He is totally tired carrying around twelve books in his back and left hand. There are two more lanes to go to raise the final curtain for the costliest book purchase he has ever done in his life in one shot. The total bill amount stands cool at double two double zero.
Though he is hungry in the afternoon because of not having lunch, drained opposing gravitational pull of books, I tell him to go to the first booth in that lane which is full of my kind of books- Arts, photography, comics, travelogue.
After browsing through some of the books,
I - “Wow. Calvin and Hobbes full collection. Awesome! Ask them how much does it cost.”
I recently fell in love with the complex thoughts of Calvin and his exciting life with Hobbes, since my friend introduced me to the unseen world of Calvin. The collection of comics I was referring to here has all the comic strips of Calvin and Hobbes from 1985 till 1995 created by Bill Watterson.
Asif- “Hey it is too thick to carry now. I’m sure it’s much costly too. I don’t have enough budgets for that collection.”
He was trying to apprise that he is not going to buy it.
I-“When did I tell you to buy it. I told you to ask the price”.
I was building the foundation to let him do what his heart desires.
Asif asks the price of that collection.
(It feels good to be a tyrant of Asif’s life... Ha ha, Evil Laugh…)
When the volunteer tells him the price, the thankoholic Asif thanks him for his help in letting know the price.
Asif- ‘OK. It is forty five hundred bucks after discount. Happy now?”
We move on to next booth and again see the same collection there.
I-“Ask them how much does it cost here.”
Irritated Asif –“ Commmonnn…!!! I’m damn sure that the difference will be delta.
My very dear, forty five hundred bucks is totally out of my budget!”
Asif –“Excuse me what’s the cost of this collection?” asks volunteer and gets the answer.
Irritated Asif – “Outstanding deal. Here its two hundred rupees more. This makes it forty seven hundred bucks. Happy now?”
We slowly walk through the remaining lanes without giving much interest on other stalls.
Though the hall is crowded with myriads of people and their hubbub, I can clearly hear the silence between I and Asif.
We reach till the exit door.
Asif, who is now having emphatic look on his face, takes a reverse turn, walks back to the first booth, and buys Calvin and Hobbes collection using his card.
The silence still continues between us. But now I can see his face glittering with his heart’s desire. I know he is given the best gift to himself.
ದೇವರೇ ಕೊಡು ವರ, ಈ ವರರ ಬರದ ನಡುವೆ. ಎಂದು ಪ್ರಾರ್ಥಿಸಿದ್ಧ ಆ ಅರವತ್ತರ ವಿಧವೆಗೆ ಎಪ್ಪತ್ತರ ಮುದುಕ ಸಿಕ್ಕಿದ. ಮರುದಿನವೇ ಆಕೆ ಎರಡನೇ ಬಾರಿ ವಿಧವೆಯಾದಳು. --------------------------------------- ಕಂಧಕಕ್ಕಿಳಿದಾಗ ಧೈರ್ಯವಿತ್ತು, ಆತ್ಮ ಬಲವಿತ್ತು. ಕಂಧಕ ಜಾಲಾಡಿ ಮೇಲೇರುವಾಗ ಧೈರ್ಯ ಆತ್ಮದೊಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ದೇಹ ತ್ಯಜಿಸಿತ್ತು. --------------------------------------- ಕೆಳಗಿಳಿವ ಬಿಳಳುಗಳೆಲ್ಲ ನೆಲದ ಆಸರೆಗೆ ಬಯಸುವುದು ಗಾಡ ಪ್ರೇಮದ ತವಕ. ನೆಲ ತಾಗಿದೊಡನೆ ಅಲ್ಲೆಲ್ಲಾ ತೂತು ಕೊರೆದು ತನ್ನ ಅಧಿಪತ್ಯ ಸ್ಥಾಪಿಸುವುದು ಪ್ರಕೃತಿಯ ಕುಹುಕ. -------------------------------------- ಮನೆಯ ಸುತ್ತೆಲ್ಲ ಹರಡಿದೆ ನಾಚಿಕೆಯ ಮುಳ್ಳು ಅದರ ಮಧ್ಯದಿ ಇಣುಕುತ್ತಿದೆ ಒಣಗಿದ ಹುಲ್ಲು. -------------------------------------
“There are three colleagues who don’t want to reveal their salary to anyone, but they want to calculate the average of their salary. They have a calculator. How can u help them to find the average salary?”
