Monthly Archives: June 2026

Fourth World

Posted by on June 18, 2026 No comments

200 AE

Narul and Pespa sat in the warm outdoor seating of Narul’s house. Pespa looked around. It was a modest house, just like hers. ‘May be that is why we are friends’, Pespa thought. The house was a modest one, it was on the 180th floor of 110th building of the Inter complex. There were many such complexes around. These complexes were all very big and housed mostly such modest houses. The house was not decorated heavily, neither was it too empty. Pespa felt comfortable there, as comfortable as was allowed by the rules of the society. Narul looked at Pespa, “It is warm”, Pespa said, she kept the conversation going, although it was not much on that day, it was mostly a dull exchange of regular words, she had thought. Both Narul and Pespa looked ahead. Ahead, in front of them was an entire line and world of very tall building structures. “I am done here, I think”, Narual said, she looked at Pespa, “this place has nothing to offer us. It is the same old routine of getting up, getting out of  the  house and getting lost in a crowd of a million people, just to get to a nearby shop. Sometimes, I think, I’ll die just being here”. She stopped. Pespa did not say anything. “I feel the same sometimes”. She said after a bit of time.

Some more bit of time passed. “Why the hell do you think we were born here”? The question came, it took Pespa by surprise. Sure, she was also getting bored there, but, her views were not as extreme, as Narul’s. Pespa waited. “Do you think it is possible, here, to live a progressive and interesting life. Because all I see around is an extremely unnoteworthy crowd, with an extremely mundane set of possibilities. A thought  of doing nothing at all or just dying serving someone might come to the mind”. What Pespa thought had come to happen. ‘She is there now, she is not going to stop. There is no way to stop her now. She is going to go on and on about this place and future’. Pespa had to say something, “I hear that”, then she kept quiet. Both of them looked ahead. Ahead, an entire mountain, flat and gigantic, made of buildings, structures, bridges, trains and smoke, rose in front of them. It was not going anywhere. The mountain had a life, it had colours, but, grey stood out. It had all the things one would need to survive, but, no charm needed to make it interesting. Both the women looked ahead. They were sitting in the balcony section of the apartment on the 180th floor. The ground was not visible from there, it was not going to be visible any time soon, it would take a summer and a good day to get that view, they both knew it and that view was not without the thoughts of falling down to one’s death or without some such disturbing thought. It was not a view, it was a vulgarity. The line came from a book Narul had recently read. The book, ‘20th collection of shortest stories’, sat on a shelf in Narul’s bedroom. The book was a 20th book in the series that had 3000 books. The book next to it was the ‘14th collection of shortest stories’. ‘I have only 10 from the series’, Narul had thought on multiple occasions. ‘I hope I can finish them all’, Narul had thought, ‘in 120 years that I have here’. Both Narul and Pespa kept quiet.

The balcony grew hotter and hotter, as the two suns set slowly, on the horizon, it  was always like that. Smoke rose from below, engulfing the view of the skyscrapes. The skyscrapes was were they had spent all their lives. They knew no other way of life. None of the people around them knew any other way of life. “That’s what we do around here”, Pespa said, “we are born here, we die here. There is no other way. You are born, you go to school, you get your degreen, then, you get a job and then you get married, hopefully somewhere nearby. You say ‘hello’ to people you know and you become wary of people you don’t know. If something different happens, you go report it to the police”. Pespa was done. “Overall, a dull tone”, Narul said, “I wonder when this would change”, she added. They both enjoyed the extra warm, smoke filled grey evening of the evening. It was going to be over soon, to make way for the extra grey and black evening and night.

“Did you get your degreen certificate yet”? Narul asked Pespa. “Yes, what about you”? “Yes, I did get it too”. Narual replied. “What are you going to do now with it”? “With the current context, I am going to make a rocket out of it and fly to the planet Honkar, it is the nearest one, I don’t want to lose touch with the culture here”, Narul said. “Alright”, came the reply, they both laughed. They both looked ahead, out into the open skyscrapes view. None of them talked for a while, for the evening they were probably done. “Let’s just sit now for a while, then, we’ll think about doing something”, Pespa said. Narul got a little angry, she looked at Pespa up and down and said, “no, I am not going to just sit here, in fact, I am going to so something, I want to get out of this smokey jam, I need to get into my bedroom and start looking for something to do, you can join me or leave”.

