Sunday, September 17, 2006

limit {mind(x)} as x--> infinity

No, this is not any math question. I just read a question that was asked to someone: "Why doesnt the earth fall?"

Most answers were something like: "God holds it so that it doesnt fall!!" or "Thats the beauty of God's creation". Yeah right.. Just think of this: God spent so much time to design an earth like this and for having created it, this poor guy has to hold it also!! He certainly wouldnt have wanted to! (By the way, I am not an atheist)
Anyways, we always attribute anything that we do not know and anything that we do not want to know to "God"(whoever created this word 'God', hats off to him! The human mind just utilises this word so perfectly at times) When something goes wrong, we blame it on God. When we can't answer some question or cannot think of something, we say: "Well, God doesnt want me to know". When we ask any question about the creation, we say that God created it. But when something great happens, what do we say? We say: "Yes! Finally 'I' acheived it." The God concept disappears all of a sudden then!

Anyway coming back to the question that I mentioned in the beginning, one of the replies was: "Where should the earth fall?"!!

Yes, it is in an infinite space, as it were, and in infinity, where should it fall? Does infinity have dimensions? Is there an upward or downward or directions associated with it? Does the word "fall" make any sense at all? Because 'fall' mostly means 'down', and where is this 'down' in infinite space?

Our basic problem is that the 'mind' cannot imagine anything infinity. It tries to give a 'form' to the infinity which is ridiculous! It is not the fault of the mind. Because mind itself is within this limited space and time. It obviously cannot imagine anything further. People say that you can imagine something beyond this limitation of space and time. But I feel that this statement itself is wrong. Because, 'imagination' is referred to the mind and the mind cannot go beyond this space and time. And if it does, then it will no longer be called a mind. Rather, it would no longer exist.
So, the statement itself was wrong.

Anyway, the meaning behind the title of this posting is that, we might try and imagine any thing infinite through our minds, but again and again, we imagine the infinity as a 'thing', as a 'form'. But infinity cannot have a form! However, the mind cannot help but think of it as a form, as a thing. We say: "An infinite thing"- like I mentioned a few sentences earlier. The sentence is wrong. It (be it whatever) cannot be an 'infinity' and a 'thing' at the same time!

So, the limitation is really the mind. What we see is but the infinity within this limitation called mind. Everything that we see and enjoy is within this limitation and we refuse to go beyond/think beyond. We can think of it this way: "If within this limitation of 'the inifnity', we apparently seem to see so much happiness, how much happiness will we find in that infinity!"
Do we ever think of this? We dont. "Because our mind doesnt let us think beyond. We will never be able to go beyond. I will die here in a pitiable fashion. I cannot help it", is our answer. But this is no answer. It serves more as an excuse than an explanation, an excuse that we are trying to give ourselves, because we really dont want to find an answer. We refuse to think of it just because we do not want to think of it. It is nothing but an excuse. Why cant we find something if we 'really' want to find it?

And one another famous saying: "The society will not support us. The society will laugh at us if we talk this way".
I care a damn for the society. I would rather say, that I will stand aside and laugh at the whole society!!

If someone or all of the whole world tells me: "I am gonna laugh at you because you are different", I will tell them: "I am gonna laugh at all of you because you all are the same"!
Now, thats attitude. Live it, if you believe in it. Change yourself to live what you believe in. Thats what I would call, a "complete life" or what people generally say: "Living life to the fullest". But unfortunately, it has just remained a jargon, "good to hear and acknowledge" kind of a thing. Whats the point in believing in something that you would love living, if you are not really able to live it? Dont call yourself a believer anymore. Go sit in a corner and cry to the wall that you are a believer of something that you cant practically live. That wall will also probably try and cry along with you after sometime, out of pity!!

Only either of these two can happen: "Live in the society and face it or flee away from the society which doesnt care for the truth". What good is there in the society which doesnt support the truth?
But still we continue to live here.

And is this what we call: "A practical life"?
WELL..WELL..WELL..
A practical life!! Ridiculous! It is high time we start laughing at the replies we give... Let us see how long we will continue to apparently defend ourselves with our excuses, one after the other.