Well this is good question. I thought for some time. Suddenly my mind remembered one of problem which I had solved earlier.
That puzzle goes like this.
“A car can travel at a speed of 63 miles/hour in straight road, 56 miles/ hour in uphill and 72 miles/hour in downhill. This car starts from A and reaches B after 4 hours. Then starts from B towards A and reaches A after 4 hours 40 minutes. What’s the distance between A and B?”
This problem I had solved like this…
Let Xu be the total uphill distance from A to B( which becomes downhill on the return trip) Xd be the total downhill distance from A to B( which becomes uphill on the return trip), and Xs be the total distance of straight road between A and B in miles.
Then problem reduces to form.
Xu / 56 + Xs / 63+ Xd / 72 = 4 hours
Xd / 56 + Xs / 63+ Xu / 72 = 4 hours 40 minutes.
Adding these two equations, will give
(Xu+Xd)(1/56+1/72) + 2Xs/63 = 8 hours and 40 minutes.
Now though finding the answer looks little tricky. And the trick is noticing 1/56,1/ 63, 1/72 are the terms of HP.
That is 1/63 – 1/56 = 1/72 – 1/63.
Hence (1/56+1/72) = 2/63
This will simplify the above equation as
2/63(Xu+Xd+ Xs) = 8 hours 40 minutes.
Which gives the (Xu+Xd+ Xs), that is distance between A and B. Pretty simple isn’t it?
Well I applied the same logic to solve the aptitude in the interview.
Lets say the salary of people be X1, X2, X3
I will choose three different numbers in HP lets say a,b,c. I will tell 1st and the 3rd person a and c, for the 2nd person b. The logic goes like this. 1st person will divide his salary by ‘a’ in the calculator and give it to 2nd person.
Sum in the calculator now= X1/a
2nd person (who is unaware of ‘a’ hence can’t decode what’s the salary of 1st person) will add (2/b* X2) to the number in calculator and pass it to the third person.
Sum in the calculator now = X1/a + (2/b* X2)
Third person will add(X3*(1/a+1/c)) and pass it to the first person.
Sum in the calculator now = X1/a + (2/b* X2) + (X3*(1/a+1/c))
Now first person will add X1/c to it.
Sum in the calculator now = X1/a + (2/b* X2) + (X3*(1/a+1/c))+ X1/c
Using the HP property this simplifies to
(X1+ X2+X3)*2/b
To calculate the averages multiply this by b/6. There you go.
Well this is how sharp minds works.!!!
You may guess i got that job. But your guess is wrong. J
I wasn’t selected in that interview. But im still proud of this answer as this answer came as out of box solution.
Recently I was thinking about this method. And I questioned myself why concept of HP came into my mind but not of AP or GP, though the same result can be achieved by any of the sequence. I realized it’s because my mind had already seen similar problem and it related the puzzle to it. That’s what pattern recognition power of mind.
Geniuses are not born. They observe things, record in their subconscious mind and use it whenever required.
Well enough of boosting myself. The simple answer to that question is
Let first person add some random number Y to his salary and pass it to the second
Sum in calculator = X1+ Y
Let other second and third person add their actual salary and pass it to the first.
Sum in calculator = X1+ Y+ X2+X3
First person who is aware of Y will now remove Y from this sum and divide by three to get the average of their salary.
No wonder I wasn’t selected in that interview..!!
Always there are plenty of methods to solve anything in life. But finding the simple one really makes the difference to anyone.
World of Titan presents Padmabhushan Jagjith Singh live in concert at palace grounds.
Date: 05th July 2008
Venue: Palace ground, Bangalore
The name “Jagjith Singh” caught my eye when I was reading Bangalore mirror that day. I decided to attend the same. I called up Itcha to check his availability, as we missed last concert of Jagjith in Bangalore. He said he won’t be available as he made plans to go home that weekend. He also warned me saying "Jagjith might bore you!!”