Gravity Wave

Posted by on June 14, 2026 No comments

30 BE

Professor Pichak entered the classroom. It was the classroom containing some 60 students, it was the class of college juniors, it was the first year of their technical college. All the students quieted down. Pichak looked at the class full of students and smiled very lightly. It was going to be a little different today. For the last 10 classes, the students had been instructed in the lessons about gravity, etc, using mathematical representations. Now, though, professor knew it, that, it was time to take a different path. ‘Who knows what comes out of it’? It was this thought that professor had when he entered the classroom. The class looked good, there was some hope there, the professor had a passing thought. He put it aside. And, then, launched into his lecture.

“Quiet please”, Pichak instructed the class, “we are going to continue about the lessons from the last class. This class is a little different though. We are going to put the mathematics aside and we are going to look at a subject from a different point of view. This view is not represented using mathematics. No one has bothered to have this view. One is free to apply their knowledge of mathematics to this theory”.

Pichak looked at the class and continued. “Gravity is something we are going to look at today. I know that, we have looked at the concept of gravity previously. I do not wish to repeat that. We all know the gravitational constant, ‘g’. It is a type of acceleration. We know where to use ‘m a squared’. We can calculate using this. In a nutshell, it is the rate of change of velocity when you apply gravity to an object”.

“No one escapes this. An object that goes up has to come down, unless, one achieves the ‘escape velocity’. This nature of gravity is well defined using theory and equations. But, there is one thing to consider. That, gravity has a different nature than represented in mathematics. It is a little subjective view. Again, one is free to rattle their brains and come up with a mathematical formulae for this. This view is different. You must have watched the movie, ‘Avatar’. It was a good movie, the special effects were spectacular. But, don’t get fooled by the colours in the movie. There is a concept of gravity in that movie, that we should not miss. It comes from the concept of ‘flux’ shown in relation to gravity. You can observe the planet very close to ‘Pandora’ and the ‘flux’ zone between that planet and ‘Pandora’. The big masses of mountains seem to float in that zone, with the effect of gravity possibly nulled by the presence of 2 planets. It is an interesting concept”.

The professor turned around and looked at the time on the clock, behind him. It was 3:41. The professor turned back, to face the class. The class listened to the professor. “This ‘flux vortex’ needs to be observed. The mountains there are getting pulled by the gravity of the other planet, as well as the gravity of ‘Pandora’. In effect, nullifying the forces of gravity on those mountains. But, an interesting question comes up. Why doesn’t this ‘flux’, this nullification apply to the people on the planet of ‘Pandora’. Why are they exempt from this ‘flux’. The answer may be found by considering the gravity as a 2 way force. It not only pulls, but also pushes. That is why the people, then, and also other objects, will stay on ‘Pandora’. It may be the nature of gravity to ‘pull and push’. So, an object on ‘Pandora’ is pulled as well as is pushed by the gravity of the other planet. This may be the true nature of gravity. It pulls and pushes. A question might come up as to why those mountains then don’t fall back, like other objects. The answer may be that, effect of mass applies and also their position on ‘Pandora’ which is on the side of the other planet. The other planet does not rotate around ‘Pandora’. The effect / reason for this can be studied. I encourage you to study it. So, this is how gravity can be explained, apart from the standard theory”.

The professor was done now. He looked at the class. The students were quiet now. It was as if they were a little frozen. ‘They must not have expected this. They might have studied in advance. And also, there may be a question about the examination, this pull-push theory is not standard and will not be coming up in the examination paper’. Pichak waited. The class was quiet. He looked far ahead, inside the class, he looked at.the last benches. Those benches were also quiet. Some of the students on the last benches seem to smile lightly.

Software/Game for City Building

Posted by on June 11, 2026 No comments

I looked at some games and tried to decide which one to get/buy in order to make maps for my world building. I liked a game, ‘City: Skylines II’. It looks good. But, it is not cheap and it is large in size. I wish both these factors to be not there for my needs. I need the game or any software to build maps for my world, I wish to add buildings, areas, roads, etc. It might be a tough task also, using a game/software to create maps. It is an activity which will take some time learning. I want to keep things simple and fast. So, a 2D option will be good. A software or a combination of multiple software options to make a 2D map seems to be the choice now. Simple squares, rectangles and other such 2D shapes would suffice for my purpose, of course, different colours will be used.

