What Keeps Me Going

What keeps you going may be different, but I think books keep me going. More accurately, reading...coz it could be comics like Phantom or Asterix, not books alone. I am reading one called "Genome" right now, which tries to explain what genes do for us- which is almost everything! Nicely written, if I can understand some of it. The analogy with computers- or rather, digital on/off switches is also effective, and explains a lot that happens inside us. But then, are we a machine, or a learning machine, or an 'atma' searching for the 'parmaatma'? That is still not clear. Does it matter? Probably not, considering our insignificant life span compared with the cosmic one. But how else can we pass our time, if not ruminating on profound fundas?

Productivity in Arts

How do we measure productivity in arts? Is quality related to productivity? For example, in teaching/academics, the current trend is to measure a person's "greatness" or GQ, by the number of papers he/she has published. In general, my feeling is, whenever we are unable to judge quality, we measure quantity, and think we have done a great job. Maybe this needs a rethink. What if the guy who wrote Ramayana wrote nothing else?