Shifted

Well hello there, folks!

It's been a long, long time since I've blogged here, but let's just say that a whole bunch of decisions led to me creating a new blog that I do update much more frequently than I used to update this one. 

I'd love to see you there, so do join me at stuffshravwrites.wordpress.com!

Take care and stay awesome,

S
 

Touch

Since the introduction of the internet to society, things have become very different.

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

Okay, yes - pardon me for stating common knowledge. The internet has revolutionized nearly every field of human invention and experience, it should come as no surprise that it has affected social relationships as well. I've experienced this over my own little life:

As a kid, calls to India would be a valuable treat. First you'd ensure the dial up connection was switched off, and then you'd dial the international number and hope that someone would pick up. E-mail itself was so new and wonderful - that you could bypass the snail mail system (and everyone who's ever tried posting something to India knows of the horrors of the mail system) and send this electronic letter made of pixels and such to another person in another country...in mere seconds! Fast forward 10 years and I happen to be messaging my cousin in London and my friend in Canada. In real time. At the same time. Instant messaging services like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Snapchat have made such communication effortless and cost effective. Anything I want to say is directly sent to the recipient's phone as long as internet is around - or I could just go ahead and text the person.

This is brilliant stuff when it comes to people who live in different countries and time zones - it's another thing when you and your friend are sitting on the same sofa and messaging each other. When short codes replace spoken words and emojis replace facial expressions, there's a line that needs to be drawn.

I admit that I am not above this - I've spent time messaging people in the same city and neighbourhood as me. Forget about meeting them in person, I rarely even pick up the phone and her their voices. I guess my excuse is that there's always something going on, not enough time to meet and not enough time to have a proper phone conversation. That's a lie though, I'm just a slave to convenience as most people would be. This coupled with my social anxiety creates a neat little safe haven where instead of dealing with the complexities of human interaction, I can wrap things up in neat little sentences and use words to deal with situations.

However, there's no denying that I end up missing human interaction.

True human bonding can only ever take place in the presence of both people - I've experienced this with regard to friends I've made over the internet and those of whom I've maintained primary contact with over the internet. There comes a time when you realise that no amount of profile pictures or Instagram posts would make up for the other person's actual expressions or mannerisms. In a time where a lot of stuff can be touched up, tweaked or modified, it pays to have an idea of the actual being you're dealing with.

Anyone who's been through a rough patch can tell you that there's a huge difference between someone consoling you over messages and over the phone when compared to someone giving you a hug, holding your hand or lending you a shoulder to cry on (or vent).

True connections are made in person, so it would only be to your benefit to put the phone down, get out of the house and meet someone - even if it's just to talk about their week or so.

I, however, have exams to get back to - and everyone knows how magnificently exams can kill social lives. Ah well, EDUCATION!
 

Family

The moment you spring into consciousness, your being is assigned an identity. More often than not, this identity has its roots in something literally bigger than you - your family.

Where I'm from, family is ridiculously important - I don't just mean the parents and siblings - oh no. I mean the whole shebang. Aunts, uncles, cousins of a variety of degrees and relatives you may only cross paths with once in your life (and many more you may only hear of repeatedly but never actually meet). Your identity and self-worth are born of the family you're a part of. That last name may have more to say about you than you do. By the age of 10, you've already interacted with so many family members that your poor little head can't keep track of how they're related to you - and the fun part is that there's much more to come!

So why on Earth is this concept of a family given so much importance?

*tips hat*

If I did seem against the idea of a big, strong family, I have to set that straight. I believe that a family that's supportive and one that challenges you whilst encouraging you is terrific in its own right. Such a family ensures that one's sense of individuality isn't threatened but still gives you a sense of belonging and familiarity to return to at the end of the day. They're the bonds that are formed from birth - beings with a few more genetic similarities than a friend at the workplace or that guy from across the bar asking for another gin and tonic. You can't choose them, but you can choose how you treat them.

 

While I do get the idea that having other people's views shoved down your throat can be annoying, it's been evident that of late, more people seem to be striking out on their own. Break free from the family, sever ties, limit contact and move away to a remote location to never be heard from again. Times change and that one family member you were insanely close to isn't themselves all of a sudden. Conversations that would occur monthly or bimonthly just happen once or twice a year - on birthdays.

 

I guess this would be one of the reasons why a strong sense of family was something that I was brought up with since I was little. Why it was important to accept individual as they came - gloss over the flaws and pay heed to the positives. Try to be more understanding of the elders, accepting of the peers and nurturing of the younger ones. All of it does pay off because you can find the closest of bonds forged within the family - be it supportive and funny cousins, a ridiculously cool set of elders who are broad minded beyond their age and aunts and uncles that care for you as their own.