Maid In

Posted by on June 10, 2026 No comments

Ratoja walked to the window of his house and waited. He looked above, from the window. Up above, the sky was blue with some clouds and some trees reached up. It was a quiet afternoon. There was no one in sight. The sky showed signs of the sun. So, did the trees. The trees swayed lightly with the wind. The clouds did not move. Ratoja looked down, downwards. There was a familiar structure down there, he could see it from his window on the 14th floor. From the 14th floor, it was clearly visible. Ratoja sighed. He did not have to think. The building was 4 stories high, and it was situated right between the 3 14 storey buildings, the 3 buildings surrounded the small building. The small building, named Satora belonged to a specific type of people, it was built exactly for that. It was made for the maids that worked in the tall buildings, the maids lived there with their families. One could see constant ins and outs from the Satora building throughout the day. It was afternoon, the ins and outs were a little low.

But, not zero. In a moment, 2 maids walked out of the main gate of Satora. Those 2 females, belonging to the age group of around 25-30 walked towards one of the tall buildings. Ratoja was somehow happy seeing this. It was obvious. He would not have to work the chores inside the house. The maids were not coming to his house, he knew that. The maids worked in specific houses. Overall, the presence of a total of 15 houses in Satora provided enough people for the tall buildings, in terms of household help and even security. The maids walked and disappeared inside one of the tall buildings, the building into which they walked was the one right in front of where Ratoja was standing, it was in front of his building.

In another 10 minutes, the clock in his house showed the time of 3:21. It was afternoon and the maid who came to their house to work must have arrived, the bell to the house rang. Ratoja continued to stand near the window. It was the routine. ‘Would you get the door’? Ratoja asked his wife, who was inside. That was also the routine. ‘Yes’, came the reply and his wife walked out of the bedroom and walked towards the door, this too, was routine. ‘There is nothing else but routine here’, Ratoja expressed to himself and waited, this expression was also routine, Ratoja looked down, from the window, towards the ground, which was far away. In an audible click, his wife opened the door, the door closed behind the maid, Dira, with a loud thud. Dira entered the house, looked around, took one look at Ratoja and walked inside, into the kitchen, she was not too brisk, she was not too slow either. Ratoja often wondered what it was. His wife walked behind Dira, into the kitchen. A minute went by and soon the kitchen and the house was full with loud thuds and clinks of the utensils being rubbed and washed, Dira talked to his wife, his wife talked to Dira, the words were lost on Ratoja, but, he caught the general tone. ‘What do they talk about? I don’t really want to get into it. I am not a woman’. Ratoja continued looking down from the window. The sounds from the kitchen continued. The thuds, clinks, words and laughter mixed and formed a mix. In about a minute, a loud sound came from the kitchen, one particular utensil, a big steel pot fell on the ground, it must have slipped from the hands of Dira, the utensil bounced and made lous noises before it settled down, this was not the first time this had happened. Ratoja did not bother to look from the window. He continued looking outside. The afternoon wore a hot, but, active look. ‘It is quite possible to work here, in this heat, in the afternoon. It may not be necessary to take a break, to get an afternoon sleep’. Ratoja continued looking out of the window.

After some minutes, he turned around and looked inside the house. The floor would soon be cleaned by Dira, under a mild supervision from his wife. It was all very desirable. Cleanliness was important. ‘I don’t know what we would do without this domestic help. They are handy and cheap’. He waited. Dira soon emerged from the kitchen and started cleaning the house, his wife followed Dira and looked around. The cleaning took the regular amount of time, it was about 10 minutes. His wife seemed to get more and more pleased as the house got cleaned, she did not have to move a muscle for it, it was a mild pleasing of her mind. Nobody said a word for a while. The cleaning was done in the usual fashion and Dira left the house, again, closing the door behind her, a loud thud could be heard. Ratoja moved and sat down on the couch.

The couch was pink and white in color and to the liking of both Ratoja and his wife. Both of them sat down on the couch. It was afternoon. They had nothing to do. Casually, Ratoja turned on the TV with the remote control. The TV came on, with the previously watched channel showing, Ratoja watched, his wife watched it more. It was some channel of interest to her. Ratoja did not touch the remote control, his wife seemed to watch the TV with interest. He let her watch the TV. The TV showed some channel with some people talking, Ratoja watched, only with the intention of being able to answer any question that came from his wife about the show. Ratoja watched, his wife sat next to him. The people on the TV screen talked in a local language, they seemed to quarrel a little. Ratoja’s eyes were on the screen. His wife laughed after about a minute. Ratoja brought up a mild smile on his face. The show continued. Half an hour went by and finnlly the show was over, or, it was his wife, Ratoja was not really sure, with some speed, he had changed the channel. It was a news channel now. “You have to pay attention now”, the lady reading the news read, “this is an important piece of news. As our nation gets trapped in this new virus, we all must act in the right way. The government has issued guidelines on what to do. It is a virus which can infect people through breathing. So, everyone must be careful. You should avoid public places if you can. You are advised to be caerful when doing so. Please wear a mask and protect yourself by keeping your hands clean. The government will keep issuing guidelines and advise. Please stay tuned for more information. You are advised not to leave the house. Stay indoors and stay safe”. Ratoja looked at his wife, she had taken in the information from the news. She looked at Ratoja. They both did not speak. A minute passed by. And, a mild commotion could be heard from outside, Ratoja quickly got off the couch and went to the window. From there, he could see what was happening. A group had gathered there, below. There were many people from the tall buildings and there were people from Satora. There were about 20 people there. Ratoja could not grasp the words, but, he could sense some things. In a minute, the group seemed to reach some kind of consensus and they stopped talking. Then, they walked towards the main gate of the building complex. They reached there and had the gate shut, completely. Then, the group waited there, with the gate completely shut. All the 4 buildings were now closed off from the world. Ratoja watched. He would now keep watching, for no one was going to come in or go out, now.

