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Monday, October 29, 2007

NEW

A new year in life…..
A new place to live in…..
A new set of neighbors around….
A new route to office….

Everything looks so different….

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

FEYNMAN'S RAINBOW

Feynman’s Rainbow - This book is about the experience of a young Physics post-doctorate Leonard Mlodinow, who had just joined Caltech as a researcher a couple of decades ago. There he came across two ( no, three) legends of the world of atoms, photons and quarks…the legendary Richard Feynman, another Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann and the idiosyncratic originator of the string theory, John Schwarz.

The approaches of Feynman as against Murray is nicely described by Leonard- by using the analogies of the Babylonian and the Greek. While Murray believed in description of eternal and immutable patterns in mathematical form, Feynman worshipped nature itself…in his imaginations. The idiosyncrasies of Schwarz are almost perfect.

But what takes this book about photons, quarks and the string theory much beyond mathematical Physics is the confusion of Leonard in his life and Feynman’s answers to his confusions. Then, Feynman was terminally ill with cancer. Leonard had recorded his conversations with Feynman and after twenty years he decided to write this book.

Feynman loved to imagine….he was not religious…he believed more in biology than in God….but in his imaginations….there is an element, which can be no way categorized as just mortal. Here is a piece where he asks Leonard to think about atoms.

“Go look at an electron microscope photograph of an atom. Don’t just glance at it. It is very important that you examine it very closely. Think about what it means. And then answer this question. Does it make your heart flutter?”It’s a yes or no question. No equations allowed.”

Leonard had asked a number of questions and the final question was “Who are you as a person – and how has being a scientist influenced your character?”…. and the two page answer, given by Feynman is worth keeping in your personal diary to read again and again later.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

ONCE AGAIN

Almost half a year into my new job…2007 is left with only two more months…. and once again time making me realize its pace….

Life is moving on with all its flavors…and as usual, it’s the books which makes me see deeper into such varied flavors…. these days are reminiscent of days when the most popular places to witness your midnight dreams used to be the crowded airports….

Read some books…. tried to understand a different breed of books including those by M.V.Kamath (on his stories about press, journalism and celebrities). Read some very old classics which, I couldn’t appreciate much…. and finally a simple book by a little known author about physics and life…loved it and will write about it in my next post.

Monday, October 08, 2007

GOLDEN ART

I was thinking about this for quite sometime…and after a long process, I finally managed to come up with the list of my all time favorite movies. It was tough to select these from the long list of movies… here they are…. not on the basis of rank….

Life is Beautiful
The Pursuit of Happiness
Braveheart
Shawshank Redemption
Cast Away
Forrest Gump
The Patriot
Schindler’s List
Seven Samurai
Titanic

Saturday, October 06, 2007

MY OLDEST FRIEND

He is my oldest friend. I can address him as my friend as he always likes to call me his friend. But, he is one of those people, whom I genuinely like to address as “Sir”. He is one of the oldest alums of IIT kharagpur and is presently one of the most respected names in the maritime world. I met him for the first time after I graduated from IIT. And after that, he has been my guide and mentor. I love to drop at his office, whenever I get a chance and today morning I got one such chance. And I got this chance after a span of almost four years.

I stayed in his office for little more than an hour. We talked about a number of issues - both professional and personal. And as usual, he stressed the importance of two necessary skills in life – one is “relationship management” and the other is “money management”. Just “money-management” will not be enough to live a happy life. Similarly, it might not be very practical to limit to “relationship management” only.

During this one-hour stay, I also met some other people, who had almost disappeared from my memory lane.

A great Saturday morning….

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

AN EVENING WITH ENTREPRENEURS

Yesterday evening...until the early hours of today morning, I spent my time with two of the most amazing individuals I have ever met in my life – Sandy and Aky. Aky was in the process of building his stall for the International Maritime Exhibition to be held in Mumbai. It was so nice to realize that he has achieved so much over the last one year. The company, which he formed a year back, is destined for great success.

And when Sandy is around, every individual around, always find himself/herself bursting with laughter. And yesterday was no different. Sandy is all set to start his yard soon...his favorite yachts and boats will be a reality soon.

We kept on talking and discussing so many things. Dil (let me restrict his nick to the first three letters) was there as well, and shared his ideas, though he belongs to a different sector. Coddie joined late night. He had started a company (in the automotive sector) a couple of years back in Chennai and the last one-year has been a real booster for him…

One thing I have noted while being with entrepreneurs…..the atmosphere is always charged up…with excitement, passion, ideas and optimism. I hope I could find myself in the same league as these people….but then my favorite line was there to console me.

“ Patience, my friend, is the biggest virtue”….