Minimalism in Life & Visual Media 「極簡主義生活」

During my last month in Taiwan, I set out on my bicycle to ride a loop of this island country. I felt the freedom to move at my own pace and stop at my own will, the lightness of being in motion and the dopamine kicks of physical exertion. It was a very liberating feeling living an unrestrained yet minimalist way of life.
「在台灣的最後一月，我去騎腳踏車環島。一路上，我可以隨心所欲停止或再啟我的腳步，因為運動而散發出的多巴胺使我愉快。無拘無束的極簡生活讓我覺得好解放，好自由。」

Apart from the generosity of people who found me a place to stay at night, I relied heavily upon the ubiquitous convenience stores particularly on the west coast of Taiwan. I was living out of a small backpack and a sleeping bag. I spent more than a year out of two backpacks, a few of the items in which still remained unused.
「除了熱情當地人的幫忙以外，我依賴隨處可見的便利店，尤其是在台灣的西岸。我只有個小背包跟睡袋。事實上我住在台灣的一年這段時間裏，我連我的兩個背包裡面的東西也沒有用到。」

Taiwan is a sort of place that makes it easy to lead a minimalist way of life. A large number of public amenities that are available free of cost helps people let go of a lot of unnecessary belongings. On the other hand, in India one would need relatively large number of belongings. I find it a daunting task to go out without a bike.「秉持極簡主義的人很舒適在台灣生活。這裡便利店還有其他的免費的服務讓人不需要很多東西。反過來看，在印度我們需要比較多東西。」

Minimalism forestalls redundancy. Even in visual media a lot of information can be absorbed with little use of visual components. Design has been making use of what we see and what we do on a regular basis to make interfaces appealing. However an artificial system needs to be smart to understand minimal gestures.
「極簡主義避免冗余。在視覺媒體上，大量資訊也得以儲存於非常小零件上。設計也使得我們日常使用上的介面看起來比較友善。人造的系統必須要足以聰明到判別人的微笑的動作。」

The more you know, the less you need.「你的智慧越大需求越小。」

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月亮忘記了 - When the Moon Forgot

今天早上我看完機米的書“月亮忘記了”。

機米的作品介紹個新種的視覺傳媒給我。他的書的內容大部分是畫，可是並不像漫畫。他的畫有比較大的角色。其實畫才是他的作品的亮點，它們的音響很大。

我以前看過他的兩本書，可是這本書的特色是它的特別厲害的想像力。我遇到過很少很感動的奇幻作品，這本書是一本那樣書。

月亮忘記了是個月球跟個小孩的友誼和冒險的故事。它的過程相當未卜。它的結末讓我起雞皮疙瘩。書裡面最後的照片是個人站在田地裡望著天空裡面發光芒的月球。那張照片是很難忘的。

This morning I finished reading Jimmy's book "When the Moon Forgot"

Jimmy's works introduced an alternate form of visual media to me. His books contents are a combination of sketches and text but it's nothing similar to a comic book. His sketches have a bigger role to play. In fact, his sketches are the highlight of his books. They are very powerful.

I have read two of his books before, but this book's special feature is its extraordinary imagination. I have rarely come across works involving fantasy that is poignant too; this book is one of those works.

When the Moon Forgot is the story of friendship and adventures of the moon and a little kid. The course of events in the book is highly unpredictable. Its ending gave me goose bumps. The last picture in the book is of a man standing in the middle of a field staring at the moon spreading its rays around. That image is really unforgettable.

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How I Should Have Traveled in Asia

「2013年5月起我開始旅行看亞洲的社區。我事後越想旅行的方式越想出不同的旅行的方法來」

Starting from May 2013 I moved constantly for months within the communities of Asia. The more I look back at it, the more the number of things I come up with which I should have done differently.

「那時我應該有做個小的自己計畫 －採訪人，查問東南亞洲的販賣人口，發現各種個的人類被那種事刺激到。我不知道為什麼我沒有做此事。我向隨意性投降，於是我捨不得做不舒服的事情。」

I should have had a side project - interviewing people, inquiring into human trafficking in South East Asia, surveying stimulants of emotions in people across various lands or something similar. I don't know why I never did any of the above. I surrendered myself to prevailing spontaneity but it only led to an increased reluctance to embrace discomfort.

「還好我沒有當志工。亞洲的大部分志工機會就是第一世界人的炫耀冒險。」

I am happy I didn't get into any volunteering project. Most volunteering projects in Asia are merely an extended leg of a first world citizen's swashbuckling summer adventure.

