Santhosh's ramblings

I’m a recovering caffeine addict. Not just any coffee, mind you, but proper filter coffee brewed to perfection. I’ve managed to cut back to two cups a day, but if I can’t get the coffee I fancy, I’ll go out of my way to find it. Yesterday was one of those days - I told my wife we will just walk 600 metres (thanks, Google) but somehow ended up walking about 2 km just to get my two shots (not just one). Luckily, I’ve got a partner in crime - my wife also loves coffee, but she’s never been hooked. It’s a well-known fact in our family. So, this is a known known.  And I do not think this is a fault of mine. Coffee can never be a fault! I’m using Donald Rumsfeld’s framework to examine my little “addictions” and “holisms”. “There are known knowns, things we know that we know; and there are known unknowns, things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns, things we do not know we don't know.”   Then there’s the “known unknown”. Apparently, everyone else knew I wa...

We just returned from visiting family friends. The husband reminded me that we first met in a Jharkhand village (road side) through a mutual friend three decades ago, and that we and our families quickly became close. “We clicked,” as he put it.  As a neuroscience student, I find it fascinating: despite different backgrounds, perspectives, and states - not country cousins at all - yet perhaps with similar faith and a few shared interests, why did we connect so well? Who, after all, are friends? Formal definitions say:  “Friends are people who spend time together often, have positive interactions, and treat each other kindly. They differ from acquaintances because their connection is regular and meaningful.” Yet we have hardly spent time together over the years. Our life journeys took us to different places, but we remain almost like “soul‑mate families” even after 30 years. (like a few others too). They were the first to visit us when we moved to Kottayam from 250 km away. Neu...