Anyway, to wrap it all up, the math in my title can never have a solution, because the question/problem statement itself is wrong!

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Schumacher's last F1 season or should I say, "The LAST interesting F1 season for us"?

Well, this posting would make more sense if you follow 'Formula one'.
Today's Italian Grand Prix at Monza will go down in the history of Formula one as one of the most historical races ever. The circuit in Monza has always been quite challenging than any other circuits. The race here has always been packed with special and surprising events. And today's was no exception.

I am not going to write about the summary of the race. But, I felt quite emotional towards the end and hence I thought I should write down what I felt about today's Italian Grand Prix.

Kimi Raikonnen is my favourite racer (Schumi is my favourite too) and he clinched the pole position for today's race by being 0.002 seconds faster than Michael Schumacher! Now, how close is that?! Even before the race started, there was a lot of excitement. And there were several reasons for it:

1. Italy is Ferrari's home country. And they were just 2 points behind Renault in the constructor's championship. There were hundreds of thousands of fans in red, with the Ferrari flags all over, looking forward for Ferrari to clinch the lead position.

2. Michael Schumacher was just 12 points behind Fernando Alonso in the driver's championship and although he would not be able to take lead at the end of this race, people were looking forward for him to close in on Alonso in terms of the points.

3. Alonso was penalised five places for apparently blocking Massa during the qualifying and hence we were looking forward for him to be all charged up during the race!

4. And of course, the big one: Schumacher was expected to let the world know about the decision on his retirement from Formula one this year, at the end of the race.

Always, I used to pray that the race shouldn't get over soon, as all the excitement would end. But today was different. I was looking forward for it to end soon!
Now, could it get bigger than this? It actually did!! Read on...

Like I already said, I am not telling the whole story. To cut it short, Schumacher took over the race leader Kimi pretty soon. There was a huge roar from the fans as soon as Kimi went in for his first pitstop and Schumi took over the race lead!


And to me, the most exciting moment was when
Alonso's car's engine blew up and he had to retire from the race. ---->
(Wow! Amazing smoke, isn't it?!)








Of course, Schumacher had an emotional win- his 90th Grand Prix victory!!! Think about that! What a career it has been! Amazing! Brilliant!
<------ (Look at Schumi here as he crosses the finish line)
When I initially said that it actually got bigger,(than the beginning of the race) I wasn't kidding.
Think about this: Schumacher's victory and Alonso's failure now leaves Schumi only 2 points behind Alonso. And Ferrari gaining 2 points over Renault to take the lead in the constructor's championship- IN THEIR HOME- ITALY!!!

It was certainly an amazing event-packed race today!
At the end of the race, there came the moment- As soon as Schumi parked his car, there were so many emotional scenes. Then Schumi was so happy on the podium, he couldnt wait to lift that trophy and I havent seen him stay up there on the podium along with his sporting director Jean Todt for such a long time!




A lot of fans thronged the place in front of the podium! Look at the number of "reds" out there! I havent seen a crowd like this.


Then came the moment which we were all looking forward to- and as expected, he announced his retirement from Formula one at the end of this season. The kind of professional driver that Schumi is, he knew that this was a very appropriate time to announce his decision. And he did that in a perfectly professional style. It was qute an emotional moment, I am sure, but like they say, all good things must come to an end. And Schumi's career is no exception. I cannot put it in better words than Schumi did. Read this.
(I liked the way he said: "The fans have the right to know"!
We certainly did!)

All in all, Formula one has certainly not seen a driver better than Schumi. He has been the most professional and talented of all drivers, winning race after race in grand style. 90 Grand prix victories as of today puts him ahead of all the racers in the history of motor racing. We can never find a racer like him who can rule any circuit. Just give him the right car, a car that matches his talent and he will do the rest!

Formula one seasons from next year- 2007 will certainly be less interesting and less competitive than they have been till now, I am sure. I can bet anything on that!
Schumi will continue to be associated with his Ferrari team in one way or the other in future, I guess. And the team will certainly be looking forward to that.