「旅行時我的雙極個性一陣一陣別管地害我沮喪。我本來以為這件事的理由是我的不滿足的在新加坡的工作可是其實是我的基因讓我的內啡肽程度上下。」

Throughout the travel, zaps of bipolar sulkiness kept rattling me no matter what I did. I thought it was an upshot of a highly dissatisfactory way of life in Singapore but it was actually some stupid gene in my cells messing with my endorphins needlessly.

「我很愉快我每逢有機會我去跑。」

I am happy that I ran whenever I could.

「我越探險越意識到我的限度。我的目光應該多客觀一點。我的主觀性沒有經驗而且我的主觀有時非生產性。」

The more I opened up, the more I realized my limitations. I should have been more objective in my approach. My subjectivity is mostly inexperienced and works unproductively.

「我花了太多時間觀光。對我重要的事是人類，當地（藝術）社團還有鄉下。宮殿跟博物館難得吸引我。」

I wasted a lot of time on sight-seeing. Things that matter to me while traveling are people, local (art) communities and countryside. Historical palaces and museums rarely attract me.

「我不喜歡懶惰。我開始覺得不快樂。」

I can't sit idle. I start feeling huffish.

「我應該有比較長的爬山探險。」

I should have gone on longer hiking trips in the mountains.

「再有一年不用工作的機會的話，我會做：

1）學泰拳或是一年住在偏僻的少林寺

2）做紀錄片

3）學在個體經濟裡最窮人的角色

4）社會裡兩段接口的工作「我怕這個句子很奇怪」（在另外一篇文章我要描述這件事）

5）假如各校藝術社團

6）練習跑酷」

Things I will do if I get another chance to take a year-long break:

1) Learn Muay Thai for a year/ spend a year in Shaolin temple in a remote hilltown in China

2) Make a documentary

3) Learn about the role of economically poorest sections in microeconomic theory

4) Do a job that interfaces two different sections of society (more on this in a separate post)

5) Join a small art performance group

6) Learn Parkour

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The Bookshop Downstairs 「樓下的書店」

There's a bookstore downstairs the apartment I live in. A few plastic chairs lie spare outside the entrance. A few days ago someone installed an arcade game outside the shop. People can often be seen idling away outside the bookshop. Some people read, some people just unwind in the haze of cigarette smoke wafting lazily under a tattered roof.
「在我住宅樓下有個書店。外面留著有些空置椅子。有幾天之前外面安裝街機。常常會看到人在書店外面消磨。有些人看書，有些人只舒展，在廢舊的屋頂下濃厚的煙蓋著他們的迷離的臉。」

The bookshop closes at 11:30 pm every night. During the closing hours, a guy is regularly seen playing on the arcade machine. He also has a smart tablet which he places beside the screen of the arcade machine and plays another game on it. He always wears a black tee which clings tightly to his body which is out of shape. His appearance and mannerisms hint at a lifestyle that lacks creature comforts. An old man sits in a chair behind him reading a book while smoking continuously. He exudes lonesomeness. These two people stay totally absorbed in their own life. They carry on with their own stuff, oblivious to the shop-owner inside the shop as she wraps up the interior.
「書店晚上11:30休息。關閉時間時常常看到一個人玩在街機。他也有個智能平板電腦在街機螢幕旁邊，他用它玩另外個遊戲。他總是穿緊身的黑體恤，那件體恤暴露他的不健康的身體。他的形容跟習氣暗示他的生活缺少物質享受。一個年紀大的人坐在他後面抽煙看著書。他滲出寂寞。這兩位人非常專心的做他們自己的事。他們繼續做自己的事，不察覺到裡面店員正在準備休息。」

The bookshop is surrounded by cheap food stalls from three sides. They seem to be run by old people who live in the apartments right behind those stalls. Their day ends around 11pm after which they begin washing huge pans, bowls and cutlery just by the road. Clinging sounds of metal fill the air as they wash and carry their kitchenware inside their homes.
「書店的三面有便宜的食物攤子。它看來們是被住在攤子後面的房子的老人擺的。他們晚上11點結束然後在路上開始洗盤子，碗和刀類。把洗好餐具帶進家去時響叮噹的聲音瀰漫四周。」

Every night I watch as the soapy water sweeps the edges of the road. The bookshop shines under white light which illuminates a thick haze of smoke.
「每天晚上我看到肥皂水沿著路邊。亮的書店外面白光點亮飄著的濃煙。」

