On Names

"Hello! My name is Andy" said Andy

"Yeah! But I am  going to call you John" Said Amy

"Well! that's not my name"

"I don't care, I will call you that, and all people who share  language with me will call you that" Amy insisted.

If the conversation above does not seem a little strange then the writer has failed in his efforts altogether. What it should serve is a reminder of the fact that, countries and languages are called differently depending on who is saying the name. So for example, despite the fact that the Germans don't call themselves Germans, and intead call themselves "Deutsch" and their county is not called Germany, but "Deutschland" , speakers from English speaking countries call them Germans and Germany respectively.  I really don't understand the difficulty in calling them what they call themselves. I mean that should be the right of an entity to be at least called what it desires to be called.


A little background check tells me what the terms exonym and endonym are, and no surprise that I am in utter disagreement with them. I think exonyms should only be employed when the identity of a particular group of people can not be ascertained with any reasonable authenticity and it is important to refer to them in some way. But when the identity and "name" of a group can be easily established and merely so by asking the simple question as to what their name is, its endonymistic name should always be used.
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Christmas and New Years'

So recently I have been asking this question from myself as to why do most of my blog entries start with the word "so" but "so" far I don't have an answer. Maybe its because the word "so" "so" uniquely intertwines real life events to the written word. Anyway

The holiday season is upon us. In a few days time, its going to be Christmas. There is a general sense of joy and mirth in the air. Every important place is lit up, and it hasn't snowed. A lot of my friends have been coerced by their parents into visiting them for Christmas. This appears to be a time when people in Berlin give in to tradition and visit their families. I feel Christmas has the same air of festivity in Berlin as Eids do in Lahore. There are fewer cars on the roads, fewer people on train stations, there are lots of Christmas markets throughout Berlin and people are visiting them by the hundreds. Interestingly enough, many people I know who are going away for the Christmas are still going go be back by the new years. Clearly they think New Years would be best celebrated in Berlin.

In a few days, a new year is going to start. I dont know for the world, and 2013 has been quite a ride. With this I must take leave and wish my readers an extremely eventful next year.  

A conversation with myself

Cosmos( to itself) : Ah! It seem like we are ready. Besides I want to talk to someone. I am bored of talking to myself all the time. Oh Yes.

no answer.

no answer

utter silence

Cosmos. Lights please (and the cosmic dark ages are over and the first stars shine). Ah! Much better. I like it when things are bright. "cough cough". oh my. there is wayyyyyyyyyy too much hydrogen. Give us some variety oh stars!

The really massive stars shine bright and luminous, running out of fuel soon and explode in colosal supernovae explosions creating heavier elements and spreading them out into the cosmos.

Cosmos: hmm. New elements. Interesting. But do they just float around in space or they actually do something? Show me some sizzleeeeeee....I like recyling. Recycle yourselfs stars.

The stars form second generation of stars and then the third generation of stars.

Cosmos: Okay Cool! I like this Supercluster. What is it called? oh yeah the Virgo Supercluster. and whats that group of galaxies over there called? Ah yes the local group. Okay cool. Whats that barred spiral over there? The Milky way? Cheesy name but will stick to that. Ah Spiral arms. Is there a sun nearby? What? Several billion? Well lets just take one.  and well lets call it the Sun. anything special about it? The only thing special is that its an average sized average looking star with average luminoisity and surgace temperate. okay. great. what are these tiny specks around it? ah what the heck. the "pale blue" dot looks cool. okay lets visit it. whats going on in here?yuckkkkkkkkkk! a puddle of mud? I hate mud. dammm.

""Thunder and lighting"""

Cosmos: Much better. dammn its gonna take a while. But oh well.

4.5 Billion earth revolutions around the sun later

Human: ooobbooboooboo gagagagag lalalalalall hu ha hy ha.

Cosmos: yeahhhhhhh! (rolls eyes)

Further down in time. I mean waaay further down.

Aristotel: hmm. you know what guys? I am a great philosopher and I cant be wrong. also the earth is flat. and centre of the UNIVERSE.

Cosmos: pesky insects.

Humanity: earth? flat? makes sense great. centre of everything? okay floats our boat. cool.

Galilio: You know what? I would like some moons named after me. Earths moons taken. I call dibs on Jupiters. oh shit

Humanity: What?

Galileo. Jupiters moons revolve around Jupiter. So atleast there is someting that doesnt revolve around the earth.

Church: You crazy nigga? that is so not cool. FINISH HIM!

Galileo ::: NOOOOOOOo actually. I think I need glasses. sorry my bad

Church: Shut this guy up please......

Beginning of the 20th century

Hubble: Aha. Lets have a look at this fuzzy patch of light in Andromeda. I wonder if its a nebula, maybe its just dust. oh . aha. So its a galaxy larger than the milky way itself. pretty smooth. and there are billions of galaxies

Einstein: You know what? Space and time are actually one thing. and on the highway of the universe, the speed limit is c. and gravity is the dent of that spacetime.

the world: crazy old guy.

several successful experiments later

World: Gulp Gulp



and years and years of gazing into the skies wondering where did all this come from. Where did we come from.

Stuff made from the cosmos: I wanna know more about me. More and more, and boy there is so much more to know.

Pen, Gravity and Grandma

"Look students! Now that you are here, there is something I need you to understand. This will help you go a long way in what you will become as you grow up to be professionals in different fields that you will choose in life. But in order for me to show you that, we will conduct a thought experiment, nothing fancy though just the usual" said the professor, and he continued with "Alex! If I ask you to take this pen that is laying on the desk in front of you, pick it up and let it fall to the ground, do you think you would be able to do that?"

Some girls giggle, some boys chuckle, some just ignore the professor and the nerds look on. After a 5 minutes pause Alex replies

"Unless its a trick question sir, I don't see why I can not. Its the most easiest of tasks"

"It not a trick question or a riddle of any sort at all" there is a sparkle in the professors eyes, and wonder in his voice. "You use force to pick the pen up and when you let it fall, gravity pulls it towards itself. You can repeat this, anyone can repeat this and they will all reach the same conclusion"

The students do not know what to make of it. They look at each other, hoping someone else would have an answer.

"But what does it have to do with anything else?" asked Alex

"If I were to tell you that you my grandma told me that it couldn't be done. How would you react?"

It was getting crazier by the minute. First pens. then falling to the ground and now his grandma? But no one dared say anything

"Come on guys. You can be absolutely honest with me here. How will you react if my grandma told you that you couldn't do that?

"I think the best way would be to just show it to her" Said another student

"What if even after seeing she didn't believe you" asked the professor

"Well then, I will just let her be. I guess I cant force her into something, and I don't need to frankly. She can think whatever she wants to. Whatever floats her boat"

"thats very good. I am really happy you said it. Now, just promise me that you will always remember the answer you gave me today. and that you will always live by this answer. No matter how strong or powerful the opposition be and with this, your lesson is over. There is however, one little thing I want to add. Just remember that this pen can be half its size and you can still do what you said you can. It can be a hundred times smaller or a hundred times bigger and if you can use the necessary force to lift it, it will always fall to the ground. or it can be a million trillion times bigger. The same rule still applies right? good. now off you go. Your lesson is complete for the day and hey by the way, my grandma is dead"