Even if the whole world turns against you, you'd find peace and acceptance at the hands of your family.

Though my definition of family isn't just the people along with me in the family portrait or the people whose names happen to be alongside mine on the family tree.

I haven't mentioned the family you choose -

Friends

And everything I've mentioned applies to these individuals too.

Oh Snap!

...what have I done?

I'm known for my outright reluctance to download an app if it has anything to do with socializing - yes, being a brilliant anti-social, decisions like this one are made.
So it wasn't a surprise that it took three months and four people to convince me to download an app that many would be familiar with - Snapchat.

So a month into the period of persuasion, I started looking up this app, reading about it - articles on websites, even one in Time magazine (later on), and I'd be lying if I said that the idea of a conversation based on ephemeral media and minimal text didn't intrigue me. It was certainly novel, perhaps even ingenious.

And so, when the fourth person spoke to me, I decided that I wasn't being too fair to the app. It could be something nice. Yeah...Come on, you know how much you like novelty.
So right then and there, the app store was brought up on the phone and Snapchat was added to the device within the next five minutes.

In the weeks that followed, I interacted with the app like I would with a pile of precariously-stacked cards - caution. If you've ever seen a snap from me, it would probably go along the lines of this:

Do you think I like being photographed, human?

 
Though, soon enough, the rear camera's usage dropped whilst my front camera's use skyrocketed. I've never been one for selfies, but under the pretext of messaging, selfies soon became a normal part of any Snapchat conversation. Nearly two months in, I've crossed a Snapchat score of 1,000 - overtaking a couple of my friends who've had the app longer - which I think is the funniest part of it all.

Though all of this does get an individual's cogs spinning - what makes Snapchat so attractive? Sure, you can send pictures that don't stay on the recipient's phone - and you can tell if they take a screenshot of it - but I think this may feed of something a whole lot deeper. Something that happens to be quite unique to this generation, my generation.

Narcissism

Studies on the tie-ins between social networking sites and narcissism have been done, heck, selfies also happen to be a form of this. Before you bring the hate on though, I don't really think that narcissism is completely negative. Yes, this happens to be quite debatable (a psychology student knows) - but the truth does remain that no final consensus has been reached about this. While I don't think it's possible to go about your day without a wee bit of narcissism, too much of it will get you in hot water fast.

Closer...closer...

Back to the main topic, conversations with minimal text or none at all are quite nice in the way that they tackle a brick wall that a lot of instant messaging services have hit before - not being able to see the other person's expressions. Being someone who has a lot of friends and family abroad, I can relate to this issue quite well. It's in cases like these that Snapchat becomes quite invaluable. You get to see your friend's shocked expression or your little cousin running about. It works out in the practical sense - none of the messages are stored, so these can be as nonsensical as your heart desires.

It's a fun way to let selected people see the life the way you do, from your perspective.

With a bonus of weird expressions and overlaid text of course! 

 ♪ - Definition of Infinity (Yasiin Gaye feat. Talib Kweli)

Cadence

During the past couple of months - there have been a lot of topics that have come to mind, some of which have been apt for a blog post.

So why haven't I been writing?

Primarily because these topics might be controversial. Also because I personally feel I wouldn't be qualified/experienced enough to give a good, unbiased opinion of them.

So after much contemplation (Heh, no), rather - a sudden thought this morning, the topic for today's post is (Did you get a hint from the title?) - Music.

Music. It sustains me.

What is it about music that makes it irresistible to humans? What is it about the rhythm, rhyme and those lyrics that draw the human mind deep into its confines? 
Growing up, my entire life has been filled with music - music from different ages, music from before I was born, during my parents' childhood, and everything before and since then.
A whole range of genres - from rock, metal, pop, classical, house, hip hop, jazz, blues, alternative - it keeps going on. Do I have a favourite genre? I'm afraid I don't - primarily because a different genre appeals to me at different times.

That's another thing about music - it's ability to influence an individual's mood. You could have the worst possible day, Murphy's law could be having a field day with you - but the minute you turn up the volume of a track and hear the first few bars, the rhythm and words form a cocoon around you - a little world, a paracosm of sorts. That mystical place, that state of mind where reality can't hurt you, where your problems seem to vanish. For that one moment, there's no kryptonite that can bring you down, no chink in your armour. Your social anxieties melt away and the heaviness of the day levitate instead of gravitating towards you.