When you enter the bookshop, you can find shelves of books with a sign on top that says "18+". Nothing suggestive is apparent on or in any of the books here. A small fraction of the books are accessible to all. It seems a rather dull bookshop where the line between coziness and congestion diminishes.
「進入書店後你會看到書架有“18+”這個標誌。可是書上或書裡沒有提示情色的事。所有書的小部分是大家易取得。這家店好像個無聊的書店，這裡舒適感跟擁擠的差別幾乎不見了。」

The bookshop sticks out like a sore thumb in this neighborhood. It just feels like it shouldn't have been here. The people sitting outside the shop appear to be misfits. They shouldn't have been this way.

「這家書店在這個鄰里看起來有點奇怪。我覺得它不應該這樣。外面坐的人好像跟社會不能結合的人。他們不應該這樣。」

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A Perspective on Information Redundancy in Languages

This thought occurred to me while I was watching a Taiwanese movie - 逆光飛翔 (Touch of the Light). It's a movie based on true events of a blind person with an innate talent for music. It was the Taiwanese entry for the Best Foreign Movie Oscar. While watching the movie, I was using Mandarin subtitles. I was a bit nervous in the beginning wondering how much I would understand without relying on languages I am familiar with.

Redundancy in Information Theory in layman terms is the amount that could be subtracted from a given piece of information without actually affecting the data delivered to the recipient. Mandarin has fairly less amount of redundancy compared to English. It has no articles and you have to rely on the context to find out the tense. Actually, Mandarin is highly contextual in nature.

While watching the movie I was surprised by how naturally I could follow the course of events in the movie. The first half of the movie is not much predictable while the second half is the exact opposite. It's obvious that a predictable plot leads to redundancy in information. But I was amused even a mundane setting had a strong correlation with the words being spoken in the movie. Given a few keywords, expressions of the characters and an empirical approach to the movie plot, I had little difficulty following the movie. 

Surprisingly, when I used to have conversations with people here in Mandarin a few months ago, even though I was well aware of the context and the subtleties in tone, I found it hard to follow the conversation I was part of. But why was it so easy to get in the flow of events of totally unrelated people in a plot totally unrelated to me?

The guess the answer lies in a few assumptions I think hold more or less true -

1. The amount of people involved in usage of a language is directly proportional to contextual information which helps one make an educated guess about what the speaker is talking about. In a dialogue, there are only two people involved and there exists no prior knowledge about the subject. On the contrary side, the viewer is aware of the subject most of the time.
2. Grammar is more or less a redundant concept. It doesn't help relay any additional information; rather it helps reduce the 'noise' or randomness in the information. A lot of Asian languages have minimal usage of Grammar compared to English, Hindi or a few romance languages. When watching a movie in a language you are not familiar with, one can easily catch the keywords and connect the dots without any need for scrutinizing the grammar. While having a dialogue, if you are a speaker you need to focus on the grammar part (if you wish to). 

I believe the  presence of redundancy mostly contributes to the beauty of a language. There are exceptions of course - one aspect of beauty in poetry is how minimal and terse it can be. It plays a big role in subjective evaluation of a language. If you consider language strictly as a mode of delivering data, the concepts of grammar and sentence structure assume little significance.

While reading a book written in Mandarin two days ago, I came across a section where the author narrated her experiences while living in Africa. It was only after an hour that I realized I couldn't figure which tense the author was narrating the story in - past or present. But from the contextual knowledge that she was talking about her past experiences, this knowledge wasn't even required. 

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Movies from Asian Cinema

Farewell My Concubine: This is definitely one of the best movies I have seen. It's a sweeping account of two friends' lives from childhood to adulthood against the volatile political background of China.

The Blue Kite: Zhuangzhuang Tian was banned for making this movie. It totally destroys the idea of communism and exposes how much people had to suffer because of so called Cultural Revolution.

To Live: This  is my favorite movie from one of my favorite directors - Zhang Yimou. Like The Blue Kite, it also narrates the story of a family who had to suffer because of Cultural Revolution. It's also got amazing background music.

Not one less: Zhang Yimou again. A simple and moving movie which has lots of realistic elements.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Perhaps the most well known movie to come out of China.

Oldboy: Watch it for the intensity and the fierce atmosphere it creates. Brilliant direction, back-ground music, cinematography and action scenes.

Confessions:
Another psychological thriller that was supposed inspired from Oldboy. Not as grappling as Oldboy but yet worth a watch.