So my first option of going with someone to a concert was out. I messaged my other set of friends to check their availability for the same. Sadly some are going home, some are not interested in ghazals, some messaged me saying "call me if there is a rock show, but please, not ghazals.!!"
I tried booking tickets on bookmyshow, just to find out there is no 600 Rupees (normal class) worth tickets available. Only 1200 Rupees (Standard class) and 2400 Rupees (Royal class) worth tickets were available. Finally I decided not to attend the concert, as I don't have a company and don't have tickets on normal class.
But life had different plans for me.
On 3rd July when I was coming in bus, I saw Gayathri Vihar, shining with lots of Posters of Jagjith Singh’s live concert. My mind went unstable. I got down from the bus and walked all the way to Gayathri Vihar.
After reaching, I asked watchman “where is the tickets available for the concert”. He pointed to some hall about 400 meters, away from the entrance.
So I started walking towards the hall crossing 18 Amazon sized trees on my left, and 18 on right. There were totally 9 posters of concert, placed at a frequency of every two trees. Finally I reached ticket counter and asked if any normal class tickets are available, just to get an answer “it was finished a week earlier”. He said only Standard and Royal class tickets are available. He also explained me the intentions of the concert saying “it’s for helping the poor orphans Jagjith Singh is having this concert”.
Yeah. That cheap maska worked on me. I brought Standard class ticket worth 1200 Rupees.
I started analyzing the ticket.
It was in black color with Jagjiths photo in it. He had neutral expression on his face.
My ticket red, Row 34, seat 49,
Date : 05-07-2008 Saturday, show at 7:00pm gate opens at 6:00pm.
I realized ticket is dominated by number 7. 3+4 =7, 49 = 7*7, seventh month, at 7 pm, on the seventh day of the week. Also 5th July was in 27th week of 2008..!!!
I turned the ticket to see around 20 terms and condition. I got disappointed to see the term “You cannot carry the camera to the hall.” That’s bad.
I finally took an auto to reach my room by paying him 21 rupees. (Damn!!! 21= 7*3)
Anyway finally It is 5th july.
I was a fan of Jagjith singh since the day when I heard his ghazal, “Woh kaagaz ki kashti, woh baarish ka paani” He has got thick voice, which when blended with violin makes me feel I’m somewhere far from this universe. A universe which is so beautiful.
Recently I came to know that earlier his wife chitra singh used to sing with him, but she stopped singing after a heartbreaking loss of their son in an accident.
I got geared up for the concert. This is my first paid concert and I was happy that I was starting it with the Ghazal maestro Jagjith Singh.
I took my Black jacket thinking it would be cold in the night. Took a Rick and headed towards Gayathri Vihar. On the way got struck in traffic, and a beggar came to me begging for money. Since I had decided not to give any money for the road side beggars, I refuse to give anything.
Kuck andar se aawaaz aaya, “ You are spending 1200 bucks for the people whom you haven’t seen. But this poor beggar though in need, u r not giving a paisa...!” But the traffic signal turned green, so don't want to take some more thinking on it.
Gayathri Vihar is getting the Jagjith’s tune. People were flowing like big river to the venue. There were some really good looking girls, and some poli - Guys checking out each girl. The entrance is decorated nicely. I reached venue by 6:45. Saw people standing the queue to get the ticket.
I entered the hall.
It is a big hall, with chairs arranged in a nice manner. Top was covered by aluminium sheets and decorative clothes. I noticed normal class zone had plastic chairs, standard zone had chairs with comfortable back support, and Royal zone had sofa covered in white cloth.
Already tabla-wala, violin-waala, harmonium-waala, and flute-waala had occupied the stage and were testing their instruments and the microphone. I found my seat, in the middle of 6th and 7th pillar of the whole hall, and noticed no fans only for this zone. It was hot which is exactly opposite to what I had expected. The musicians left the stage without any notice, and I started counting the number of rows. There were totally 51 rows, with 69 chairs in my row. So I did the calculation of the approximate strength of the hall. It is 69*51 = 3519, meaning the hall can accommodate about 3500 people. I also guessed there are 17 rows of 69 chairs in each of normal, standard, royal zones. Adding up totally – 17*51*(600+ 1200+2400) = 36, 41,400 Rs. Impressive..!!
