Life, Laughter and Everything Else

I lost $124 gambling. Statistically speaking, it was not meant to work that way. The first time I came across the game, roulette, was at casino in New Orleans when my friend explained it to me. One simply bet on which color the dice would fall on, red or black. If the bet was in my favour, the winnings would double. If not, I lost everything. I theorised, based on my years of probability education, that it was possible to win the game, as long as the stake was raised by double every time I lost.  Therefore, if the game had worked out the way I predicated, when I bet $4 for the first throw on red and lost, I had to bet $8 on the next. If I lost that, next bet would be $16. Do the math and eventually when one wins, which was a guarantee at some point because one always had a 50% chance of winning, one would have made $4.  Just that I lost every single round from $4 all the way to $64.  Call it sheer rotten luck. I bet on red and it did not turn up the 5 rou...

Radioactive by Imagine Dragons. For most people, this was yet another pop song that lingered in the Top 40's about two and a half years back. When I first heard it, it had a catchy anthem like melody and like every novel tune, it too would have faded into obscurity after days of continuous listening had it not been for one place. Sweden. It happened, by chance, that I caught onto the tune at a time when I flew over to Sweden for my exchange and it was the first song I plugged into listen when I had settled myself comfortably in the warm Swedish hostel. From that point onwards, the song to me became Sweden. The freezing winter, the quiet breakfasts, the dark afternoons, the anxiety as I tugged my luggage into my accommodation, the awe as I explored a city so strikingly different and beautiful, the excitement of just finally reaching there and wondering what the country held for me. All those feelings just comes flooding back when I hear that one song. Makes me want to ret...

It was amusing, the two of them together, asking to take pictures at every corner of the street, at every sight they felt was interesting or eye catching, that they did not want to erase from their memory and wanted to show proudly to their friends and family when they went back home. They would wear their sun glasses and stand prominently next to their object of interest and smile. The 38 degree weather had clearly exhausted them, but when it came to photos, there was no stopping them.  The frustration and helpless in my friend was even funnier, him trying to coax the two older women to stop taking pictures, to move them along so that they could move onto the next destination. "Mummy, why do you want to take so many pictures?", he would implore. "Chottu, it is very pretty know?", his mum would respond sheepishly. He would grit his teeth. She would keep the ipad. And the whole process would start 10 minutes later.  And I would just laugh. So...

"Sweeeeeet Caroline.......Ba Ba Ba", the crowd chanted in unison. I could not help in but join in the catchy chorus though it was the first ever time I had heard it and when it came to that part again, I sang even more heartily with the rest of the crowd. Thanks to that piece alone, the rather drab patriotic performance by the orchestra on the night of July 4th was saved. And as I stared into the sky in wonder as the fireworks started, I recalled that it had been half a year since I shifted residence to the 'greatest country on Earth'. I knew what to expect when I landed, for American soft power had been extremely successful in reaching every nook and corner of the globe, to the frustration of most intellectuals. Materialistic, superficial, know-nothings, paternalistic, endlessly interested either in the weather or the lives of their dogs and the list does not end (especially if you ask the French). Most of these cultural nuances, as I found out, were pretty spot...

The videographer slid open the transparent door. The air blew in, fresh and cold. The pressure in my ears continued to build up and the twin propeller plane continued to rise in a steep ascent. The instructors and the amateurs shared fist bumps and high 5's to build some courage. "We will go third", she shouted in my ears behind me and I nodded in agreement. First went the videographer. Then the first pair went up to the door and they steadied themselves. The instructor asked the girl, locked to the contraption on his chest using a series of safety locks, to put her feet at the narrow edge of the plane while he placed both his arms on the two ends of the doors to hold them inside. Then after about 4 seconds he let go and they were gone, out of sight. The second pair did the same and my instructor pushed me up to go to the door. I moved up and placed my feet unsteadily on that thin stair at the edge of the plane. The wind was stronger. Before I had any time to think,...

"My mum used to tell me. Never chase after girls. Be successful and they will chase after you" , he proclaimed with all due seriousness, something that amused me given the passion with which he chased after (and successfully seduced) them. "I am not sure if that is the type of girl I want. Because it sounds like she wants my success more than she wants me" , I retorted. He thought for a quick second. "She did not mean it in that way. She meant have the right kind of character and you will attract the right kind of woman" Wishful thinking or reality? As they say, only the mother knows...

At last Philip said:  “Well, I can’t say anything about other people.  I can only speak for myself.  The illusion of free will is so strong in my mind that I can’t get away from it, but I believe it is only an illusion.  But it is an illusion which is one of the strongest motives of my actions.  Before I do anything I feel that I have choice, and that influences what I do; but afterwards, when the thing is done, I believe that it was inevitable from all eternity.” “What do you deduce from that?” asked Hayward. “Why, merely the futility of regret.  It’s no good crying over spilt milk, because all the forces of the universe were bent on spilling it.” -Of Human Bondage, W. Somerset Maugham Once in a blue moon, life brings a quotation or epiphany to light that altogether changes one's perspective of something. Elizabeth Taylor's 'Nothing lasts. Did you notice that?', was one that reduced the exaggerated importance of the to-do list that society i...