The Road Home A really simple, touching and nostalgic movie with breath-taking cinematography.

Raise the Red Laltern: Considered as one of the best films ever made, I had my expectations too high while I was watching this movie. It has the trademark stunning cinematography of Zhang Yimou, and can be interpreted as highly symbolic in nature. It's one of those movies that grow on you gradually.

Spring Summer Fall Winter and Spring:
I don't have much idea what makes this film so critically acclaimed.

Chungking Express: Brilliant movie! I became a fan of Wong-kar Wai after watching this movie. It's a movie that will haunt you for days after you have watched it.

Laskar Pelangi: Another example of simplicity and sentiment combined to create a beautiful movie.

In the Mood for Love: A critically acclaimed movie which I failed to appreciate.

The Scent of Green Papaya: Yet another critically acclaimed movie which I failed to appreciate.

Himalaya: One of those lesser known gems everyone should know. If you want to see how the life of people living in the one of the remotest areas in the lap of Himalayas is, watch this movie. The scenery is undoubtedly jaw-dropping.

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Stuck

The clock is ticking, and I am stuck.

There has been no traveling and no elements of novelty of late; even those irregularly paced phases of high-spiritedness have ceased to zap me. Optimism is letting up gradually. There is consumption - consumption of knowledge, of information. That is one good thing. Necessary but not enough!

To beat the dullness and keep one's brain ticking, there has to be a stimulant in one's life. For me the element of novelty works as the stimulant. One can also call it strangeness or unfamiliarity.

There is an amorphous world of possibilities out there. The key is to pick one, outfit it with your skills and substantialize it.. I don't find it hard to learn something, I can consume information at a fast pace. What I find difficult is using all this information to come up with something appealing. I find it a daunting task to tame the randomness that skims over the masses, or to weave patterns to rein in the randomness. 

As the clock ticks, the scope of my ambitions and my plans diminishes. Every passing second the audacity of my thoughts gets watered down. The chores of mundane life have started to bother me again. The necessary evil of seeking financial stability goads me constantly to resort to the consistency of pragmatism devoid of hope.

Let's hope it ends soon. I know it will end soon. 

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「我為什麼來台灣？」

我目前的時期該稱做變動的時期變形期。

我去年開始旅遊行的時候想不到我有一天會住在個一點都不熟悉的地方。我第一次來這裡的時候,我幾乎看不懂大家寫什麼，也聽不懂大家說的話。我連一個人都不認識。也許我之所以喜歡這裡，是因為我需要有新奇的氣氛和陌生的感覺讓我好動。我需要當好動讓自己快樂。

上個半年我目睹自己的變化。我這個有陌生的感覺漸漸減少。我有跟這裡的方式多配了。我去年想不到有一天我要幾乎把我會說的語言都不用去年的同個時期，我做夢也想不到，有一天我會放棄使用我原本會說的任何一種語言，想不到我會開始用一種全部新的語言。

我常常在這裡的舊的馬路逛街。我觀看人，攤子，汽車什麼什麼的之類的等等。我常常去爬山。你才座搭乘一個多鐘頭的車，就可以到一片海灘還或是高高的山。台灣人的熱情還沒被消費主義掠奪。這裡的這些方面迷住我來。對我來說這裡是很理想的地方。

我後來發現台灣必然絕對有有點壞處，可是一共似然是很特別的地方。

我超喜歡每天早上去這裡的窄巷上中的早餐店吃飯。我超喜歡這個城市下雨以後怎麼要變成了一個充滿各種顏色的一張畫。我在這裡有很多這裡的難忘的回憶。我不能忘記在花蓮的那一晚。我不能忘記跟很多人說過的話。

某一個人人很少有機會了解一個與其家鄉迥異的地方，了解那裡的當地人。我為什麼來台灣？希望你現在知道。

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Days in Laos: Creeping along the Thai Border

Thakkaek:

"Thailand is so close from this city. You just need to cross the river. Have you ever been there?"

"O yes, many times", the boy at the hostel said excitedly, "A lot of people cross the river and sneak into Thailand. It has more jobs."

"Did you enter legally or did you also sneak into Thailand secretly?"

"I don't have passport. I crossed the border on a boat. I worked in Nakhom Phanom in a shop for a couple of months, then I came back."

I wanted to ask him so many questions about the whole process of going back and forth. 

Then we started discussing the situation of drugs and stuff in Laos.

"Most people go to Thailand to sell drugs there."

"What if you are caught?"