I sat in my chair waited for the show to get start. The Projector in the hall started showing the Titan add in their screen. After five minutes, I got bored hence, went to buy popcorn. After coming back to my seat, I started having it, and it was too spicy. After 10 minutes got up to buy water. The projector continued showing the advertisement of Titan.
I waited for the show to get start. I waited…waited... the projector continuously showed Titan Add. I waited... Waited... Projector looked un tiring... I waited... waited...
Started counting items in the hall just to make myself engaged, in order to time pass.
There were totally 45 pillars over which the audience zone is built in a 9 row of 5 pillars in each. Each pillar is having Fan running with full speed, except my zone and the last zone. Totally 7*4 = 28 fans.
There were totally 50, three leveled chandelier . First level had 6, second 3 and the third had one flower to hold the bulb. Each flower had 6 petals. So the calculation (6+3+1) = 10 flower in each decorative lamp, such fifty lamp making 500 flowers, each having 6 petals making 3000 petals. 500 bulbs each of 100 Watt (I guess) making 50Kwatt power consumption only to decorate the hall..!!!
The projector still continued showing adds of titan, and it continued till 7:35 from 7:05. I checked the duration of Add, and it was 30 seconds. Which means in the past half an hour the add was played for 60 times... That to Non Stop!! Single Add 60 times over half an hour...
The night was turning out to be Boring and mathematical night than Musical...
Finally it was 7:35 (Hour and minute handles are both on 7!!) when MC came and started giving intro of Jagjith Singh. She also introduced His team members to the audience, as they occupied their place…
Finally she called up Jagjith Singh’s name.. And crowd welcomed him with a big round of claps..
“Good evening, namaskar, Assalam Alaikum, Sasriakal”, words came out from Jagjith Singh’s mouth, who wore Black kurtha and paijama. The claps went too high...
Soon he stated singing at around 7:40.. The much awaited moment for Me.!!
"Kuch na kuch to…."
"Voilin kam karo"…
"Kuch na kuch to …"
"Tabla ka sharpness badaao.."
"Kuch na kuch to"
“Aage ka microphone teek karo”
"Kuch na kuch to"
..
It went on like this... He was saying only "Kuch to" for the first 3
minutes and I guess he repeated around 18 times..!!!!
"Kuch na kuch to zaroor hona hai”
… And then the second Para he sang after a long time,
“saamna aaj unse hona hai."
I was getting tortured more than what Himesh Reshammiya does in his songs.. Also a thought came to my mind is Jagjith the inspiration for Himesh Reshammiya?
It failed to create an impression on me which I had when I listened to his songs earlier. I wanted to listen to "Who kaagaz ki kashti", "Hosh waalaonko", "Koi fariyaad", “Dile naadan tujhe hua kya hai”,”Yun to guzar raha hai”, “Ek purana” ,”Hum toh hai pardes mein”, “Kabhi aanso”, “Raat khamosh hai” Etc Etc , A long list of wonderful ghazals in the way he sang in those albums.. Not with repetitions.
Next to me one family sat. They looked as if they came not to attend the concert but to time pass. Their kid of around 12 years old was irritating by moving here and there from his seat to take the snaps of Jagjith Singh.!! I first of all sincerely followed the rule saying “No cameras”, now this guy is moving only to take the snaps on his camera. It all added up to my frustration.
His violin guys had some problems and he said "Violin off karlo." It looked as if Jagjith Singh and violin guy had some fight..
Anyway after 10 minutes of "kuch to" he sang another one.
I got my interest back when he started singing
"Yeh doulath bhi lelo..
Yeh shohorath bhi lelo..
Bacle cheenlo mujse meri jawwani..
Magar mujko lauta de bachpan ka saawan,
Who kaagaz ki kashti,
Who bearish ki paani.."
My mood was back..!!
