The blood in your veins pumps through with certain inevitability. Straight to your heart for purification, back out through your body and then the cycle continues. On the outside, the world follows a similar pattern. Each ephemeral but significant event serves as a cleansing agent. A time for you to step back and reassess everything you’ve succeeded in and everything you’ve failed at to this point. And you'll wear it on your face as you make promises and assure yourself that you will change this way and that way. You will feel this and that. You anticipate, you envision and then move on. You may even promise yourself to always remember that moment or event – and you may actually remember it the way you wanted. But you may forget about it years down the road. And either way is alright.
It comes as no surprise that life is a series of realizations each of which promises to be profound –for the time being at least. And pulling this cart of realizations is hope. Hope for that final realization (sigh), hope that the final realization truly is… profound. So that in the end, you can justify having lived.
There is nothing "profound" here – merely another realization. A realization that some things are just obvious.
April 13, 2006
April 10, 2006
Discovery
It was on a Sunday afternoon that I discovered spandex. I had finished my afternoon cup of tea and was mentally preparing myself for a good jog. Thats right - I jog. But that dreaded "ghissa" - oh fearful ghissa... curse you!
For those of you unfamiliar with *ghissa* -I shall explain. When you run and sweat profusely (as I do), sweat inevitably trickles down your inner thighs. When you slow down and do some walking (i.e. take a break from the running) the sweat dries up very quickly. As the inner thighs rub against each other over this wet (but steadily drying) skin - you develop - "ghissa". Its a burn and it hurts like a mother. For several months now my timid mind has boggled over a solution to this exceedingly bothersome problem. And now I have found it - spandex!
Now now - its alright. Its not like I'm wearing nut-huggers and running around the streets in a yellow tight top and spandex-bicycle shorts. I wear regular basketball shorts over the spandex - and maintain a very decent sense of (ahem) man...li... umm... ness. (yeah... shut up).
Fact is spandex and me are friends now. Spandex was developed for a reason and after much reluctance -I have tested it. Ladies and gentlemen, my conclusion is as follows: A careful use of spandex (note -"careful" use...) is allowed - you can continue to respect yourself and have others respect you if you wear spandex and conceal it well enough (please find note of caution below).
Note of caution: I still do not condone running in nothing but spandex on the street, sweating... panting... heaving... bleah! NO! ohhhhh... and you know who you are. You are dangerously falling closer and closer to the category of - "guy who runs in ridiculously short speedo shorts and no shirt". Think of the trauma young children experience when the witness these atrocities of gross negligience... of a severe lacking in civic sense. Spandex is a useful tool but must be used wisely. Inappropriat eusage can cause tremendous and possibly irrepairable damage. So go my young grasshoppers - and experience spandex freely - but carefully...
(oh.. and Kareena Kapoor... yeah - spandex didn't exist when Ashoka was king - SO YOU CAN'T BE WEARING THAT SHIT AND DANCING WITH HIM ON A RAFT IN A MOVIE BASED IN THAT PERIOD OF TIME!
I mean seriously - they took Ashoka... put him no a wooden raft and made him dance with a girl in spandex... r-a-i-g-h-t... I'm sure thats what Ashoka was doing... you know... in between his strategic sessions planning his quest for world domination... "oh! you know what!?... a nice boat ride with a gori in spandex and some dancing will be fun..." ...bhenchot... khassi bana diya uska.)
For those of you unfamiliar with *ghissa* -I shall explain. When you run and sweat profusely (as I do), sweat inevitably trickles down your inner thighs. When you slow down and do some walking (i.e. take a break from the running) the sweat dries up very quickly. As the inner thighs rub against each other over this wet (but steadily drying) skin - you develop - "ghissa". Its a burn and it hurts like a mother. For several months now my timid mind has boggled over a solution to this exceedingly bothersome problem. And now I have found it - spandex!
Now now - its alright. Its not like I'm wearing nut-huggers and running around the streets in a yellow tight top and spandex-bicycle shorts. I wear regular basketball shorts over the spandex - and maintain a very decent sense of (ahem) man...li... umm... ness. (yeah... shut up).
Fact is spandex and me are friends now. Spandex was developed for a reason and after much reluctance -I have tested it. Ladies and gentlemen, my conclusion is as follows: A careful use of spandex (note -"careful" use...) is allowed - you can continue to respect yourself and have others respect you if you wear spandex and conceal it well enough (please find note of caution below).
