Everybody Thinks....

I thought I'd write something about how incredible Mathematics is as a subject... how differentiation and integration used to fascinate me back in my school days... how I used to love the fact that I could do all those sums right... how I actually understood the concepts; it wasn't just rote learning... how the next set of steps in the equation solving flashed through my mind even while I was jotting down the question :)

But then my thought wandered off to somebody with an entirely different perspective on the same subject... someone who asks me how is she supposed to know when to do a "-1" on both sides of an equation, someone for whom the Binomial theorem holds no more meaning than a bunch of C's strewn together with some random numbers, someone who hasn't quite caught hold of how to take an LCM to this day... And then I remembered with a smile on my face the brilliant solution she had to a simple problem..

Area of the Triangle: 1/2 (AB)(BC) = 1/2 A(2B)C = ABC ;)

It was not until recently that I came to acknowledge the fact that her mind would have been so clear when she thought of this.. so devoid of any other mathematical mesh (the formulas and the equations which cloud my mind all the time) that she was able to think of this.... Honestly, I could have never pulled this one off... So, I came to the conclusion that she did apply her mind after all... so what if it implied something absurd.... Maybe some day she'll come up with a masterpiece.... I'm keeping my fingers crossed.. :)

Save the Grammar !!

"I didn't saw you coming !"
I wince every time I hear a 'did' or a 'did not' with some past tense verb... it aches my heart that 9 out of 10 people use it so confidently, so unflinchingly that it almost seems right... this is just one of the grammatical disasters that has entered into the casual way of things... youngsters picking it up from their friends who in turn might've picked it up from somebody else... this and the 'THE' ghost never seem to leave me alone... why do some people have the habbit of using it alternatively as if their fluency depends on this one word... or as if it is the only word they find worth using... I sometimes want to scream out aloud and tell them to get it right but then that ways I'd have nothing else to do but shout...

Oh, c'mon.. I am not being arrogant about what I know... it is just that I am sad at the level of ignorance people have embraced and the irony is they don't even realize it...

READ... this is all I plead to people... it could be anything... from a novel you like to your young sibling's fresh course books to a roadside banner or the sub-title of a TV commercial... It helps... TRUST ME !!!

Sunday Treats :)

The other day, I watched Mahabharata on youtube... sounds weird no... but I did; I get these weird cravings every now and then to feel at home and I do such things as I just mentioned...
the first two episodes were about "how ganga marries shantanu and kills his seven sons to free them of the curse Brahma had given them"... it was all very mystic... though the photography was poor, it had a familiar feeling.... it reminded me of our mowgli days... how we used to get up early on Sunday mornings, freshen up and sit in front of the television sets to watch our favorite programs back to back... the jungle book... ramayana... chandrakanta (God, I forgot it completely)... captain vyom (can't believe we used to watch that)... And while we sat glued to the idiot box, my mother used to cook delicious aloo paranthas or macroni or the ohh-so-yummy bread omelette for us.... I reminisce and I am filled with nostalgia... there is something about old days always.... which makes them good old days :)

Small pleasures of Life !!!

I think I heard it in some debate competition I went to... "Small pleasures of life"
And it kind of stuck, no reason... some things just remain with you... apart from the lessons that life teaches you unwittingly, there are some which you imbibe willingly.... this one belonged to the latter category :)

How many times do we think about watching a movie with our families, all cousins huddled in one quilt (just like old times !!) rather than hopping over to the monotonous PVRs sprangled across the city? How many times do we think of going with our mothers to get the day's supply of vegetables and milk or to help her with some chore rather than thinking of buying her a car or getting her a maid? Don't you find the smell of hot home-made "pakoras" on a rainy day much more appealing than the best Italian pizza treat...

When did the transformation happen... we won't know... we have been too busy with ourselves to realize that... schooling.. graduation.. post grad.. jobs.. marriage.. kids.. their schooling... huufff !!! Its a vicious circle, howsoever fast you may run, you will never find an end to it and subsequently you will never find peace or contentment.... We need to understand that life is not about running, its about breaking the pace once in a while to appreciate the small pleasures of life... the odd sunrise from your balcony... the first shower of the season... the sound of your mother already bathed and cooking as you struggle to open your eyes in the morning... the buzz created when your father gets back home everyday...