After that he sang “Koi Fariyaad”, I got so exited at the beginning, but was mood out after hearing the whole song the way he sang. He was non stopping in repeating.. He repeated some Para for 21 times this time.!!
He sang two more songs to finish off the first half. Totally 7 songs before the interval with "Tukrao ke pyaar karo, mein nahse mein hoon" at the end, with same kind of repetition for more than 10 times.
Anyway got out from my place to get some fresh air. When I came back I noticed the family already left.!! Even I thought of leaving, but something stopped me from leaving..
"Kehte hai na, Jo bhi hota hai achche ke liye hota hai..”
Well Jagjith is about to start his second innings, a good looking girl came and sat next to me. She was in cheetah colored dress, and black jeans. She wore big chain around her neck. She is beautiful with round face. Her voice came out "can I sit there?" I said "Sure”. Though I meant "Please"..
She sat next to my chair, but later shifted to next of that as she made her Jassi jaise friend to sit next on my chair.. She is three chairs away from me. The stage musician started the tune of "Hoshwalonko khabar kya.."
Well the music continued, Jagjith started singing "Tukraao.." which he had already finished earlier by pulling it to more than 10 minutes.. I got confused as the all of audience. Soon he started singing "Hoshwalonko khabakya…". It went well. Loved his way of singing. I was completely hypnotized. Thanked myself for not skipping the plan of leaving.
He continued With other songs like "Jhoom ke jab rindo ne pilaadi" followed by "Dile naadan tujhe hua kya hai?, aakhir is dard ka dava kya hai"..
Loved it. Since all of these songs are my favorite and this time he didn't raped the song. He simply rocked in the second half.. Loved it. Patience has its own value..
He sang another song which I haven't heard of followed by two stunning Punjabi track. Punjaabis on the concert started dancing. Finally its all done by around 10:25 I left the auditorium sensing it's the end of the show.
Well show wasn't got over. When I came out I found even the beauty and jassi also coming out of the auditorium.
Well near to the stage outside, I found there is kind of rush, and my mind sensed something. I went there just to realize Jagjith Singh coming out of the auditorium. He was escorted to his car. ! I felt frustrated since I didn't had a pen or paper to get at least an autograph. I saw him going in the car at a distance of 1 FT.
Finally it’s all over. I was happy since I got to listen to him live. Though in the first half he bored me to the core, second half he simply rocked..!!
I travel to office by the company shuttle. Even today as part of my daily routine, I’m standing in the steps of shopping complex and browsing through the morning news paper. The road where the shuttle picks me is a one way. It has a yellow colored direction stone which points to the opposite direction as that of the way, since the flow in that road is changed recently but not the direction of the pointer.. Its wonderful road; which is fully covered by the shadows of the huge trees. One side of the road has this shopping complex; where as the other side has some apartments, Tiffin center and a School. Both sides of the road are paved with uneven sized granites. At some place the stones are placed at 20 degree inclination to the ground, that people walking on it surely feel the ups and down of the unevenness. Today as usual, I observe lots of kids playing "Muttata" in the road side. Running over the uneven granites so as to avoid being caught by the chaser. They are in school uniform, Boys in Light blue shirt, dark blue chaddi, blue socks and Black shoes. Girls are also in the same color, they wear "Langa and Rakhi". Some guys also wear black jacket over their light blue shirt. The dust of the pavement did polish their shoes and turned them into somewhat red color. They all study in the school opposite to where I stand. The school gate is not yet open. Hence these kids need to wait till watchman comes and opens the School gate. But being best utilizers of time on Games, these kids play game "Muttata".
They run, they shout, they hit others to make them "out", they climb the compound, they jump off from the compound, they run around tree, they argue about cheating, they... what not.!!! I observe them playing like this from many days. Even today, they ran, they jumped, but at one point, one kid under the josh of "making one out" hit the uneven granite. He fallen down over the granite, with a cry out.!!!My eyes moved from reading "deflation(a rare word to hear these days) in the dress of celebrities" on page 7 of Bangalore times to this kid’s cry out. I forgot to breath for a moment, Lips said "OMG", legs was about to move to other side of the road where the kid had fallen.