Note of caution: I still do not condone running in nothing but spandex on the street, sweating... panting... heaving... bleah! NO! ohhhhh... and you know who you are. You are dangerously falling closer and closer to the category of - "guy who runs in ridiculously short speedo shorts and no shirt". Think of the trauma young children experience when the witness these atrocities of gross negligience... of a severe lacking in civic sense. Spandex is a useful tool but must be used wisely. Inappropriat eusage can cause tremendous and possibly irrepairable damage. So go my young grasshoppers - and experience spandex freely - but carefully...
(oh.. and Kareena Kapoor... yeah - spandex didn't exist when Ashoka was king - SO YOU CAN'T BE WEARING THAT SHIT AND DANCING WITH HIM ON A RAFT IN A MOVIE BASED IN THAT PERIOD OF TIME!
I mean seriously - they took Ashoka... put him no a wooden raft and made him dance with a girl in spandex... r-a-i-g-h-t... I'm sure thats what Ashoka was doing... you know... in between his strategic sessions planning his quest for world domination... "oh! you know what!?... a nice boat ride with a gori in spandex and some dancing will be fun..." ...bhenchot... khassi bana diya uska.)
April 04, 2006
3 / √3 (confused? - well i am...)
ok seriously - I've had it with this. I'm seething right now - yeargh!
You see the fraction in the title above? I first came across this math problem "anomaly" over a year ago when a certain someone, while studying for the GMATs asked me - "what is 3 /√3 ?" I kid you not - This was a serious question. I passed it off then as a comical lapse. You know, you're studying very hard and sometimes the obvious just slips past you. Fair enough. It can happen to anyone. But that wasn't the last of it. It started originally as a lightly humorous joke. Until Arun and I found ourselves joking about it in front of people - and they didn't get it. Thats when the gravity of the situation hit. I started then - to explore (to-date without a solidified answer). I've posed this question to over 40 people now.
Now, I can imagine that some people hate math. I did -in school. Never liked it. I wasn't horrible at it - but I didn't like it. But thats not an excuse. If 2 + 2 = 4 is a fundamental question for a 3 year old then 3 /√3 is a fundamental question for ANY adult. Honestly, I can't believe this is actually an issue for people. BUT IT IS!
*deep breath*
Ok. Pose this question to the next person you meet. Ask them - "what is 3 /√3?" They may look at you for re-assurance that this is not a trick question. You MAY give them that assurance. I'm curious to know the responses you get. Try different audiences - and don't write it down for them. My current theory is that they're having a problem conceptualizing what three divided by the square root of 3 looks like in their head (which is strenuously dumbfounding on a different level).
I did try it on different people. I tried it on co-workers and friends. I brought it up while sharing a cab with people in D.C. or in casual conversations at hotel lobbies or in the gym. So far only TWO people have given me a straight and correct answer without getting flustered. My brother and Arun. My brother won a medal in his 10th boards for Math - so its safe to say his Math is strong. Arun's math is strong too - take my word for it. But do you have to be a math god to know this? I've asked computer science majors who work in esteemed consulting firms, to private business owners, to salespeople to even co-workers of mine in my group who graduated in Engineering from Ivy League schools. NONE OF THEM GOT IT!?
This is not a rocket science question. Nor is this some childish quest to prove to others how smart I am. I'll put it like this. If you know the answer - good... not GREAT... just good. If you don't know it (sigh)... its time to go back to school.
What is it? Is it the way you were taught math? It can't be. I spread my test population across different ethnicities. (Yes, EVEN the indians who studied Math in India - a subject we are so very proud of our success in - FAILED!)
First of all, I can't believe this is an actual test for me now. The best part is I was telling this story to a co-worker today about how you have to be retarded to not know the answer is to 3 /√3. He was looking at me as if it were the funniest thing I'd ever said.
I knew then that he didn't know. I asked him. He said 9. AND because he couldn't conceptualize it in his head, I had to walk thim through it using the laws of exponents.
What is that turns our minds to mush? Is it solar radiation? The spinning Earth? Britney Spears? What... WHAT!? I haven't pinned down a definitive answer yet... but i'm working on it.
By the way - my "mental-midget**" viewers,
- yeah you know who you are -
You can put away your calculators. The answer is √3.
