Confessions of a Math-holic !

Ques: 'He' sits between two 'Mat's and his degree is 'ICS'. What am I talking about?
Ans: MAT-HE-MAT-ICS !


This was a riddle asked by my teacher in 3rd grade. I was the only one in a class of 50, who answered it correctly. I saw mathematics then, I see it even now! 
I have always been fascinated by numbers. And not surprisingly, when after 12th, was at the crossroads of choosing between the beaten track(engineering) to my first love, math.. I chose the latter! And now I am about to be a math honours graduate!


This love of numbers and math have led to some marked, peculiar habits. I didn't even realize I had them, until alot of people around me started pointing it out! And now I have a complete list, that I would like to share..


1. I've started talking in mathematical terms and hence-ing alot! Case in point, for me everything is now an unsolved riddle/problem that needs to be solved or proved. I have gone out of my way sometimes to prove someone something and feel weird if I don't grasp it the first time around! 


2. I like to find the sum, difference, product, average, etc, of the number of the car driving ahead of me! So if I ever tune out of a conversation in the car with someone, I am probably calculating something!


3. Going to grocery store or out shopping, I calculate the total of the items before the cashier does! And calculating discounts during sales is more fun than the shopping at sales!


4. Rubik's cube, Sudoku, etc, are one of my favorite pastimes! Solving the sudoku is my sunday morning ritual. And a Rubik's cube is the coolest thing the mathematicians came up with!


5. I like teaching math too! You know, imparting wisdom. So at my old place, I used to teach the neighborhood kids. Though sometimes would get carried away and teach them beyond their 'syllabus' and scare them away. :/ But can't help it!


6. I like to go to the college library and randomly pick out books to read on mathematics!


7. Movies involving mathematics, always bring me to the edge of my seat. I have loved Pi, A beautiful mind, october sky, 21, etc! You get the drift!


 All this just comes naturally to me now. Even though I now enter a career in MBA, my love for numbers would stick with me, always, always, always! And I love being a Math-holic! Q.E.D !

The many 'Firsts' of my life !

This post is a result of a very nostalgic-phase I am going through in my life. Next week is the last of my graduation. My college, the three magnificent years of my existence, come to an end. Looking back, I still remember every tiny detail from the day I entered college to my insane ragging to the freshers and now my farewell, due next week. The three years have been truly amazing and thus are testimony to the many 'Firsts' of my life ! So here goes..


1. My ragging: How can I forget that! It was the most embarrassing day of my life! From pole-dancing, to acting like Rakhi Sawant, to dancing(mind it: Hip Hop!) to proposing to a random guy(bent knee, et al! And actually getting a Yes !) to what not! Never ever had the courage to do something this stupid in front of so-many people. The genius that I am brought it all on to myself! Got ragged not only in mine, but three other colleges of DU ! Was so glad the ragging days got over soon.


2. Sneaking in and out of class: In school, I did bunk occasionally. But in college it reached a new dimension ! Giving the attendance, and then out through the back door! Or, when running late sneaking in, without the teacher noticing !


3. Flunking : Yes I was the nerd, who never failed even a class test in school. Always prepared, didn't even have to cheat ! But college changed that completely. And I failed for the first time this year, in one of my mid-term exams! For some unfathomable reason, I didn't feel bad or guilty. It just felt normal. Again a first for me.


4. Writing: I always had a flair for writing. But I took it the next level in college. Became the Editor of department newsletter. And now I can't imagine myself without words. The need to express, to write even just a sentence or two, gives me a high I can't explain!


5. Passing out: I am an occasional drinker. I am not exactly a party-person. Just drink a few times with friends, or at sleepovers, random cubbing. This year, though was filled with disaster-prone incidents of over-indulgence! From puking all over myself, to calling the guy I like and declaring that I miss him, to having a vague picture of my friend passing-out at a bus-stop, to having gone to JNU for a 4 AM snack and having no recollection of all this happening, none-whatsoever! And then having the worst hangover the next day! Sleeping in class, and then being chucked out, all at the same time!


6. Cat fight: I am not a fighting-sorta-person. I hate abusing people or getting into any fight with anybody(except my brother!). Usually I keep out of a verbal argument by just tuning out or just accepting, it being my fault and move on. But this one particular incident in college, is the only exception to my otherwise clean record of no-fighting!


7. Rejections: The wonderful final year was filled with lots of frustration and over a dozen job-placement rejections. I am a well experienced campaigner now, when it comes to being rejected. Which btw, never happened to me before! Everything I wanted, I got it!


