Why are people hating on helmets?

So, this is becoming too frequent and its annoying. Everyone seems to have some prejudices against helmets and will discriminate people with helmets in different situations- be it the movies, the airports or hotels. In India more than anywhere else.

I am a avid biker and have custom painted helmets. When I go somewhere, I like to carry them with me in a nice sack to protect it from scratches and prevent them from being stolen- already happened once so not taking a chance ever again! The first time that I had the problem was for movies- they wont let me take them in! That was the time when even backpacks would not be allowed while women could carry their purses inside. Biased? Hell yeah! This was sort of rectified when some movie halls in India started providing lockers to lock up helmets and bags. Good job there.

Recently, I was travelling by air but carrying my helmet because I was going to be riding at my destination. I went through three airports and the airport where I was harassed because of my helmet was Nagpur!! Not Delhi, not Goa, but frigging small town Nagpur. A annoying SE Anshu Grade at the x-ray machine was the only one who was convinced that the helmet was a threat and "could be used as a weapon"!! How? By whacking someone on the head? While there were iron crutches, tripod stands and even airplane doors at disposal to do so? Seriously? Maybe in that small town there isn't much action so she decided to make my life hell and there was a huge scene. None of her colleagues agreed with her but seemed helpless in countering her- juniors perhaps. She almost insinuated that I was like a terrorist when she started to give the example of Kasab! I come from a respected family of senior government officials and if anything, we would probably unearth more problems if we checked her antecedents. I can bet on it. I made sure CISF jawans assisted me in getting proper padding and packing for the helmets done before I boarded the plane. So much grief over one person's wrong assessment of the situation!

So you would say that perhaps this cop was a less educated person who was trying to abuse her powers. However, hotels are no better. Many star hotels wont let you carry a helmet inside their buildings due to "safety" reasons! Safety my ass. Usually I make it a point to call up the hotels and ask their policies on helmets- people at the Ashok and Intercontinental (now Lalit) seemed better when it came to this. Today, I went to the dying Claridges Hotel in Delhi to meet some clients. Everyone, from the guards to the Manager said that policy would not allow them to let me take my helmet in!! They also used the lame excuse of "helmet can be used as weapon"!! Really? I saw more dangerous looking metal crutches (that could easily conceal a gun if it wanted!) go in! I think its just snobbery and general classist attitude of Indian society. And if it happens in the US, even more shameful. I think the hotel people think if people carried their helmets inside, it would degrade their inside environment because they believe that rich people dont ride motorbikes. Such ignorants pricks! Only on the intervention of a senior foreign dignitary did they yield and held my helmet with the Bell Desk taking full responsibility for the helmet. Colonial boot licking? But of course.

This is what I always say- the possibilities to do better are limitless but people are looking in the wrong places. They create a fuss over helmets while they should be directing their attention to actual things that could be security risks or debase the atmosphere of their respective surroundings. It is because of this that people normally have a lapse of judgement which leads to fatal consequences. And then they are stuck scratching their heads of what they did wrong and overcompensate with things that have nothing to do with what happened.

People will stay uneducated, ignorant, arrogant and just disconnected from reality. There needs to be a movement against such discrimination and stupid policies. Lets vote against the idiocracy of today!  India has seen too many mistakes by people in charge of "security" and by hating on helmets, they are fooling noone. After going through all these instances of helmet discrimination, I feel more unsafe knowing that truly stupid, foolish and illogical people are in charge of the safety of people's lives.

Fan boys are amusing

Every day people never cease to amaze me with stereotypical and predictable behaviors. I guess my rants are not rants but mere observances of how far humans have evolved from being simple food gatherers to being the most annoying and illogical species on this planet. The possibilities to find them are endless- they could be right in front of you or even on a social networking site! And on the latter is where I found the latest addition to the melee- wish it wasn't this person but it was.

This guy is a leader of sorts for a section of the population- mostly youngsters who really hang into his word and in quite a true sense, are his fans. More than 50,000 of them! And yet he fell down to the level of a typical fan boy who got so defensive on something that did not warrant such an reaction. It was the classic mac vs pc debate- developed from a discussion on the new ipad2.

