Failure...

In the end, its all a binary result..."a pass or a fail"..I remember that old Chivas Regal ad..."You either have it or you dont". There is nothing called I almost had it and hence there is actually no difference between I almost had it and I never had it..In the end, what matters is do you have it or not, it matters a shit how close or far you came to came to having it. I remember my CA results, where i got a 41 in one of the papers....there is hardly any difference between a 39 and a 41...but i made it and passed...If i had got a 39, I would have failed...Period Failed, doesnt matter how far or how close...and this is just academics...its much worse in life, i think because unlike that CA exam where there was a chance to reappear (thank God, i didnt have to do it), life hardly gives you another chance...You can come very close and yet not have it or you might be very far, take a jump and land up in the lap of success...it matters a shit. What matters is where you have landed, whether you have lapped up victory or not...thats it. I also remember that dialogue....You cannot be somewhat pregnant...You are either pregnant or not...there is nothing called somewhat pregnant...You also cannot be somewhat successful... This brings us to another aspect for which very frankly, I dont have too much of a regard..that of the relative importance of journey and the destination...You will read a lot about how journey is so damn important etc etc but think of it, if you have held hands, if you have shared virtually shared everything, if you had built dreams together with someone, but couldnt complete the walk to the aisle, does it matter that you had done all of these. Frankly, you would have been better not doing any of the above..atleast there wouldnt be all the turmoil thinking of that stupid thought life gives...(what amit calls Hindsight Capital).."so near yet so far....if i had done so and so...etc etc"..It doesnt yield a shit... While I am writing all of these, there is another thought thats coming in my mind....All these is fine, rationally we also know that life for most parts is a binary result...but can we really stop ourselves from all these consoling thoughts...."atleast i did blah blah...atleast i tried...etc etc". Time and again, when such rationale thoughts come to my mind, I always, without fail, get reminded of that awesome line from Gary Barlow's song Forever Love...."How can i reason with the reason that I am a man"....

Bombay Rains: A Swot Analysis

Strengths · Provides the perfect setting to listen to awesome songs: o Sad-“Crying in the Rain” o Melancholy-“Lagi Aaj saawan ki” o Lukha-“Mujhe barsaat mai pi lene do” · The reason to finish that last few remaining pegs in the bottle of a Bourbon/Single Malt. · Perfect time to enjoy home made samosas/bhajias with garam chai. · What better excuse than rains to cuddle with your loved ones (lucky few) · Khandala/Lonavala…. Weaknesses · Screws up your life big time if you get stuck in office. · Screws up even more if you get stuck in traffic with rains pouring · Even worse: u waiting for a cab/auto and vehicles generously splashing all the dirty water on u. · More: you wearing a suit and going to a party/meeting · Water logging and all the associated pain Opportunities · You in a car/with an umbrella, being able to hide your starved of (u know what) countenance and a girl asking for lift. · Wake up late, feel grumpy (aaj office bunk marte hain) and call office,” Boss, the streets are a la River Brahmaputra…I am really missing work but nature prevents me from coming”. Threats · Diseases-dengue/malaria…. · Confinement to your house and not having anything to do (forget a babe to cuddle up with) · You being in office and your junior using the opportunity mentioned herein with you getting screwed in the process.

Life & Statistics

Amit always talks of this book called "Fooled by Randomness"...I havent read it as such but I am made to understand that it talks about how statistics/probability etc screwed someone in the capital market. Lets broaden our horizon and talk of a much more generic aspect...i.e. Life...I often take the Goa highway and the road, though beautiful is pretty dangerous. What with just two lanes, a hilly terrain and all the drivers trying to act a-la Lewis Hamilton....And why I bring this topc now is that quite often I tell my driver to slow down a bit and he always replies saying, "Sir, hum yahan 10 saal se chala raha hai, kuch nahin hoga". Thats precisely my point. Even if you have driven accident free for 10 years, it does not guarantee that there would be no accidents. Even though the probability (based on empircal results) is very little, it would have no meaning when an accident were to happen. You just cant go on being reckless because of low probability. Let me take another example..One of my cousins is a doc and she once told me, "The concept of probability hardly exists for us. Imagine a doc in an OT...there is only one result...Success or Failure and at times failures are irreverisible. When he enters the OT, thats his goal. I doubt how many of them think of probability and all" So true...