Take care of the small things in life...
The big things will fall into place !!!

Its our life.. not yours !!

I remember hearing some generous men talking in a vintage movie that "women have reached great heights.. they are our equals... they deserve the right to vote"... The setup was aimed to imply the changing societal norms which didn't give this right to women of those times... As honest as their intentions might have been, it left me wondering at the orthodoxity rooted within....

"Why is it that women need to fight and earn their place as an equal, prove that they deserve to get even the basic fundamental rights which their male counterparts get without a flicker... doesn't our being human by default gives those rights to us"....

I might be thinking too hard, but it most certainly baffles me that almost no one around me thinks like this.. and I am not just talking about men....

I feel agitated at the mere thought that men actually think that they can rule our lives... they think they are broad minded enough not to demand dowry from the girl... (yes.. thats how they try to get away) but they don't realize that by demanding from her to stay at home, even expecting something like this from her; they aren't particularly away from it... they are taking the dowry of what she could have been.. what she could have acheived... And all this is in the name of culture (dont even get me started on why all the culture is for girls only...), my point is, aren't cultures meant to evolve... Hasn't our own culture been a part of that evolution due to which we are here at this point in this era...

Why is education considered to be important only as a survival kit for girls... why it can't be the path to a higher purpose in life... just like guyzz, we are entitled to that too !!!
But hey, we are not trying to stomp you guyz down... we just don't want to ask what is rightfully ours in the first place.. we should just get it... the default system which works for you applies here too.... After all we are equals!!!

I think I saw some light !!

Now, this one will be entirely symbolic.... writing in a public forum might make it highly controversial... may be when the right time comes, the people for whom this is intended would see that they did matter after all and they do hold a significant place in my life.....

I thought there was no scope... even though it wasn't exactly dark but the eternal dawn itself was becoming unbearable... the wishful thinking that the first morning light will soon be touching the horizon was unsurreptitiously spreading its roots within me... but nothing was happening, I was begining to loose faith... and just when I thought that I was hoping against hope it happened... it felt like its God's way of telling you that you can't arrange the pieces of the puzzle all by yourself... u see he's the one who is leading the game, not you!!! And when he ultimately decides to solve the zig-saw, he does it better than your imagination, better than what you could have asked for....

I know its coming late... But Happy Independence Day :)

There was nothing special about that day... it was extraordinarily ordinary... no one even remembered... people hardly find time for their families when they are at onsite, leave aside their country.... when it struck me, it was almost mid day (although I hate waking up late, seems like a whole day wasted, I somehow end up sleeping long hours all the time; sometimes get the feeling that my alarm keeps silent on purpose !!), my first thought was to get ready and watch BORDER... and I did precisely that... that movie instigates my patriotic feelings to high degrees...

I might be overtly sentimental about this, but I am entirely and absolutely in love with my country... I love everything about it right from the busy marketplaces to the narrow streets to the people-might-call-it unhygenic chat-papdi.... I find it endearing that inspite of everything that we have gone through, we still manage to smile, start afresh and strike hard at our goals...
I am blessed to be born in a country like ours... I know its cliche.... but its very much true.... I got everything here... everything I could have asked for...

I know there are problem areas we need to work upon... but I think the youth of this nation has understood this and is very well aware of the implications of leaving these concerns unattended...
I have faith that this realization above all is of utmost significance at this point of time and together we shall eliminate these problems.... We are on the path to glory... no one can stop that... the only question was to realize it...

Here we come !!!

Koi Deewana Kehta Hai !!!

I can't believe I missed this one... I can't imagine that just now I was thinking about a topic to write when this gem was unsurreptitiously hiding in my pocket all this while !!!
Before I go on... here it is.....
koi deewana kehta hai... koi pagal samajhta hai....
magar dharti ki becheni... ko bas badal samajhta hai.....
tu mujhse dur kaisi hai.. main tujhse duur kaisa hu....
ye mera dil samajhta hai.... ya mera dil samajhta hai........

