemented. In an ideal world, I would be a cut-throat socialist but underlying realities are such that I believe it's safer to join and/or become a part of the capitalist bandwagon - and then bargain your chips once inside rather than the other way out and get trapped into no-man's land. Every system is open to exploitation because that is what humans have most often tended towards. I think Social Democracy is best equipped to offer a fairly equitable deal to the millions of expectations the people have of governments and the political system.
4. What is the most salient feature of Canada?
The weather. Right now it's warm, humid, sunny and very pleasant. Less than 5 months from now it'll be snowy, gloomy, dark and bone-chillingly cold. This country freezes for over four months every year! That's a lot of short days, sunny skies and unpleasant subzero temperatures. Either side of the extended winter is a brief Autumn (Fall) when the leaves are in the process of changing into beautiful colors and the other side with Spring when there's a brief period of consistent precipitation and muckiness around. Everything is so beautiful this time of year. The weather in Canada beats everything else to submission. Even the obsession with Ice Hockey during the Stanley Cup PlayOffs!
5. Why are Bollywood films worthwhile?
They cater to a massive audience in India. For those living a comfortable life, perhaps even one of luxury much of what comes out of Bollywood comes across as cheesy, corny and cheap entertainment. But for the millions whose lives are mired in misery and small pay, the dream world constructed by these movies offers a tiny window of opportunity for these people to escape their real world and enter one of fantasy and extravagance. It's a sad fact I too have indulged in mocking some of those rural-type blockbusters but if cricket, religion and movies are the only way for them to experience an altogether surreal experience, all the power to Bollywood. I know that when I'm in India it wouldn't be smart on my part to refuse joining in with the family and watching rather ordinary Tamil movies. In all truth however, even if the direction was pathetic they don't lack in entertainment value. :)
