My Earl Grey Matter–and all that scatters! Random Ramblings again!

Almost all of what I call my ‘tastes’ were acquired. I took no instant liking to anything perhaps with the exception of Hershey’s kisses. I pretty much took in everything during my um.. formative years, be it books, food, music or movies. But I have ceased doing so… and the credit in its entirety goes to my filters aka mental taste buds.

We all know there were no dearth of books written during the 19^th and 20^th century but we read only a handful of works that belong to that era and why? Because these works, say that of Charles Dickens’ or Mark Twains’  withstood the sands of time long enough to remain in public memory. We are hardwired with filters in our brains. These are the very filters which cause us to forget memories, events and other data that are no longer required or important enough for us to remember. These filters are also responsible for shaping our interests and passions.

The sky is blue because blue isn’t absorbed by the earth. Blue is of shorter wavelength and thus scattered by tiny molecules in the atmosphere at a much higher rate than the colours which are of higher wavelengths, say red.

violet is shorter than blue! I don't know either!

One of the things my atmosphere scatters away is science-fiction – it is extremely difficult for me to sit through a sci-fi flick while I can watch a docudrama about the Tudors without batting an eye. It works the reverse for some. My Scatterlist also includes astrology, Arnab Goswami. tomato rice, anarkalis, tea with milk, lavish weddings, horror movies, legacy politics, E.L.James etc.

Important - The Scatterlist is not to be mistaken with a Hatelist!

The difference between the two is the rate of tolerance.

• The Scatterlist is tolerable. The Hatelist is not.
•  If somebody were to come to me and talk about the significance of my birth date and the role of stars in deciding my destiny I wouldn’t stop them but my interest in that subject will continue to be vague.
• The same thing happens when somebody starts gushing about how spectacular le Game of Thrones is. I have never watched that, strongly doubt I ever will but I am all ears.
•  But if I were forced to write a review of ‘Messenger of God 2‘ (God forbid), I would loathe it with all my heart for it’s strictly on my Hatelist!
• 
  
  

The many interests and likes that successfully wade through my filters land on what I would like to call the Imbibelist. I absolutely love watching astronomy videos… you know the ones where they show an endless expanse of stars and explain their workings through the voice of a narrator who sounds just like Morgan Freeman. (There was this show that actually had Freeman hosting a show on wormholes. Just so you know).  I know I’m not alone. Who doesn’t like gaping at the stars or watching deep sea divers observe underwater creatures? Historical fiction, biopics, bitter gourd, Balaji Vishwanathan (on Quora) , blackcurrant cakes, the colour green, the delightful Anuja Chauhan  etc  all find a place on my Imbibelist.

Draw the lines between your Scatterlist, Hatelist and Imbibelist and you’ll be surprised at the results. Just keep in mind to move as much as items on your Hatelist to your Scatterlist as possible. Tolerance is a virtue too.

Trust me I began this article so as to write about my love for teas..yes teas. No milk no sugar added. Guess some of my grey matter got scattered away that I ended up writing about filters, Scatterlists and Imbibelists instead. Speaking of grey and teas, there’s this tea called the Earl Grey tea with a very fragrant citrus aroma that comes from the rind of the exotic sounding Bergamot Orange.The smell is so overpowering that you might mistake it for eau de parfum. It is aromatherapy in a cup. Take a sip, relax and let the cuppa do its work!