"Music is a safe kind of high" - Jimi Hendrix

Though, is it possible for music to inherently be a particular emotion? Is 'sad music' actually sad? Or do we just make it so?
PBS Idea Channel's Mike has a good video out on the topic:

Whatever your opinion may be on the matter, there's no denying that the right music is better than no music at all, especially when it comes to possibly improving tasks - ASAP Science has a recent video out concerning the relation between music and an athlete's performance at the Sochi Winter Olympics:
 

Though, lets dip our toes into the sea of musical theory for a bit - there are only so many notes that exist - a finite number of combinations in which one can arrange them to form a composition. This begs the question - if a finite number does indeed exist, will we ever run out of new music? VSauce's Michael tackles this issue in his usual manner:

Learning an instrument is truly a wonderful experience - when done right. If you've ever got the opportunity to learn an instrument, I suggest you take it. Dive right into it.

Another dimension of music that I adore is the way lines rhyme. Anyone who knows me knows of my love for poetry. Any songs I've written flows a particular - hence, I take an immediate liking to lyrics that have a rhyme, flow and allegorical aspect to them.
This lead to my latest interest in raps. Let's see where this goes...

Go on, discover a couple of new genres

Take Coldplay's word for it.
 

Chaos

If I'm able to get this post published within the next hour - someone needs to get me a hot chocolate.

Let's get to it then -

Chaos. The first time I came across the term and associated it with disorder and turmoil was through television. [No surprises there] The show was the 'Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy'

That's the one

That's the show that introduced me to the animated version of the Grim Reaper - this character:

Was there ever a time he wasn't freaking out about something or laughing maniacally? 

Anywho, this post isn't about him, rather one of his acquaintances, Eris - the goddess of chaos [Rather, the comic representation of the Greek goddess of discord]

Greek goddess...or self-righteous diva? 

Eris' role in the series is to create chaos [No surprise there] wherever she goes - it's usually up to the titular characters to clean up after her and thwart any attempts she makes, albeit with hilarious consequences.

I really like how the Greek personify such concepts as disorder, war, love and wisdom [Eris, Ares, Eros and Athena respectively] - well, personify in the terms of deities...

Chaos resides all around us, everyday we come across disorder in its various forms.

The next introduction I had to chaos was through math & science - something known as the 'Chaos Theory'.

You're not looking close enough.

The Chaos Theory is centered around dynamical systems where final outcomes are highly dependent on sensitive initial conditions. Given the example of a double pendulum, slight changes in the initial position of the pendulum results in two very different outcomes.

There's a chance you've heard of this theory through another term, the Butterfly Effect.

No, not the movie. The Butterfly Effect uses the analogy of a butterfly's flight to highlight the core concept of the theory:

The flapping of a butterfly's wings could lead to the formation of a hurricane in another area weeks later.

Though hard to believe - it shows how sensitive the dependence on initial conditions are for a non-linear system - and how small, seemingly insignificant changes in initial conditions lead to large differences in a later state.

Though that's where my understanding of the matter stops - I'll have to have a math student explain the rest to me. I came across the Chaos Theory again this year on an episode of Numb3rs [HUZZAH!] and the VSauce video 'If'.

Here's the link to the VSauce video - to people who haven't come across Michael, get acquainted with the channel! A world of awesome awaits!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBK3QpQVnaw

Now I come to a more human & psychological take on chaos.

As humans, we envision a utopian paradise - one where everyone is content, there is no evil and order prevails. Yet it seems that this 'utopia' gets pushed further away - into the distance - when one starts considering the way things are now. Has it ever crossed your mind that perhaps the only reason that this utopian state seems so unattainable is that humans require chaos to function?

Want a little chaos? Get yourself a human!

Just as the concept of 'good' cannot exist without the concept of 'evil' [Consider it: if you have no idea what 'evil' is how could you comprehend what 'good' is?], order can't exist without chaos.

Oddly enough, chaos presents humans with a chance to display their ingenuity in all its brilliant glory. There is such a thing as too much order. Even a scientist would tell you that a continued state of equilibrium isn't favoured in many circumstances. [I remember that from my Chem classes]

Then again, it really depends on what sort of chaos one might be referring to - chaos and turmoil like in the case of wars and such aren't favourable in any light. They remain negative, but if the odds are in one's favour - they lead to stability - to order.

Confusion is never a good form of chaos. Personally speaking, I've never come across a situation where confusion has had a positive outcome.