Functionally, as a professional designer and biker, to me this device makes no sense- in fact its an inconvenience. Everything it can do, any laptop or netbook can do. Being a user of tablets, I wanted that screen to be practical for Adobe programs but it isnt. So basically what I would end up using this ipad (first of all it sounds like a woman's personal product) is to read papers or books, listen to music, watch movies, play games, surf the internet, take pictures, make music etc etc. But the thing is, I prefer physical papers and books while a laptop can easily do the rest of me- in much better quality. As far as the much touted Garage band is concerned, serious musicians are rolling their eyes just like millions of graphic designers/photographers did when people started taking to photoshop/paint/etc. Everything in the ipad seems a dumbing down of everything. I am all for the democratization of technology but it is more than that. I prefer quality and though the ipad is very well built, any laptop (of comparable or smaller size) can do every single the ipad can do better. Much better. And my standards are high so why would I, as an individual, choose something that promotes mediocrity through a excellent looking device? Why cannot it be available in version like wacoms are- for the casual users (bamboo) and for the hardcore users (intuous and cintiq series). In addition to a laptop, a phone, a music player (if not within the phone) and a separate camera with all the bells & whistles (the ipad wont be be even able to match a quarter of its features), why does one need to carry one extra device to do bits of all that? At a inferior output? On the other hand, the ipad is a hit with cats and perhaps for my future furry friends, I could get one! ;)

I have seen people open up laptops on subways- a more convenient thing could be a tablet pc- the original idea behind the ipad in the first place! I dont even travel on subways anymore and dont intend to spend more than 30 minutes in it at a stretch in the future. When inside, I want to just hold my breath and take a breather from daily life. However I ride my motorbike now so that purpose is not needed. My old laptop is still a workhorse- I can start it in under 10 seconds, design a professional magazine layout under a minute, make 3 finished logos under 20 minutes (though I wouldnt push it), play Motogp, browse the net and still have tons of battery life left after 30 minutes of a subway ride. It doesnt have a fancy screen but there is no real inconvenience in making better looking professional grade final products. That is why, though some people may want to have a toy to play with or show off to the world- I live in Delhi and everyone likes to show off here- I dont really want to waste time with mediocrity. We live once and I want to live it fully and in high def! There's nothing wrong with people wanting toys but as far as products go, the Apple products have a lot of serious competition- i.e. only for those who are not blinded by the Apple brain washing. Everything shiny is not always the best but as Apple has proved, people can be made to believe otherwise.

So, anyway that was my simple point. I dont need the ipad and one must really think before getting the machine. Want is all and well and is fuelled by the ultra slick marketing of Apple- they dont give a shit about your emotional connect etc. They are a business and they want to sell. Period. End of story. Let's not elevate Apple to anything more. But the fans do. And so did this guy. A few months ago he got a macbook pro and is all gaga and starry eyed about. He had the iphone 3 and now the iphone 4 and the stars seemed to have leaked something into his head. While I tried to say that their machines are far from being the perfect pieces of utility, he went off on a defensive rant to everyone who went against his view. I think I & others touched some raw nerve and he went all ballistic, pulling up quotes to dissect every single word, splitting hairs and going to real lengths to prove his point. All this while he absolutely chose to ignore my main point. He became all self righteous about how he lives his life to the fullest and how only when one does, can that person understand how Apple products are really so awesome- not his exact words but you get the idea. He started pointing fingers, albeit indirectly but it was obvious to me, at my stellar education background but though I have known him off and on for a while, there is so much he doesnt know about me. And yet he insinuated that I am just one of those who gets a 9 to 5 job, wears a suit and have a boring unfulfilling life.

All this he could insinuate in response to  my statements about how we have to lead balanced lives and how I would prefer a better OS and other things completely irrelevant to what he chose to address instead. He even called Steve Jobs a human face for the company. When I pointed out that he was anything but that, this guy went even more berserk. True, Jobs has great foresight and business acumen but he is driven by profits as any sensible businessman would. This human face is part of his strategy and just shows how dictatorial and self-obsessed he really is. And this guy was showing the Steve Jobs syndrome. It is quite interesting the possibilities to identify oneself that open up once you buy a product!

