The Rope Question

A long time back a friend had posed this question:

"You have a tennis ball and the earth. You have two ropes. 

One rope ties the tennis ball along its surface. It fits exactly. 

The other rope does the same to the earth,

i.e. exactly covers the circumference of the earth.

You now increase the length of each rope by 1 inch.

Form a circle with each rope covering the tennis ball and the earth
respectively.

Is the distance between the tennis ball and its new circle greater
than that between the earth and its new circle?"

She was looking for the logic and not the Math.

Now since neither my logic nor my Math skills are anything to talk home about, I turned to someone who might have done justice to the problem.


This is the answer I got back:

"Is this a trick question?

If it were, I would ask,

1) What kind of a rope was used, i.e. what was the modulus of elasticity? Did you twist the rope during the process?

2) What was the tension in the rope while it was stretched?

3) What were the temperatures during the experiments?

4) What is the coefficient of thermal expansion, in case there was a temperature variation?

5) How fast was the measurement done? (may become important if we are thinking in speeds near that of the light)

6) The question that has always haunted me since childhood.....how can you tie a knot (to add that 1 inch) without altering the original length?

(That will be close to Heisenberg’s heart too.)

7) Question 6 alone can generate a whole set of debate, like how tight was the knot?

( I won't even get into the uncertainty in measurements!)

8) If you asked my Graduate school advisor he'd ask, "Did you repeat the experiment?"

9) My present boss would ask: "Did you write that up?"

(Just in case you didn't know what writing up is all about, it refers to writing up a US patent)

10) And his boss would suggest," Sign an NDA (non disclosure agreement) before you answer the question!"

11) The Corporate VP would ask, "Can we get the problem solved in China?"

12) Tom Skilling would ask, "Was there a Jet stream in the upper atmosphere pushing the rope?"

13) Dubya Bush would say " Are you sure it is not an act of terrorism?"

14) My Dad who loves a gourmet meal and is a secret poet at heart would ask, " May I hope, to eat the rope?"

15) My health freak brother would say, " Jump the rope 20 min a day to get rid of the extra calories."

16) My sister who is always looking for an excuse to scold me will say, " Who asked you to get in to such a mess with ropes!"

17) My Mom who spent her entire trip to the US trying to find a way to wash and dry her sarees would ask, "Can we dry our laundry on that rope?"

18) And last, my wife who is forever trying to stock up on things will say, " Can we have another rope? Then we can do the experiment with one and keep the other in stock just in case we need it later."

Thanks for asking. Hopefully I answered your question."

Needless to say I was left speechless.

*I'd like to thank AB for the question and AR for sending me the reply.

"The music in my heart I bore, Long after it was heard no more"

She is 3 years old. Sitting on her Daddy's knee while he sings to her one of her favorite songs. Dagor, dagor chokhey keno kajol dile.
She asks him, "Daddy do I have dagor dagor chokh?" He says yes.
And she believed him.

She is on a school trip to Chandipur. She holds hands with her best friend as they listen to Ali Haider's Purani jeans aur guitar for the first time.
And she still misses her friend when she hears the song.
Bas yaadein, yaadein, yaadein reh jaati hain
Kuchh chhoti, chhoti, baatein reh jaati hain
Bas yaadein..

She has just started college. She meets a guy with two major misconceptions. One, that he is in love with her. Second, that he is the next Kishore Kumar. He sings Hume tumse pyar kitna at a college fest.
She has disliked every song sung by Kishore ever since.

She is trying to pay attention in class. Her friend leans over and whispers, "Don't you think Diwana hua badal is the most romantic song ever?" She starts humming the song and agrees.
She still thinks so.

She is 21 years old. She thinks Bangla Adhunik is nyaka (pretentious) and Rabindrasangeet is ek gheye (boring). She drops by her friend's house and meets a bunch of guitar-strumming, convention-defying, jhola-carrying young guys who write their own songs, compose their own music and redefine the word 'style'.
Chura liya hain tumne jo dil ko. She is in love.

