--- On Sun, 16/11/08, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> From: Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time > To: [email protected] > Date: Sunday, 16 November, 2008, 12:02 PM > On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 10:36 AM, Udhay Shankar N > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Mohit (मॊिहत) wrote, [on 11/15/2008 9:05 > AM]: > > > > > I need to learn how to use chopsticks...and > swimming...and > > > dancing...and smiling while stabbing someone. > > > > That reminds me of all of the various things that I > will do When I have > > The Time (small unrepresentative sample follows) > > > > * Masters degree in cryptography > > * Learn Perl > > * Find those treasured old college ripped jeans and > lose 2 inches around > > the middle so I can wear them, dammit > > * Krav Maga > > * Finish off my TBR pile (~200 books at last count) > > * Get back to reasonable fluency in French > > * Meet up with all the several dozen friends with whom > my primary > > interaction these days is occasional phone calls > saying "we MUST meet" > > > > Share yours, o wise ones? > > > > This has the makings of a[nother] monster thread. > > > > Well, seriously though, here's what I'd like to do. > > 1) Really study history - not make jabs at it. > 2) Learn three languages - one European, one Asian and one > Indic > 3) Do the east coast of India bike trip. (I've done > about a third of the TN > coast, though not on one trip) > 4) Go from Madras to London on the bike > 5) Sleep > 6) Learn to decipher old tamil/grantha/brahmi scripts. Work > with the > Epigraphical society/ASI in TN > 7) At least make a list of books that I have not read > > > C Do you want to know a lot about history - and that's vague enough as it is - or do you want to be an historian? Those are two hugely different categories and states of being. Regarding your list of books, what books? Fiction, non-fiction, academic, belles-lettres....Unless you're reasonably sure what you want to read, how easy or difficult is it to make a list? Just a silly, very silly example: Just taking up the influence of Gramsci on latter-day Marxism and how it seagues off into Derrida and deconstruction as a literary and philosophical tool, and the links with subaltern studies, could take a lifetime in itself. So would a sociological and historical analysis of Georgette Heyer. Or one could just curl up with a good book and to the devil with the serious stuff. My humble tuppence, which may be worth less, is that one needs to focus fiercely to get anything intellectually or academically useful done within a single lifetime. And it usually doesn't work even then. Did you read history in college by any chance? bonobashi Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/
