Why count?

I have never been able to figure out why people count the cash dispensed by the ATM.

There is no point. Absolutely no point.

Case Study

It is 29th May, 2008. 7.15 AM.

Two persons A and B decide to meet in Delhi. A flew to Delhi from Chennai and reached Delhi at 2330 on 28th May. He stayed at Surajmal Vihar overnight.

B takes a train from Nagpur and has reached Delhi at 0700 hours on 29th May. He is at Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station.

• Both A and B have to meet a company representative at 10 AM at Okhla. But they need to meet atleast an hour in advance to make a presentation.
• The company has booked a guest house for A and B at Faridabad.
• B has to freshen up, have a bath before the meeting. He has to go to the Guest House.
• A can't leave Surajmal Vihar before 8 AM.

• Surajmal Vihar to Nizamuddin takes 30 minutes. Nizamuddin to Okhla takes 45 minutes. Surajmal Vihar to Okhla is 1 hour. Surajmal Vihar to Faridabad is 1.5 hours. Okhla to Faridabad is 45 minutes. Nizamuddin to Faridabad is 60 minutes.
  
• B has no idea of the Delhi geography, so he'd ideally like to meet A to avoid moving around in Delhi alone.
• A is carrying a laptop.
• The mode of travel in all cases will be Autorickshaw.
• B has only 10 Rupees balance on the phone and he can't recharge his phone. Mobile phone is the only mode of communication between A and B.
  

What Should A and B do, given the above constraints?

PS: Now that you've read it; this is exactly the situation I found myself on 29th May at 7.15 AM. A would be me and B would be Uss. :-)

Power talk - I and the realisation

Finally caught up with a very dear friend and guide after a long time. Both of us were madly busy in our respective work. He is a passing-out senior, so he had all the final year woes. Somehow, missed having those little 'power talks' with him for the past three months.

He mentioned something interesting today" If you are in a serious relationship or love someone very badly, you need to have bad fights, very bad fights. That is when you see the worst side of each other. There cannot be anything worse than that."

For a compatible couple or even friends, it is of prime importance to be able to accept the person the way he/she is. If you don't love a person the way he/she is, you can never possibly love him/her . Reminds me of a little fight I had with a friend just a while back and I quote "If you can't accept me the way I am, that is your problem, not mine". Very obvious yes, somehow made so much more sense when expressed in words.

Something similar but not same: Ego should NEVER be a point of contention between two people who care for each other. Ego taking a backseat once in while to accommodate for the other is not a big deal. But ya, the other person should be careful enough not to take you for granted. A fine line - but that is the fun.

Pecha Kucha

Pecha Kucha (pronounced peh-chak-cha) is a wonderful patented method of presentation that I came across a couple of days back.

The presenter is allowed 20 slides for 20 seconds each. That is a total of 6 minute 40 seconds per speaker. It is a methodology that is fast gaining ground in the creative and design industry. This way of presentation helps the presenter be focused on only the relevant content in a presentation and also keeps the audience hooked. Most Pecha Kucha events have about 10 speakers, that is about an hour of presentation - which is ideal to keep the audience interested. And as one of my friends commented "T20 everywhere."

It is yet to catch up in India, but there have been a couple of events in Bangalore and Delhi. It would be such a refreshing change to see the concept being introduced in IIT Madras, may be Shaastra or Saarang or even our department presentations.

May be our Professors can use it to sustain the levels of interest of the students during a class. Oh wait! 50 * 60/20 = 150 slides per class. Now that is scary.

Arrogance!

Been thinking about the word 'Arrogance' for the past few days. It is a word I keep rather close to my heart. More so, a characteristic I have successfully embedded into my system after years of hard work.

The thought was provoked by one of my dear friends, who quoted something to the extent of "Don't be as arrogant, you are not so famous yet". And then I started thinking. It is a fact that I like to believe that I am arrogant, true-or-not helps keep mom happy; she has started to believe that I atleast know of my fallacies. Plus, you have a nice 'honest' answer to keep interviewers happy when posed with the rather boring 'What are your weaknesses'. As much as I believe it, I can't SAY that I am perfect. (Yes, that bordered on arrogance!)

Dictionary.com describes the word as "offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride." Interesting I'd say. Arrogance is a result of a very strong self-belief and self-confidence. At times, over-strong. Then there'd be those wanna-be philosophers who would say it is a result of a very weak self-belief, hence the excessive need to show supremacy to hide your apparent weakness.

But some prerequisites for arrogance:

• Unflinching belief that you are the best that ever graced the planet, rather the universe.
  
• Ability to come up 501 reasons why the whole world is dumb.
  
• Belief in the concept of 'lesser mortals' and a thorough understanding.
• Innate repulsion to advices and a craving for an opportunity to preach.
• Open unapologetic proclamation of what you don't understand being wrong.
• Ability to be able to claim that the only good to ever happen from the Big Bang was YOU.
• Constant thinking about the concept of arrogance and an untiring effort in upholding and publicising the same.

For once, may the almighty bless all the lesser mortals as well! I think they too, though with fewer reasons, deserve to live.

Also, think about this: Can an arrogant person destroy a person with low self-esteem by his sheer presence?

Forty-Two thousand!

Here's a promise to myself, to my joblessness and to the writer in me. Not to mention the eccentricities and the activities of a rather restless mind.

I shall post a new blog everyday. Day after day. Till 6th June.

A blog a day keeps your worries at bay.