"The police will beat you and put you in jail. But if you are caught without drugs, the police will beat you up and send you back to Laos."

Another guy came to us with the room keys. Knackered and spiritless, I left for my room. Our conversation ended there. 

I reached Thakkaek at night after an interminable journey. While having dinner along riverside, I saw Thailand for the first time. It was right there across the river. Its streets were lined with street lamps, and cars zinged on its roads. The sight of the city instantly incited in me an urge to visit there and spend some time in basic luxuries of the place. I quelled my impulsive desire to cross the border and headed to Pakse - a beautiful place nestled in the hills of Bolaven Plateau.

Pakse:

Pakse was an absolute delight. I found a newly built hostel which has marvelous rooms at dirt cheap price. I was the only one staying in the whole hostel. Apart from traveling, I did a lot of reading here. 

It was in Pakse did I realize that I could not enter Thailand overland when I was deported back into Laos. My re-entry back in Laos was smoother than the exit. My exit stamp was repealed and I even got my exit fee back! At this point I was really itching for some city life. 

I found an Indian restaurant with an Indian owner here. For days, I just had Indian food which made my life even more comfortable. The owner came from Chennai but could speak fluent Hindi. He had spent nineteen years in Laos. He had two sons who had been brought up in Laos itself. He seemed to have mingled comfortably with the local populace. His dad had come to Vietnam long ago and opened a restaurant there. He then decided to do the same in Laos.

After having given up on an almost improbable trip, I decided to go to Savannakhet, the nearest border town from Pakse.

Savannakhet:

I originally came to Savannakhet to apply for Thai visa since I was not given a visa on arrival (so much for holding an Indian passport). I realized getting a Thai visa was even less economical than taking a flight to BKK. I liked Savannakhet since it had its name derived from Sanskrit (Suvarna-Khet, meaning golden land). It was an extraordinarily dull city. It had a marvelous riverside which was the highlight of the place.

Savannakhet is probably the second biggest city in Laos after Vientiane. The riverside had a few tourist attractions which I had totally given up on. A few people could speak French due to its history. They formed the richer upper class in the communist Laos. 

I liked going to a cozy, relatively posh cafe near my place owned by a Laotian couple who could speak English and French fluently. They used to remind me of an old man I met in Luang Prabang. He fled to France during the US-Vietnam war where he raised his kids. All his kids stayed in France, but he came back because of his attachment with Laos. He had a small shop in front of his house which served breakfast. His wife and he apparently lived a comfortable life in that beautiful city. His eyes would gleam with pride and a smile drew contours on his face every time he mentioned his children.

In the end I decided to take a flight to Bangkok reluctantly. If there was some part of Thailand I wanted to see, it was the lesser known edge along the Lao-Thai border. But I missed it due to lack of time and money. 

On my last day in Laos, I walked for an hour to the airport with all my luggage. When I reached the airport, I found it was closed. Except for me, there was no one around, not even security! Nothing was locked, I could even take a walk on the runway if I wanted to. I dumped my luggage and roamed around in parts I wouldn't have been allowed to otherwise.

After about three hours, I left Laos!

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Parkour Progression - P1

This is an attempt to keep track of my progress in Parkour. I have been practicing on and off for four months now.

When you begin, it's all about getting fitter - getting stronger muscles, improving balance, strengthening grips and all. I guess that's the hardest part - even harder than conquering the fear of doing a new move.

I am a fairly fit guy, and I am trying to take my fitness to the next level. I will keep recording my progress with parkour in this series of blogs titles 'Parkour Progression'.

Current level:

Pull-ups:
            10 reps X 3 sets
Hand-stand (against wall):
            3 sets X 2 mins
            2 sets X 90 secs
Precision Jump:
            8 feet (~240 cms)
Moves learnt:
            Kong vault, speed vault
Moves learning:
            Palm Spin (almost there), Side-vault, Muscle-up
Push-ups:
            Haven't done any push-ups in the last three months but three months ago I could do 60 proper push-ups without taking a break and without breaking the flow of breathing. In short, 60 push-ups in 60 breaths. More than a year ago I could do 50 diamond push-ups. That's when my elbow got injured.
Running:
            4000m in ~15:30 (PB is 15 mins 20 secs)

Limitations:

• Elbow pain while trying one-hand push-ups
• Chronic back pain while trying to do a bridge. I don't/can't do anything that involves bending backwards. I can bounce up and do a forward hand-spring comfortably though.

Next update in about a month (or sooner).

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