8. Fell for a guy: This one is more on a personal note and nothing to do with college(you see I am in a girls college). But since it happened last year(college time), so it counts ! He is nothing like the guy I had envisioned myself falling for. But it happened ! And believe you me, the feeling is so true and perfect that it's worth giving it a try ! (More on him, in subsequent posts !)


Its been a great journey so far, and I hope it gets even better in the days that follow ! And I have more 'firsts' added to my list !


Take care. :)

Gibran Khalil Gibran

Seven times have I despised my soul:

The first time when I saw her being weak that she might attain height.

The second time when I saw her limping before the crippled.

The third time when she was given to choose between the heart and the easy, and she chose the easy.

The fourth time when she committed a wrong, and comforted herself that others also commit wrong.

The fifth time when she forbore for weakness, and attributed her patience to strength.

The sixth time when she despised the ugliness of a face, and knew not that it was one of her own masks.

And the seventh time when she sang a song of praise and deemed it a virtue.

-Gibran Khalil Gibran

Gibran Khalil Gibran: I mean, the name is just enough for an avid reader to stop and read him. A few months back, a friend introduced me to the world of Khalil Gibran. And ever since, I have been hooked! From reading online articles on him to e-books, whatever I can lay my hands on. And it's a crying shame, that I am not versed in Arabic to read it in the actual script. Doubtless, it would be breathtakingly beautiful, more so than the English translations.

Today, I would like to share some of his works, that I have become my absolute favorites. And I just can't get enough of them. :)

The one above, is something I associate with sometimes.

The following are some of my favorite quotes by him. It was so hard to pick them!

"You cannot have youth and the knowledge of it at the same time;For youth is too busy living to know, and the knowledge is too busy seeking itself to live.."

"Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what is arcane and concealed"

"What the soul knows is often unknown to the man who has a soul. We are infinitely more than we think"

"Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother"

"Strange that we all defend our wrongs with more vigor than we do our rights"

"How shall my heart be unsealed unless it be broken"

"Yesterday is but today's memory, tomorrow is today's dream"

"The most pitiful among men is he who turns his dreams into silver and gold"

"What is poetry? An extension of vision - and music is an extension of hearing"

And this my favorite poem by him. It is so so perfect and beautiful on so many levels, no matter how one perceives it. I truly believe he was a Genius and I absolutely and whole-heartedly love his work.

Beyond My Solitude

Beyond my solitude is another solitude, and to him who dwells therein my aloneness is a crowded market-place and my silence a confusion of sounds.

Too young am I and too restless to seek that above-solitude. The voices of yonder valley still hold my ears and its shadows bar my way and I cannot go.

Beyond these hills is a grove of enchantment and to him who dwells therein my peace is but a whirlwind and my enchantment an illusion.

Too young am I and too riotous to seek that sacred grove. The taste of blood is clinging in my mouth, and the bow and the arrows of my fathers yet linger in my hand and I cannot go.

Beyond this burdened self lives my freer self; and to him my dreams are a battle fought in twilight and my desires the rattling of bones.

Too young am I and too outraged to be my freer self.

And how shall I become my freer self unless I slay my burdened selves, or unless all men become free?

How shall the eagle in me soar against the sun until my fledglings leave the nest which I with my own beak have built for them?

Chick-lits !

So first of all, I have to admit, though not ashamedly, that I too, am one of the girls who read chick-lit novels! Contrary to popular belief, chick-lits are genre-fiction which address issues of modern womanhood, often humorously and lightheartedly. And yes, a good chick-lit novel is my break from all the so-called intellectual reads that people stuff it in my face all the time!


Let's take the now-not-so-recent Twilight series. Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the entire series. Now I won't go to the extent of saying that it is the best book in the world, but i can safely say that it falls in the "comfort" category along with the many chick lits a girl invariably reads.

What I really don't get is this obsession over zealous "literature lovers" or hyper active feminists have with disliking and ranting against such books. So they're not what you would call "good" reading, but they still make me smile! So Edward sparkles in the sun, but I still have a tiny crush on him! So they're "anti-feminist", well I still won't mind being carried piggy-back through the woods, Sue me.


So Becky Bloomwood is a compulsive shopaholic in the Shopaholic series. But I can totally identify with her! I have totally enjoyed reading my Meg Cabot's, Sophie Kinsella's and the many MBs that have stocked up my tiny library at home and would continue reading them! 


These books are to reading what French fries are to food. Everybody knows French fries aren't "real food", yet they remain a guilty pleasure for most of us. Well Twilight may not be "literature", but I know I smile every time I read it.

So health nuts can stop eating French fries, but they can't stop me from eating them. You can stop reading chick lits but you can't judge me for curling up in bed and reading one before I sleep. Let me enjoy my French fries and let me enjoy my Chick-lits.