This guy's story is unique- from a small initiative he grew into something he also had not imagined possible. He did have a few fallouts with other people but along the way he picked up friends- more so, fans and followers. You have to applaud his entrepreneurial spirit for something he loved doing. He is widely recognized all over India amongst the community he identifies himself with. Corporations involved with this community have showered him with adulation and opportunities he, himself, would not have deemed possible when he started off from his parent's apartment. I never got too deeply involved with this community as I was chasing my own dreams and the quality of newcomers seemed to not appeal to my sensibilities. However, he has my full respect for what he has managed to do. But today, I saw the side of this remarkable guy that should not have been there. He is just another fan boy who needs to justify something to the very end without really listening to the other side. While I pushed for neutrality, he pushed at extremes, relevant or not.

Observing fanboys is amusing but boring at the same time. Their defences lack creativity and almost always start getting personal. And when that happens, you know that you have won. I have no alliances and do not strongly support any brand because the possibilities of technologies havent been breached by anyone yet- we have come far but everything is at par with one another. I am a individualist and I believe that what one can do with what one has is more important than what one has if the end results are pathetic. If one starts to get defined by what they own, it is truly a sad life and sadly, Apple boys/girls are just that till they snap out of it into reality. All fanboys are the same everywhere. Provoking them seems fun at first but their repetitive chants are quite snore-inspiring.

Believing in individuality, I gave this guy a chance in my head. I tried to find an explanation for this overwhelming superiority complex he felt entitled to. Perhaps he felt that his views were threatened and and if he ceded, all his followers will be disappointed in him. Or conversely, perhaps his ego has been fueled by all his yes-men around him that he is not used to someone standing up to him and disagreeing. Perhaps he is having some troubles at home. Or with someone. Perhaps his childhood was traumatic. Perhaps he wants to justify it to others (himself most importantly) the amount of money he pays for these products. Who knows- except him ofcourse.

What fanboys like him forget is that humans are all different. Brands like Apple try to create clones and uniformity- nothing short of what the Nazis wanted. Its quite astonishing to see that fan boys do not realize that their own views have been subverted to create a larger view- all in the commercial interest of a brand who do not care about creating a "family" or "co-systems" (words used by him to describe going into the Apple family!)! I love branding but it is these issues which sometimes makes me be more careful and ethical about the message we put out. Brands are creating strange loyalties nowadays. The "families" they create are for their own selfish purposes to feed constantly with their products- a harem of sorts if you please.

Humans are supposed to be intelligent but some are more than others- the more intelligent seem to be the ones who own these brands and herd people like sheep into their fold. It is a dangerous phenomenon so similar to how militants and terrorists all over the world bring in new cadets. I guess a lot of humans are gullible to the extent that they can kill. In this scenario, it does make sense then to believe that fan boys can can be easily selective in their reading and illogical in their subsequent reasoning.

What I find more disturbing than these fanboys is the consequent growth of negligence of excellence in one's daily life. More and more people seem to be okay with something average as long as it was produced by something "cool"- be it photography, design , music, arts, literature etc. Since everything is connected, the complacency extends to other aspects of one's life- food, hygiene, accommodations etc. In India people love to blame everybody else except themselves and it is borne out of a similar attitude. What they dont realize is that they have to be the change that they want to be.

I do hope though that one day the fanboys of the world awake from their stupor and rebel against the prejudices in their head like the people did in Egypt against their dictator. This, however, is going to be a tougher revolution to win but worth every pound of flesh.

On a final note, a very interesting aspect of fanboys are that they start accusing you of things that they are actually guilty of themselves. This happens when they know sub-consciously that they have lost the logical fight. They will use very innane logic of confrontation to sound somewhat intelligent- to such extents that they would destroy their own arguments. This guy did not care that I have worked on macs and handled apple products on a daily basis much longer than he has and said that it was my personal experiences and it did not count!! Aren't reviews supposed to be from personal experiences? I would trust his word about something that he has tried out for a longer period of time before I have - or trust someone else who tried the same thing longer than he had! The community that he has built is based on this very fact and that's why he has his fan following- he has more experience than most others and done things that others haven't and that's why people look to him for advice. So when he says that my vast experience could not match his short spotty experience, he, in one swooping statement demolished the very foundation that made him known for who he is. Well, that's what being a fan boy can do to someone- even to this young intelligent man. They are truly amusing!