There is a mouse on my desk!

What is a mouse?…ask this question and I am sure that many will refer to the computer mouse. Today for a common man, whatever resembles a real mouse is a small rat and if it is a little bigger it is a rat The fact is that even taxonomists find it difficult to differentiate between the genus rattus and the genus mus just by its morphology; the reason being that both are from the same family of muroid / muridae which is very large and complex. (1)

The situation is worse if your workplace is inhabited by rats. A colleague of mine called upon the admin facility and told them that there is a mouse on her desk for which the janitor darted back saying that if there is an extra mouse, call the computer stores department. Disgusted by this response, she called upon the receptionist and told the situation; the receptionist added a bit of humor to the response claiming that there is a mouse in every other desk-space in the office. Hearing this, the real cause of confusion dawned and my colleague corrected the ‘mouse’ with a ‘rat’…

We have been using the word mouse over and over again in the computer’s context that the real ‘mouse’ has lost its real meaning. This is not only for ‘mouse’…we have been using certain phrases or doing certain actions so many times that the real part of the word/action has lost its purpose.

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat

A different experience @ Auroville marathon 2010

It was a different experience running the Auroville marathon. Eerie silence of the forest trail made the falling dew drops to sound like falling stones. The marathon was more than a physical run…I ran through the forest , ran deep into my self and ran to the beat of my heart (the running bib mentioned this aptly as ‘run easy, run to the beat of your heart’!). As a bonus pack, my eyes spotted the red vented bulbul and a monitor lizard during the run. I felt refreshed completing the Auroville marathon.

I completed the half marathon in 3 hrs, 16 mins... eight minutes late than my previous timing. It is time to change my shoes and step up my practice as well :)