**"Mental-Midget" - a coined Bahel phrase. If you don't understand the phrase - you fall into its category. Pleasingly self-serving :-)
You see the fraction in the title above? I first came across this math problem "anomaly" over a year ago when a certain someone, while studying for the GMATs asked me - "what is 3 /√3 ?" I kid you not - This was a serious question. I passed it off then as a comical lapse. You know, you're studying very hard and sometimes the obvious just slips past you. Fair enough. It can happen to anyone. But that wasn't the last of it. It started originally as a lightly humorous joke. Until Arun and I found ourselves joking about it in front of people - and they didn't get it. Thats when the gravity of the situation hit. I started then - to explore (to-date without a solidified answer). I've posed this question to over 40 people now.
Now, I can imagine that some people hate math. I did -in school. Never liked it. I wasn't horrible at it - but I didn't like it. But thats not an excuse. If 2 + 2 = 4 is a fundamental question for a 3 year old then 3 /√3 is a fundamental question for ANY adult. Honestly, I can't believe this is actually an issue for people. BUT IT IS!
*deep breath*
Ok. Pose this question to the next person you meet. Ask them - "what is 3 /√3?" They may look at you for re-assurance that this is not a trick question. You MAY give them that assurance. I'm curious to know the responses you get. Try different audiences - and don't write it down for them. My current theory is that they're having a problem conceptualizing what three divided by the square root of 3 looks like in their head (which is strenuously dumbfounding on a different level).
I did try it on different people. I tried it on co-workers and friends. I brought it up while sharing a cab with people in D.C. or in casual conversations at hotel lobbies or in the gym. So far only TWO people have given me a straight and correct answer without getting flustered. My brother and Arun. My brother won a medal in his 10th boards for Math - so its safe to say his Math is strong. Arun's math is strong too - take my word for it. But do you have to be a math god to know this? I've asked computer science majors who work in esteemed consulting firms, to private business owners, to salespeople to even co-workers of mine in my group who graduated in Engineering from Ivy League schools. NONE OF THEM GOT IT!?
This is not a rocket science question. Nor is this some childish quest to prove to others how smart I am. I'll put it like this. If you know the answer - good... not GREAT... just good. If you don't know it (sigh)... its time to go back to school.
What is it? Is it the way you were taught math? It can't be. I spread my test population across different ethnicities. (Yes, EVEN the indians who studied Math in India - a subject we are so very proud of our success in - FAILED!)
First of all, I can't believe this is an actual test for me now. The best part is I was telling this story to a co-worker today about how you have to be retarded to not know the answer is to 3 /√3. He was looking at me as if it were the funniest thing I'd ever said.
I knew then that he didn't know. I asked him. He said 9. AND because he couldn't conceptualize it in his head, I had to walk thim through it using the laws of exponents.
What is that turns our minds to mush? Is it solar radiation? The spinning Earth? Britney Spears? What... WHAT!? I haven't pinned down a definitive answer yet... but i'm working on it.
By the way - my "mental-midget**" viewers,
- yeah you know who you are -
You can put away your calculators. The answer is √3.
**"Mental-Midget" - a coined Bahel phrase. If you don't understand the phrase - you fall into its category. Pleasingly self-serving :-)
Modernization!
"The Operations, Maintenance and Development Agreements and the share holders agreements have been signed," India's aviation minister said.
In January, the government announced that the two airports will be leased to private companies. The move was opposed by trade unions and airport employees.
The GMR group, a leading construction firm based in south India, won the contract to modernise Delhi airport along with its German partner Fraport.
Another leading construction company, GVK, won a similar contract for Mumbai airport with Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA)."
- BBC News (www.bbc.co.uk/news)
excellent... this is great news. Hopefully the project will be handled in the same way that the Underground Trains in Delhi were - strategically, efficiently and expeditiously.
In January, the government announced that the two airports will be leased to private companies. The move was opposed by trade unions and airport employees.
The GMR group, a leading construction firm based in south India, won the contract to modernise Delhi airport along with its German partner Fraport.
Another leading construction company, GVK, won a similar contract for Mumbai airport with Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA)."
- BBC News (www.bbc.co.uk/news)
excellent... this is great news. Hopefully the project will be handled in the same way that the Underground Trains in Delhi were - strategically, efficiently and expeditiously.
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