It remains, though, that chaos is - weirdly enough - central to human existence. It's what keeps us on our toes and what keeps our mental cogs spinning.

Out of the chaos comes order
And order soon falls to chaos.
One cannot exist without the other.

I shall have that hot chocolate now. With tiny marshmallows. Hold the whipped cream.

Three Little Things

Summer break is nearly over?! *gets hit with random projectile*
Alright, alright - 5 months did suffice well - err - really well!

I'm on quite a bit of a literary high [is that even a thing?] and have decided to publish more than one post this week - perhaps it should make up for the dearth of posts of late. Maybe?

So lets move on to the topic of this post - three little things - to live by


Serenity

 

Anyone who has read 'Slaughterhouse-Five' by Kurt Vonnegut would remember this particular excerpt from the 'Serenity Prayer' - the scene goes as such:

Billy had a framed prayer on his office wall which expressed his method for keeping going, even though he was unenthusiastic about living. A lot of his patients who saw the prayer on Billy's wall told him that it helped them to keep going, too.

God grant me
The serenity to accept
The things I cannot change,
Courage
To change the things I can,
And wisdom always
To tell the
Difference.

Among the things Billy Pilgrim could not change were the past, the present, and the future.

Taken from a satirical masterpiece [In my view], this little excerpt goes on to form one of the central themes of the book - which I shall probably discuss in another post.

Why do I identify with this?
I identify with this because it is a truth of sorts. Yes, I have heard of 'Try, try again', but at some point you have to realise that there shall always be a distinction between the things that are in your control and the things that cannot possibly be in your control.

Regarding the first part: Man might wish himself the master of his fate [this train of thought leads to also questioning one's autonomy, deserving of a different post] - but there inevitably will be times where life surprises you with a scenario you hadn't expected/planned for. Given the circumstances, you can either fight against it - or accept it and try to make the best of the situation.

Regarding the second part: We've all faced this scenario at least once in our lives - you could make a change for the better in your life - or to someone else's - except, a little sacrifice is asked of you. You wrestle with the thought - on one hand, you keep things the way they are, nothing changes, life goes on as it always has - on the other, you take a leap of faith with the chance of improving upon something with a little sacrifice and hard work. That comes from within us - it is born of courage.

Regarding the third part: This is the most important part - knowing the difference between when it's alright to take a leap of faith and when you're better off staying humble and making do with what you have.

It just seems that life would be a little better - and less stressed if people kept this in mind. Too often, I come across people who lose their calm and worry over things that they couldn't possibly control. In these cases, I'd find it better to redirect all that wasted energy to the process involved in making the best of a seemingly bad situation.


Thyself

This one has stayed with me for the longest time - and it continues to do so for a good reason.

Why do I identify with this?

I consider 'nosce te ipsum' - 'know thyself' to be one of the hardest things to achieve. You could spend your entire life trying to understand other human beings [like I do] - but the biggest challenge one could ever face is understanding oneself.

Why do you do the things you do? What motivates you? What matters most to you - and why?

Who are you?

They were the words spoken to Alexander the Great by Pythia - ringing true when he questions his ambition and the end it will take him to.
You can conquer the lands and you can conquer people - but can you conquer yourself?
It is the hardest battle one must face.

And then you have your thoughts...


Thoughts

Ah Aristotle, one of the founding figures of western philosophy and teacher of - none other than - Alexander the Great. As with many of the philosophical teachings of the time, this one rings true - perhaps truer - right now.

Why do I identify with this?

Simply because it is superb - but that's just my opinion. With the advent of the internet, telecommunication and the press, we're exposed to so many facts, figures and resulting opinions these days. People talk. It's the hallmark of the social creatures that we are - we love to form opinions and share them. Some do so more forcefully than others.

There are several ways one could handle an opinion or thought:

• Be the epitome of gullible and believe everything presented to you.
• Be inconsiderate and largely ignore anything being presented to you.
• Actively argue and refuse to entertain an opinion or thought different from your own.
• Entertain a thought or opinion - without accepting it.

I prefer the last one - because it's a good way to keep an open mind and get a variety of viewpoints regarding an issue or topic but not accept those POVs as they come. Rather, use them to arrive at one's own conclusion regarding the matter - a more thought-out one.

Extra knowledge never hurt anyone - well, it never hurt anyone I know!
[Though I suppose exceptions might include spies and civilians that stumble onto things. Oh well!]

I notice that this post doesn't quite have much text as some of the others - this is because quotes such as these hold different significances for different people!

So ponder away folks!