1, 2, 3…. His mates, who were running away from him a couple of seconds earlier, were all around him. My heart said “The kid is surely hit hard”. What’s next? Kid who had fallen, got up and showed his small wounded hands and elbow to his mates to get some sympathy from them, gave two bumps into his chaddi to remove the dust from it which stuck when he had fallen, gave a kick to stone which made him fall, And most importantly he is back into the game of Muttata.
If u fall in the Muttata of life, doesn't mean u can’t play anymore. It simply means "give two bumps into your chaddi, kick the stone and move on".
Before introducing myself let me introduce Asif to you. He is a simple guy born in Palimar on Christmas of 1983, the day when the Christian world was busy celebrating birth of Jesus. He currently (as on June 2008) works in one of the MNC for his daily bread.
He is clear hearted, innocent guy that any dumb ass can fool him easily. He is intelligent, hardworking chap, obedient and sincere that all his teachers, lecturers liked him a lot during his study days. When he was in 5th standard, his best loved teacher called him a “Human computer”, because of the speed with which he solved a mathematics problem. So the reason why Mathematics is his darling. He has a great concentration power that when he is indulged in any topic of his interest anything happens around him will never breaks his concentration. He is a good reader who knows how to romance any book. He is full of energy and always will have a dimpled smile on his face, as if he is showing the world how happy he is, which I know many time a false expression put on his face to hide his sadness. He is poor in making friends. But once made, maintains the friend ship with great care. He always listen to his friends till the end without interrupting them, that sometime I feel that he is in dead sleep. He asks sorry for every micro mistake he does and when people does something good to him he make it a point to thank them. He is an introvert person, who keeps his feelings more secure than any FBI documents. Yeah FBI documents can leak sometime, but not his feelings, they are stored with great security.
Of course when u know about such a man it's sure that he wont have enough fun in his life. That's true.
About myself, I'm the Jerk within Asif. I came free with the entry of Asif in this funny world under the scheme "Produce one and get one free" offer. I’m "svayambhu" – A self born just to make sure Asif will have enough fun in his life. I’m an extrovert, who leaks the highly secured feelings of Asif to his friends. I help Asif to believe "Life is Fun, and is worth making fun of". I’m a good observer, who enjoy being with nature. I'm creative human being who enjoy, acting, commenting on the stuffs which I come across, listening to music and singing in the same way as the singer (For which I normally get a STFU from my roomy, though I ignore his comments and go on), Dancing in the room (when nobody in the room, Because Asif suck at that), Reading novels (just to engage myself in some good activity) and more. My recent interest is traveling and taking snaps of the whole travel. I Enjoy watching movies connected to real life (Which has no bakwas contents.!!). I'm a sportive person and checkout good looking girls which of course makes Asif feel very bad about him since he is really scared of Archies comment "Feeling this product is nice, but we will consider it sold if broken.!!”
I and Asif both like Indian food it's the only thing common in both of us I guess.
I make pranks on his friends, which really makes him "Sorry" for his friends after it's done. Yeah I love him because he gave me a chance to nourish within him.
Why are you Blogging?
If I have to lie, Superstars like Aamir khan, Amithab bacchan, Salman khan are all competing with one another, without giving any importance to content Quality. I just want to show them what the content quality is all about.
If I have to be truthful, I want to help Asif in working towards what he needs to improve.
He is poor observer. I can prove this by giving one fact about his engineering life. He came to know about most of the affairs, which happened in college days, only after he left the college, that to from one of his close friend. A pathetic observer like him surely needs some help to improve on his observation skills. I want him to feel this universe merely by observing things in this universe. I will hear to his observation and if I feel its good I will post it in this blog. This may also help him in someway in overcoming his inner fear of loosing his memory (which he is worried a lot these days as he forget things too often).
He is improving his English grammar and communication skills. He is good listener but not a speaker. He does make lots of mistake in grammar perspective too. So helping me writing the blog might help him in improving his Grammar skills, and communication skills. It's just a hope.!!
I change my interests very frequently. These days one of my interests is writing. So writing about Asif’s observation will help me in improving my writing skills.