I wont say much more... i dont want to steal the thunder from this one (as if I can !!!)...
so guys just go ahead and check out the below link.... trust me.... its fantastic :)
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGmttv48ytE"

The Niagra Falls !!!

This was the most obvious thing to do... I started weaving the phrases in my mind even while I was still in the lap of the most unyielding beauty I have ever seen.... THE NIAGRA FALLS !!!
'It was beautiful' might be an understatement, the light green hue makes you wonder if God has himself colored it that ways... 'it was exhilarating' might not completely define what I felt at that moment... I remember the particular instant when I could see the mighty water crashing on the rocks around me while I was holding the raincoat tightly around my ears and all I could hear was dead silence, not believing that there were around 50 people with me on the cruise... And then I let go... the mist falling on my face, I took in the thundering serenity keeping my eyes open all the while not to miss even a single second of the breathtaking opportunity...


It was as close as we could get.... scary and overwhelming at the same time... You have to see it to believe it.... the splashing water threatening to crash beyond its limits every instant and even though man, as stubborn as he is, has found a way to topple away nature's barriers and found a way into the very heart of it, you couldn't help but marvel in nature's audacity, stamping its presence, letting you know that it still rules, despite of everything ...

$@Ch Ka $@Mn@ !!!

A few days back I caught a glimpse of this very controversial but interesting serial, Sach ka Samna on youtube (television is a far-fetched dream now !!!) and even though everybody says its exactly like The Moment of truth, the level of questions of the same order... I still find it a couple of notches toned down from its American counterpart for the Indian audiences....
Well it has to be... what with the huge drama already surrounding it for no reason at all !!

The day before, I saw a heated discussion on Star News between Rajeev Khandelwaal (the show's celebrity host... he does a commendable job by the way), some MP (who looked like he had nothing else to do), Smriti Irani (aka the overrated Tulsi) and another lady (looked like the modern, independent and confident woman); all debating over whether the serial should be banned or not... there were talks about ethics and clean prime time viewing and the serial polluting young minds... Smriti went on and on about the content of the serial... poor Rajeev had little time to put across his point (I liked his counter statement that the K serials were no less with their backward portrayals of 4Xmarriages, concepts like mangliks n that we should be probably thinking about their adverse impact). The elegant lady also made a good point by saying that today's world is all about exhibitionism and its high time we stop the moral policing, she was taking the show as a mere entertainment mode.. no truth n lie strings attached...

I say, don't we have better, more life impacting issues that we can discuss about and help solve...
Why does everybody have to react so vigorously for such trivial occurrences, why does everybody hear a pin drop almost everytime when thunderstorms pass by unnoticed... There is female foeticide.. there is widow remarriage.. there is child labour... literacy problems... caste issues.... especially for India, the list is endless.... and still people find the time to babble on these non-issues.... Seriously, when are we going to get some perspective....

BIG PICTURE PLEASSEEEE !!!

I HATE MEETINGS !!!

I wrote it all in caps... as I didn't know how to press the keyboarcd buttons any harder to emphasize my point... Last week was a blur... meetings on and off... all sorts too... webex sessions.. netmeets... conference calls.... meetings to discuss some point.... meetings to re-discuss the same point.. meetings for nothing at all... people actually checking out my calendar to squeeze in their own meeting times in between the huge blocks which say "OCCUPIED" (why did I have to share it; should have given a diplomatic reply and come out of it :(.... )

The worst part is that in between all this , no work is getting done.... by the time I am able to concentrate on an issue (i.e. after attending long draining meetings), its time again for some other stupid meeting.... I feel like everything is closing in on me... feel like I want a breath of fresh air... clean of meetings so that I can do my work... something real.... something which they say the meeting are being held for....

Hey.. I have no grudge against them... let the management have them... let me be free till I can... I will anyday prefer a day full of work than one clogged by meetings :P