Probability

Once when stepping out of home in the night to buy bread from downstairs, I wondered what would be the odds of me crossing paths with my dad who would be on his way home from work.

This presents an interesting probability puzzle which I have laid out below.

Assume I have to go from A to C and my dad has to go from B to A as per the diagram above. I am equally likely to take the route ADGFC or the route ADEFC. My dad will always take the BGDA route. My dad walks at 100 meters/min while I walk at 125 meters/min. What is the probability of us meeting on the way if my dad is equally likely to start from B anytime between 9.00 pm and 9.30 pm and I am equally likely to start A at any time between 9.10 pm and 9.20 pm?

Treat assured to the first correct answer... :)

I can't hear you

Did you say something?
It sounded very sweet
I want to hear it again
Could you please repeat?

Hello are you still there?
I want to hear it again
Yes, those very lines
That you've been sayin'

Could you speak up a bit?
Silence makes me tense
I still can't hear you
This isn't making sense.

Wild Goose Chase

I chased a red herring
And quite lost my bearing
I searched my way back home
In the narrow streets of Rome

Pulled an arrow from my quiver
Loaded my crossbow with a shiver
Aimed the arrow at her head
I wanted her in my bed

But the arrow hit her mom
Oh my! She raised a storm!
She chased me with a broom
I couldn't be the groom

I had nowhere to run
So I stared into the sun
And sang a sorrowful song
Where O Where did I go wrong

The sun couldn't wait all night
He soon got out of sight
The stars took up his place
Casting their light upon my face

Now I need a cot to sleep
Some place warm, cosy and cheap
Tomorrow I resume my quest
But first a good night's rest

Time the Slayer

Time kills love
Time kills youth
Time kills desire
Time kills joy
Time kills grief
Kill time before it kills you...

Mumbai

A year back when I was posted in Manchester on a McKinsey assignment, I often yearned to be back in Mumbai. I was willing to forsake the pleasant English summer for the heat and humidity of my hometown. After all, this city played host to all my friends. More than I could ever keep in touch in with. No dearth of them. Every weekend I was spoilt for choice between the number of possible people I could meet. In fact, there were so many of those with whom I even made several plans to catch up that never materialized due to lack of time.

And now I long to be back in Manchester.

Suddenly this bustling metropolis seems emptier than it has ever felt. One by one, I seemed to have lost almost every one of those persons I had the option to hang out with. Most of them have left the city. Some have drifted out of touch into their own circles. Some refuse to talk to me. Another couple of months and I expect to lose the remaining few as well. Office has become lonely. Weekends lack their sheen. Powai seems so distant.

Now I yearn to be back in Manchester - crazy weather, Picadilly gardens, Trafford Center, Deansgate Locks, football obsession, the lure of London and all the wilderness...

Five years ago...

I wasn't too hopeful. The rumour mill had pegged my chances to be pretty low. There was scandalous talk of secret affairs and underhand dealings. There were intense discussions at the canteen each night, analyzing and dissecting every clue we picked up each day - the stray words we heard them speak, the deceptive looks they gave us.

But I was wrong. They called me up one weekday afternoon and asked me to come to the coffee shack. I was excited and yet nervous when I got there. I had an inkling that I would be greeted with good news.

Instead, I was greeted with an indecipherable smile and a piercing glance. It didn't take long for them to come to the point. They sought a commitment. And the commitment meant a sacrifice, it meant taking a chance with something that had shaped my identity for the past 20 years. They were sitting there gauging my reactions to check how sure I was. It was a sacrifice they sought in return for placing their confidence in me.

I wasn't sure at all. Yet they had made an offer that I had no heart to refuse. At that moment, I decided to take the plunge. I pretended to be sure when I said yes. And then there was no turning back.

Five years have elapsed since that unforgettable afternoon at the coffee shack. I shudder to think back at the sheer magnitude of the impact my decision has had on my life in the years that followed. Everything that followed - most of my friends, my work, my love, my ambitions - all sprouted from that one moment when I stopped thinking and took the plunge.

A blog is sometimes the ideal way to relieve stress... Especially when its not about work. And even more so when you are helpless.

But what the hell, we will still prevail.

ZZZzzz...

A three day long weekend is usually enough reason to be excited and offers potential to do a whole bunch of new and crazy things. But mine has been dull, dreary, sleepy, boring, lonely.... ZZzzz..

Storm

There's an eerie silence in the air
Maybe I heard a faint rumbling in the distance
Or is it just my imagination?
Feels like the lull before a storm!

Preconceived Notions

Human beings love to simplify. One way to simplify is to create a structure, a rule, a generalization... Some framework which would allow them to be able to explain things around them and predict future outcomes (consultants particularly love frameworks!)
And its in this love for simplification are born stereotypes... and even worse - preconcieved notions!
Why take the effort to understand complex human behaviour?
Why care about the reasons underlying a person's actions?
Why bother to observe that things change and people evolve with time?
Isn't it much easier to judge (Note: humans also love to judge) on the basis of a simplistic preconcieved notion?

Unusual weekend

Here is why:-

1. Spent saturday night at home - Can't remember when that last happened

2. Worked a few hours on Saturday and Sunday - Can't remember when that last happened either!

3. India won, Chelsea won and Arsenal lost - Something to cheer about

4. Finally found true love - Catherine Zeta Jones after watching The Mask of Zorro :P

5. Actually enjoyed a vegetarian chinese meal - The most shocking of them all!

Keep Talking

It doesn't have to be like this
All we need to do is to make sure we keep talking...

Today's playlist

1. Stadium Arcadium - RHCP
2. Space Trucking - Deep Purple
3. Afraid To Shoot Strangers - Iron Maiden
4. Layla - Eric Clapton
5. Estranged - Guns N Roses
6. L. A. Woman - The Doors
7. Snow (Hey Oh) - RHCP
8. Iron Man - Black Sabbath
9. Mama Said - Metallica
10. Jeremy - Pearl Jam

Such are the times...

When mindless banter
Forms the bulk of my rhymes
And deafening silence
Is a verdict on my crimes;
I have to exclaim
Such are the times!!

The Painting

Give me a palette full of colours
And a canvas to splash them upon
Watch the strokes of my paintbrush
On the canvas, its innocence gone!

Give me shades of grey
And a few drops of red
I see a fountain of colours
Exploding in my head

Give me a box full of matches
And I'll set this painting ablaze
Hungry flames engulf my canvas
While I sit back and watch in a daze