Discrete Hour

Posted by on June 5, 2026 No comments

Professor Rotil entered the classroom and looked at the students. He was not particularly happy that morning, he never was happy in the morning. He looked at the students and asked, “quiet please”, the students collectively went into a quiet state immediately. Professor walked up to the blackboard, then, he kept down his books on the table in front of it. He looked at the class again. He asked, looking at the right hand side of the class in general, “where were we the last time”? No one answered.

A half minute went by.

Then, a hand came up, it was a female student from the second bench. “Yes”, came the  word from the professor. The student got up from her seat and answered, “sets”. “Alright”, the professor acknowledged the answer, and motioned the student to sit down. The student sat down. Professor took half a minute and then turned towards the blackboard. He wrote, “Permutations” there.

“Alright, in the last lecture we must have seen the sets, which is a type of discrete mathematical structure. I repeat, the discrete mathematical structures are the ones which are not continuous. A range of real numbers between, say, 1 and 10 can be called continuous, as they can take on values like, 1.1, 1.12, 9.8, etc. There is no limit to their numbers. Discrete structures on the other hand, are not continuous, they can be counted and the count can be represented using a number”.

Professor Rotil looked at the class and continued. “A set having, say, 12 elements can be called a discrete structure. A set is a mathematical structure which has elements in an unordered fashion”. A hand rose up, from the first bench. It was a male student, named Kauti. “Yes”, the professor acknowledged the student. Kauti got up and asked, “are lists and arrays such structures too”? Professor sat him down with a motion of his hand and continued, “these are structures, but, these can be called computational structures rather than mathematical structures”. “The theory on this is loose and undefined, you are free to take a stab at it. It’ll be best, though, for the purpose of this class, to focus on the mathematics”. The professor then continued.

“Today, we are going to see permutations. This is another discrete mathematical structure. Again, this structure lacks the property of being continuous. Permutations can be defined as a set of elements taken from a set of elements, the order is important. Let’s say k elements taken from a set of n elements. Permutations count the number of such possibilities. There is a fixed formula for this”. Then, the professor started to write on the blackboard. The class, Kauti and the female student listened, some wrote things down in the notebook, the class was nearly quiet. The professor wrote the formula for permutations on the blackboard, some students copy it. The, he proceeded to explain the formula using an example. “Let’s say we have 10 people and 5 chairs. The problem is to find the number of ways in which the 5 people from this set of 10 people can be seated on the 5 chairs. We just have to apply the formula to calculate the number of ways”. Then, he applied the formula and wrote down the answer on the board. Some students copied it and some students just watched. The professor then looked at the class and let the students digest the lesson. He looked around, at the class, he took a minute.

“Next”, he started, “is the graph”, he said and started wiping the board, “the graph is another discrete structure”, he was done wiping the board and he started drawing on the board. He drew a graph on the board. “A graph is a set of nodes connected by straight lines. Here, this graph has 7 nodes and 8 connections. Again, this is a discrete mathematical structure owing to the fact that it has no continuous nature”. He continued, describing the graph.

At the back bench, a couple of students were completely lost, they had barely grasped the concepts of graph and permutations. They were lost in their own worlds. Their worlds did not cross into the world of the professor, other students or the discrete mathematical structures. They were 2 of them. One of them was sitting by the window. As the professor spoke, an image of his mother flashed in front of his eyes, and he got lost into what had happened that morning. He zoned out of the class and into his house. In a minute, the words of the professor which were related to mathematics became a lullaby for him and he fell asleep, by the window.