In Retrospect

As the holidays go on, my parents have been exposing me to some pretty interesting concepts and people - ones that I finally have time for! (Huzzah!!)

Two of these, I felt, were quite deserving of a blog post:

Alistair Cooke

I was too young to be aware of him when he was alive (That being the case regarding many of the people that interest me). My father, on the other hand, used to follow his regular 15-minute radio series - Letter from America - with interest: I soon understood why. As I listened to the first episode, one that focused on the assassination of John Lennon - I came to terms with the fact that it was very different from the radio series or podcast I'm used to - Mr. Cooke managed to speak about his topic and shift seamlessly to another one with an almost uncanny brilliance. I found his eloquence, wit and sense of humor to be refreshingly wonderful; all capitulated into 15-minutes. But this wasn't your short-term stint. Letter to America is easily the longest running radio programme in history, enjoying 58 years on air.




Regarding the same episode I mentioned above, Mr.Cooke made excellent observations which I believe still holds very true for today's gun control issues:

Regarding the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution

A lot of people tend to throw the phrase 'Right to bear arms' around with a sort of ease - the interesting fact about this is that it is only the latter part of the amendment. Yes, a former one exists:

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed"

For me, that just puts a better perspective on things. Consider it food for thought.

Regarding more stringent gun-control laws

Here is a point of view that I respect - the jist of it being that unless the government realises that fear breeds 'closet vigilantes', no progress shall be made regarding gun-control laws. More than 30 years later, these words couldn't be truer - that there exists a larger issue to tackle. Funnily enough this always seems to be the case: That we end up trying to find the solution to what we perceive to be the problem when it is in fact a mere tip of the iceberg. There always is something more.





This, however, is just my takeaway from a single episode. Courtesy of the BBC, many of these episodes are available online, follow this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00f6hbp/features/cooke-collections

Happy listening!


Charlie Chaplin

Why of course, Charlie Chaplin, the man that one grew up considering a comedian - one specializing in what seemed to be slapstick at the time. Now older, I started to consider Chaplin for the true genius he really was - one who specialized in what Dad calls 'Hilarious pathos'. While it is true that hilarity and hijinks ensue in his presence - a little afterthought brings about a more satirical feel to things.

This couldn't be more evident in one of his movies I watched: The Great Dictator

I believe this to be the first of Chaplin's 'talking pictures'. While the movie in its entirety was quite amusing to watch, there is one part that everyone - stoic, cynic or comedic - should watch. The speech.




After years of silent films, who would've guessed that he would deliver a speech that would stand the test of time? In an age of excess and diminished values, this speech sends you off into a bit of introspection: it could be a couple of minutes - or if you're like me, half a day - but healthy introspection nonetheless.

It's a beautiful speech - and hence I give you a link for this too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcvjoWOwnn4


This post may discuss retrospect from my point of view.
But what it really does discuss is foresight. Truly incredible foresight - that seemed to be almost prevalent amidst the minds in those ages.

Consider today - get your work done. Consider the week ahead - be prepared. Consider the next few years - that's where it gets tricky.

Foresight.

The Hand

Shucks - did I just miss a week's post?
I have a good reason:

The insanity starts with the peers, spreads to the parents and then burns through the rest of the family like a wildfire - it truly is 'catching'. All with good intention & concern though!

At times like these, there's one party that I feel deserves to know my results immediately:

My teachers.

Through my years of education, I've always been lucky & blessed to have wonderful teachers. Some who take me under their wings, some who push me down so that I bounce back swinging for a grander finish. Irrespective, they've been valuable regarding the subject knowledge acquired and the personal character development they were responsible for.

Oddly enough, my respect for them ended up being translated as behaviour typical of a 'teacher's pet' or 'goody-goody-two-shoes' (even earning me the nickname 'GG' courtesy of a close friend) - much to my disappointment. My reluctance to resort to my usual levels of weirdness/craziness in front of teachers doesn't mean that I intend to put on a facade of good behaviour to score 'brownie points'. On the contrary, I tone down the weirdness/craziness simply because I respect their age and knowledge and believe that they shouldn't have to put up with it just to get a lesson across. Why on Earth would I want to jeopardize my shot at getting smarter?

