A Day I Wish to Recreate Everyday

Attaboy…what a day! I am going to boast in total self conceit like a narcissist in this post… I did it and I will praise myself for it. Although going public is uncalled for but that is narcissism, ain’t it? Moreover it’s a feeling that I observed and as a blogger, if not anything else, it’s a duty to report that observation J

Have you ever been through a phase when things just don’t seem to work? When the entire world seems to conspire against you, with potent tools like gtalk, facebook, TOI and the likes of it, life just comes at a standstill and leaves you gasping for breath. Research goes for a toss, days pass by within minutes, sleepy-eyed-face becomes a stable state. A good sunny weather also seems gloomy with no hope in sight. Every task, save the primitive bodily function, is procrastinated. It’s a limbo!

I was in this state and nothing, absolutely nothing had tinge of hope tagged to it. But some training or teachings of the past told me that this is not done. If I cannot take charge of my life, even god cannot help me. To seek the Ultimate assistance, I had to take a “leap of faith”. Monday night after lunch I made the call. I said to myself, “Boss! You’ve spent five freaking years working towards an objective which is not very far from where you stand right now. If you give up today, you will be a loser for life. If you make it, glory is all yours to take. It’s only then, that you get a passport for a new adventure in life. You have seen worst and this is just a phase and unless YOU make a deliberate effort, it will simply prolong. You have all what it needs to turn the tables around. Almighty is with you! Your near and dear ones are with you! YOU got to be with yourself now… Take charge and forge ahead.”

Early in the morning I decided to do what I, absolutely, HAD to do! Went to the bank, withdrew money for delayed payments, went for a coffee and did not spend time in hours, but in minutes and finally started to work on the project. I perused through a paper, did some lit-survey for the introduction part of a new project (paper). Then edited the block diagrams and edited the draft. Listened to some good music and wrote a short blog-entry on Ladies in the life of a man. It’s a power packed 6 liner. Do read it !! Finally came home, had a strong tea-cuppa and worked on C++. Now this was the killer stroke of the day! This is something that I had been waiting for, not months but, years! I wrote two very basic programs and then finally settled to write this post about one of the few awesome days I have experienced. I so wish to jot down each one of those. Once this is done I still am planning to work on honing my programming skills. I am so much in love with myself… 

God.. will you help me now???

To the Lady, I bow!

To the lady who died every day, who gave up her youth so that, I could see life,

To the lady who believed, I was more than her son or even more than her life,

To the lady who stood by me when the bullies were around and yet sought protection from me on Rakhee,

To the lady who was my alter-ego, who knew what I felt even before I felt it,

I am indebted to you and will always be and someday I hope to reciprocate. If not now then in the next birth!

The 4 X 400 m relay @ CWG 2010

Someone on facebook uploaded a video of the CWG finals of the 4 X 400 m relay race. I just saw it cos it was one of the rarest instances when our “athletes” make it to the finals of an international event. More than that, it was the women team who had made it on the grand stage! While watching the sprint something struck me and had decided to write about it right then. But it was not until before, I was in this beautiful Yankee restaurant with a bowl of minestrone soup and some crisp bread, that thoughts hit hard on the keyboard.
It was a typical race like thousand others that have been run earlier. But no…. I saw the same video atleast half a dozen times to make sure that what I was seeing was for real… This is a humble effort to recreate the race albeit with a different perspective on it.
The basic concept of relay is to handover the baton to the next runner awaiting at regular intervals of 100m. There is an allotted transition distance during which the runners must complete the transition in order to avoid disqualification. The team that makes it to the finish line first, is heralded as the winner. For this one, the Indian team was no more than an underdog or may be the space-filler in the harshest of terms. The favorites were the Nigerians and the English.
Manjeet Kaur, the first runner in the Indian team had a good start and she did manage a lead over her English counterpart in the 40th second but was tiring by the 45th and had to settle behind the Nigerian. After the transition Sini Jose was in hot pursuit of the Nigerian who by then, at the 1minute 3 second mark, had taken a huge lead. The commentator (commie) was screaming at the top of his voice. With the Nigerians way ahead of the pack, the English runners had caught up with Ashwini Akkunji, India’s 3rd runner. The English woman was breathing down Ashwini’s neck but she was in no mood of bowing down to the descendent of the imperial powers. Precisely at the 2:27.2 mark Ashwini, with huge strides, took the lead and the stadium erupted! The commie went berserk too. At 2:36.65 he yelled, “India is going for gold!!!!” Mandeep Kaur, took the baton from Ashwini and shot off her transition zone. Nigerians were there to win too and wouldn’t have given it easy. Mandeep Kaur and the Nigerian were running neck to neck struggling to get that faint lead. Rest of the pack was miles behind ‘em. Finally at 2.51.4 Mandeep took the decisive lead and kicked hard. From there on there was no looking back and the gap just widened. The crowd was ecstatic. The women of India, brought home The Gold ! An excerpt from the e-tabloid, The Hindu, read “A.C. Ashwini, a hurdler, ran the race of her life to overtake Nigerian Dammy Abogunloko and give India the lead midway through the third leg. Mandeep Kaur, the anchor, continued the good work as the host pocketed its second gold of these Games and its first-ever relay victory in the Games history. Manjeet Kaur and Sini Jose ran the first two legs.” They had overcome all hurdles and grabbed the gold. Mind you, a lot of the gold medalists come from backgrounds, socio-politco-economical, that we wouldn’t prefer given a choice. These young guns took that as a challenge surmounted and then thought about winning and so they did!
Well the blog wasn’t intended to be a narrative of the event but without that the crux wouldn’t be reached. So while the fantastic-4 were sprinting towards victory, something struck me. That jolt actually inspired this blog. Let’s look back at the race again. So, India had 4 runners. Each one was supposed to hand over the baton to the next one in the fastest and most efficient way possible. The commie yelled… “Here comes India..!!” and sometime later, “India is going for gold!” I drew a few analogies instantly.

1. The 4 runners represent 4 generations, loosely speaking, since independence.
2. The baton represents various responsibilities and the track represents the world stage.
3. Competitors are other nations in the race to glory and success.
4. The sport of running represents a specific activity and could be anything ranging from forest conservation to innovation.
5. Shoes and wear, would represent infrastructure
6. The process of carrying the baton would be conducting day to day activities required as per point 4.

Now having laid down these ground rules, I can merely say that – With the right kind of people who are focused and have a common goal, with proper training and right infrastructure we can provide transitions from one generation to other efficiently and create a better future. While other countries ponder over their drawbacks India keeps forging ahead and gathering Gold by the heap. So fellas I will just quote Swami Vivekanda to bolster the blogs message and bid adieu for the night.
“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.”