Resolutions

Whats a new year without a resolution anyway? Usually my resolutions centre around studying harder than the previous year, but since I wont be studying around the year this time I think a different flavour is in order this time around. This year my resolution is to lose 10 kgs at the minimum within this month. And guess what? There's a motivation behind it. I want to play cricket this time, that too with my own team. Already named it Third quadrant - nerdy as you might think the name is, its actually not. There is a team called Zeroes which has postioned themselves as the worst team in the league and is out to sabotage other teams chances of making it to the semis. Third Quadrant in mathematics is a place where everything is negative ( by that I mean all functions- sin, cos, tan, cosec, sec and cot- its a feat I remembered all six). So we are challenging their positioning as the worst team in the tournament.

I have already recruited or rather poached 3 members from last years team- namely Vikas the giant who gained 25 kgs after gorging on food at BIM, Abhik and Jiten. I would have called myself the biggest poach having played a game for the third ranked team from last year's tournament but then since I am the poacher-in-chief, I cant exactly call myself a poach. We need a few more and hence we are actively poaching. Only thing I fear is the other recruits might not be as good poachers as I am. 

So here's the best part- I get to lose weight and play cricket. Cricket has always been a passion hasnt it? It was always my dream to become a cricketer but then dreams arent something that are nurtured from the kind of background I come from and rightly so- one cant afford to see me try and fail as someone better off could have done.

A few memories come back- especially the famous straight drive that I perfected in my Para-cricket. You see there werent any other shots to play but then I could play it text book style, something that would have pleased the Rahul Dravids. The first shot that used to go for a straight boundary infuriated the bowlers who bowled even more faster fuelled by their anger, the fun part was the faster they bowled the easier was my task and the faster the ball travelled off the bat. As long as I didnt miss the ball, a boundary was an assured return. There are few things that bring joy in life, bisecting two to three fielders, standing almost in a straight line behind the bowler is one such thing. At first bowlers would be furious, then they would be awestruck but before anything else could happen either the sun would have set or the overs would have run out.

Another incident is my auditioning for a place in the team in class 11. I just had one pad on- on my left leg, since that is the front leg for a right hand bat. Its not to say I am foreign to wearing pads. my grandad bought me the entire cricket set around class 7 and since then, whenever I got a break from studies, I'd put on my gear and watch a match in progress. Coming back to the selection, I remember my being frightened, as I padded up to face the first Deuce ball ever from a fast bowler- that too he was non-bengali so were the rest of the team as we were supposed to play only for house teams- what a pity! 

One thing was assured- there would be no mercy. I was happily the last person to audition. I watched with anxious eyes as players got hit or hit bowlers out of the square. So I finally took my stance, the bowler took an unusually long run up- all that I thought about was not breaking a bone- somehow I would have to put bat to ball. I had not done well in my attempt to secure a place in the team as a bowler so this was my only hope but then I didnt want to break a bone even if it meant leaving a place on the team.

So the bowler steamed in and I just prayed, what more could I have done? With malice the bowler delivered, I put my bat down- then all I knew was that everyone was looking behind the bowler. I too looked. Was it a miracle? For as far as I could see a red speck was disappearing faster and faster into nothingness! It was a boundary- a straight drive to perfection. Then the same story- bowler gets furious, bowls faster, I repeat the process- the ball goes for a boundary every time. Different bowlers, same result. In their malice and hatred of seeing a non-bengali underrated player play well, they forgot there could have been other deliveries- they just tried to bowl faster. It started raining and my glasses obscured my view, so all that I could do next was guess where the ball would be. But then blinded by hate, all the deliveries were in the same place and I could only oblige.

Only then towards the fag end when everyone was desperate to get me out, a tiny bowler bowled a delivery that didnt bounce. It went under my bat and I was cleaned up. I got selected- didnt end up playng due to politics though. As for last years cricket, I didnt play well, pulled a muscle before my over and ended up conceding twenty odd runs.

So here's to the new year- its a flat tummy I want a flat tummy in twenty odd days!

Student life

Been a student ever since I have known what it was to know. My earliest memory is that of my mother trying to tell me "Lets do something interesting today." Dont remember the exact details but I do remember this very line instilled a fear in me that what was about to transpire would be very far from fun. And how right my childhood judgement has proved- and it lasted for all of these 25 years. Also remember her trying to teach me how to write by drawing lines I think (remember doing it in candle light- remind me why girls are so fond of candlelit dinners again?).
Coming to the 31st of Decemeber, 2010- I am studying- something I am very comfortable doing. I wont say it comes naturally to me but it kind of leaves me fulfilled, and its something I remember doing when I was very sad on an Ashtami night and I remember studying made me feel happy ! I am probably in the last full year of full time studies. I plan to keep learning but I am not too keen on undertaking a professional full time course again. So I am studying for the last exam of the year( there are 3 more to go after this in the coming week) of the last year of my full time studies. Gosh how time flies.
Wonder what I will do when I wont have to study. I remember mom telling me that she felt very uncomfortable once I got placed in UG because she neednt tell me to study. As for me I havent done much except studying or being around books. Nerd as you may think I am, I am the opposite. Because it would take an entire blog to tell you how good I am, I am refraining from doing so this instant.
Tomorrow's exam is BAI or Business Analytics and Intelligence. One of the easiest subjects. But will have to write loads. There'll be 4 15 marks questions and one 40 marks case study. We know the important questions for a change so it wouldnt be much work but then I hardly feel upto it given I am busy taking care of a cold.
Well goodnight then dear diary, a new day is set to dawn upon us- namely my life, as we step into the exam hall tomorrow. I have always believed in extracting the smallest possible joys from life- people called me 'deuced positive' back in college. As I sit to embark on the 3 hour exam tomorrow it'll not be just another exam, it'll be a milestone in my life. Now thats what I call perspective :)
Oh and in case I dont post before the year ends, here's wishing you a great new year 2011. But of course I will return once again tomorrow to sum up this year :)

Quantifying religion

Merry Christmas people. The world over people are celebrating the birth of the Messiah, the deliverer of justice, the One whose was born to save mankind and purged the race of all their sins, for a future that is free..or is it?

How does the famous saying go? 'As you sow so shall you reap'. Really? So there's Newton's 3rd law stated all over again right? To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So what we get is a function of one variable (for the mathematically inclined rewards=F(actions) ). Now if that were the case, then we are fully capable beings capable of determining our destiny. Then where does God fit in?

Here enters the second variable, uncertainty. Now how often are we worried about what might happen though we have planned for everything. So is God an insurance against what might happen? Consider another scenario- we are about to give an exam and think - God help me come max the paper- so here God is an enabler. Again the element of uncertainty and that is where God comes in- where control ends religion begins.

When a child takes birth it starts crying. Does it have any past action? Well it must if the first law were to hold- so it must be crying because it had done something previously, so what we reap is what we have sown and will sow. Enter the third variable Time. Again for the mathematically inclined Rewards= F(Actions, Uncertainty, Time). 

Having successfully quantified religion we see that God's role begins where our control ends. And he plays two roles- insurer and enabler.  Now that I have successfully wasted your time with your consent (who has time to go through such a boring post on Christmas unless you have nothing better to do, apart from the one who composed it of course), why dont we use the next twenty minutes to breathe some joy into our un-happening lives? How? You and I wouldnt be here if we knew. What I can suggest though is a small change in perspective :)