Ok.. leaving all these emotions behind, we better look forward to the most exciting part of this season, which is yet to come. Schumi would certainly wish to retire as a WORLD CHAMPION. Nothing less than that would be a fitting farewell for him and his Ferrari team.
Now, I can't wait for the three more races this year. And especially the next one in China- where I wish and hope and pray that Schumi will take lead and be officially crowned the World champion. And I hope he will retain that till the end of this season!

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Silver jubilee celebration of my school



Hmm... today I was one of the invitees to my school- "Auden Institute of education" which was celebrating its silver jubilee function. This school is a 5 minutes walk from my house. I was initially invited to speak on the occasion. It was after nearly 8 years that I was officially visiting the school, although I had been there a couple of times in between. I was very well received and then the function began. Then came the time for students to speak. And to my surprise, I wasnt called out to speak!! I felt very bad about it, since the very reason I was there was to speak today.
Then I had to tell them that I wanted to speak and there I was on the stage. I was invited with to speak, finally...
I spoke thus:
"Good morning everyone. I dont know if I was on the agenda today,(I particularly said this because I wanted to make them aware of their mistake) but I wanted to speak because I feel that I have spent the maximum number of years that any student can spend in a school here. So, I wanted to share my experience. When I was in my school and was asked to speak, I used to hesitate. Today, I myself have come up to speak. So, I think I have grown up a bit since my school days!

It feels great to be part of the silver jubilee function of my school. Let me take you back to 1986 when I joined this school for LKG(lower kindergarten). The school started in a small house on this same street and there were very few students. I dont remember all the 2 years, but I can only say that it was a unique experience! Then, if I remember right, we moved to this new building in 1988 for my 1st standard. After joining the school, I continued all the way for 12 years till 1998 till my 10th standard in this very same Auden school. The building was new in 1988, the school was growing and so, I can say that I grew up along with the school!

People ask me if I did not get bored staying in the same place for 12 years. Certainly no. I did not find any need to quit the school. We had all the faculty and facilities that we needed here. May not be as much as we have today, but we had all that was required during that time.
I know that it was "Teacher's day" a few days ago. On this occasion, I would like to thank all my teachers, the Principal and resource persons right from day 1 till 1998 in this school and to all those in the other institutions I went to, for their encouragement and support.

I am glad to have contributed my bit to the school.

One more thing I wanted to talk was about an 'alumni meet'. It would be good to have an alumni group or website or 'alumni meet' probably once in a year or twice in a year, where we could all get together, share our experience and thoughts; and interact actively with the school.

I think thats all I wanted to say. I thank you for having given me an opportunity to speak today. I think the last time I spoke here was in 1998 during the 10th standard farewell or I dont even remember if I spoke then. So, it feels good to be speaking today. I did not prepare for my speech today because I thought I will speak whatever comes to my mind on the diaz. It has been quite sometime since I made a speech. So, I think I have a grown a bit!

I once again thank you one and all. Thank you very much..." and I walked back...

My teachers and Principal were silent for a moment, as they could not believe that a very silent girl that I used to be in my school days has come up today and spoken thus. My Principal came up to me while we were havng lunch and said: " I couldnt believe that it was the same Nanditha who was speaking today. You spoke very well. I wanted to tell this on the stage itself. GREAT!! "
All my teachers said so.. They said: "This is probably Intel effect! Intel has taught you how to speak". I completely agree with them. I said: "Yes. Intel has taught me how to speak!!"

All said and done, we had lunch and went around the school taking snaps and meeting teachers and went back home. It was certainly a great experience and a special occasion that I will not forget for a long time.

And one thing that I would never forget would be, of course, the bold speech that I made and like one of the teachers said:"You spoke very well. You spoke straight from the heart. No preparations, no written speech- straight out!! Very well done".
Yes I know it was straight out...

I would never forget these words. I wish I had recorded my speech!

I certainly enjoyed it. Thats why the first thing that I did after coming home was to put down everything in my blog out here, before I forget each and every word that I spoke. I know that they remain in my memory, but I feel that it is necessary to document such occasions and preserve the snaps and sweet memories.

(I cant remember how many times I have edited this blog before completing it. And even after publishing it, I have re-edited and re-published and edited and published and re-published and......!!)

I am sure I will read this blog more frequently than anyone else would and than any other blog of mine!!
I enjoyed it. Completely!