My friends on the other hand? Tough luck :P

If I think about it now, more than anything, it's the teachers I miss from the past 12 years of school. Classes where a teacher would ramble on about a tale and completely forget what she'd left on the board, others where a comment would cause muffled laughter from the students, some where a teacher's praise would leave a student fraught with embarrassment (I know this too well) and a top-notch 'douchebag' in a peer's eyes.
I've had awesome teachers that would take learning beyond the classroom, go the extra mile and even attempt life lessons, albeit allegorically. I've even had a biology teacher that allowed rats to be dissected just because interest was expressed at thought (the syllabus didn't call for it), who would become one of the teachers I go to with extra information - simply because when a teacher piques my curiosity, I end up doing research and getting back to them with some pretty great stuff.

This wouldn't be complete if I failed to mention the other teachers who've helped me achieve my academic goals. Ones who specialize in their subject and devote themselves to prepping kids much after hours. The dedication and sincerity that they possess is unrivaled, and the confidence they instill in you with their faith in your abilities is unparalleled. It may seem a tad too much to a few, but to those who know what I mean - you know this to be true.

After all, when it comes to a teacher, I've noticed they always see the best in a student irrespective of the flaws or behavioural issues - I find that to be a rare trait indeed. All they look for is respect, interest and initiative.

Give them that, and they'll ensure you skate on Saturn's rings.

The Elders

This year, like every year, I once again found myself spending more time with my elders than with my cousins or a peer-group of a similar age. There is a wisdom, a sure-but-solemn truth that exists within them and unspoken knowledge that resides amidst them.

It brings to mind an evening spent with an 84 year old gentleman, an old colleague of my grand-aunt's. He always comes over when I drop by B'lore - and I cherish each little session that we get to have. His observations and theories on the human mind, social structures and the crossover between science & spirituality are one of the finest I've come across so far - ones that have been personally recounted to me.
It's all like clockwork - he invites himself over, walks over to the sofa, leaves his walking stick at the side and begins by asking me about the changes that have taken place since our last meeting - and then states what seems obvious to him. It's a part that never fails to surprise me - he always manages to catch something I wasn't aware of or something that I assumed wasn't too obvious.
Irrespective of the duration (which usually stretches over two hours), I'm always left a little wiser than when I started - and a little more hungry for the vast expanse of knowledge (spread over a wide range of disciplines) that's out there.

It isn't just him - it's the rest of my elders as well - each one of them have something valuable to say about some aspect of my growing up and perception of things - viewpoints I couldn't have hoped to gain from my peers or parents. Some recounted in a cryptic form, others as stories and even more as little anecdotes that you might miss if you happen to get distracted at the wrong time. Some spout the wealth of wisdom they have - others are slightly more hushed about it. No matter how old they get, they can never fail to amaze.

Another mention I must make is about my great-grand-aunt - an incredible woman with willpower that would put so many to shame. Who would expect that an elderly woman who can barely walk and whose eyesight is failing her could still have such fine tuned mental faculties and formidable recall? Her memory truly intrigues me - she manages to remember so much - some things that have happened more than 40 to 50 years ago - with such accuracy. She manages to identify us even though we may only come by once a year - and she remembers our personalities, likes and dislikes. She relies on nobody and is in possession of such a beautiful command of the English language, that I could only hope to have such a skill once I reach her age.

It is beautiful. Nothing short of it. Any elder, no matter however seemingly 'boring', 'out-of-trend' or 'annoying' has a story - one that would involve some sort of struggle, adventure or accomplishment - something that could potentially blow your mind. They could've been rebels at their age, done awesome things and taken colossal risks. After an eventful life and ending up with a family, ending up with you, all they could ever want would be to sit down with you and tell you about their lives - not to bore you, but to inspire you, to make you think, to give you the little bit of character and spirit that they choose to give to you. After all, what more could give them happiness than to see you facing the world head on and achieving your dreams without regret?

A common thing I've heard is about elders being 'grouchy', 'obstinate' or 'moody'. Honestly? Please stop your whining and grow a sense of patience. You can't even begin to imagine the changes they've faced in their lifetime. Try to visualise it. They grew up without smartphones, televisions, many gadgets and of course the internet. Scientific progress was progressing at its own rate. There were so many things that were believed to be right - but proven wrong as time went on. We read about what they lived through. Some of our recent history is what they knew as a part of daily life. Do this - imagine for a second that every single thing you knew was suddenly challenged, some even considered fallacies. Imagine the places you love to hangout at, or know well, completely transformed and altered. Is it any wonder at all that they try to cling to what they see as normal? Normalcy is purely subjective - what maybe normal for me, may not entirely be normal for you (actually that is true in my case - weird is my status quo!). So, the very fact that they've managed to do what they've done is commendable enough.
    

Give them time, give them love and give them respect.
It is enough.