It is strange how we associate songs with specific memories. Certain places, special people, a specific moment in time.....all tied down to a particular melody, a tune, or a song. And how we always remember that person, the place, the moment, each time we hear the song. Good memories and the not-so-good ones. Happy memories and sad ones. Of days spent playing in the afternoon sun while the radio played on somewhere in the background. Of the whole family gathering around the TV to watch Chitrahaar. School days and college. Growing up and falling down. First crushes and crazy infatuations. Falling in love and getting heartbroken. Making new friends and losing some more. Rain drenched evenings and the heady smell of jasmine. Morning ragaas. Evening commutes. Darjeeling. Santiniketan. Moonlit nights. Prem (love), biroho (separation) and the whole nine yards. Memories. Nostalgia. And above all, of days gone by.

And talking about song related nostalgia, I'd like to direct you to two posts that echo similar sentiments. The first one was this post which I totally loved. Every song. Every phase in life. Every sweet memory. Beautifully captured. And then the more recent one that talks about the same music associated nostalgia.

And if you are looking for a scientific explanation you should read this.

Of friends and complicated situations

S and A broke up after four years of marriage. And even though I've always known that they were not right for each other and that they had made a mistake in tying the knot in the first place, the news still shocked me. I guess I am still the conservative kind. To me marriage is an institution that two people build over the years. And to see it fall apart just shakes up the very foundation of my beliefs. But the fact remains we had known all along that S and A had a very shaky relationship. They were two entirely different people who had very little in common. We've known S for a very long time and he is one of the most sensitive and affectionate individuals I've known. He is funny and he can make anyone smile and he is always a joy to have around. When S fell in love with A we were all a little taken aback because A was very different from any of us. I do not know whether it was because she was from a different background and culture, or it was the way she was brought up, but she was dominating, materialistic and demanding. We never thought S would end up marrying A but when he announced that he was getting married, none of us had the courage to dispel his cloud of happiness by telling him how wrong they were for each other. Right after they got married A told S that she did not like interacting with his friends and she was not happy when he chatted with them in Bengali because she was unable to follow the conversation. So S stopped calling his friends. We hoped with time A would feel more secure in her marriage and things would change. But they got worse. A hated the life as a graduate student. She was accustomed to a life of luxury in India and could not adjust to having to compromise and scrimp to make ends meet. They fought all the time. I guess it boils down to having two very different people who had very different expectations out of life, being thrown together in a relation that neither of them were prepared for. So after four years of bitterness and bickering and following the birth of their son, S and A decided to call it quits. I guess what has me most disturbed about the matter is that this could have been prevented if S had realized before he got married that A was not the right girl for him. But he was blinded with passion at that time and nobody helped him see through the haze. Now, they have not only messed up their own lives, they have brought a little child into the world who will grow up not knowing a proper family. I think it is tragic.

And now I see another close friend P going around with the wrong girl. Everytime I see P and A together (this is a different A), I see tragic consequences written all over. P is a nice guy, very friendly, outgoing and honest. And although A could be a very nice person in her own right, she just doesn't seem to be of the same framework as P. Granted that I have never seen P and A fight openly the way S and A did. But S and A's relation went downhill at breakneck speed only after they got married. I really care about my friends and I hate seeing them getting hurt. I spent sleepless nights after S and A broke off just feeling guilty about not having been there to prevent this from happening. And now once again I am at the same crossroad, pondering whether someone should talk to P, tell him that as a friend we are concerned about his relation with A. And then I hesitate. I think when people are in love they fail to see anything beyond what their heart is telling them. And may be P will hate me for saying these things. And may be things will never be the same for us again. And may be P and A will eventually get married and A will always resent me for not having wanted them to be together. And who knows....may be P and A will be happy together. I really hope so, because P deserves some happiness in his life. And I am confused. I don't want P to get hurt either way.

Why is it that we find it so difficult to tell the people we care about that we want the very best for them and that they would be better off not getting involved with the wrong person? Probably because it is none of my business or anyone else's for that matter. Perhaps it is the fear of hurting the person and losing the friendship. May be it is the apprehension that the truth will not be acceptable to my friend and he will reject it and hate me for telling him such "untruths". What does one do under these circumstances? I wish I knew............

Friends

RS is tying the knot in less than two weeks now. I couldn't be happier for her. My only regret is that I will not be able to attend the actual wedding ceremony which will be in Kolkata. RS is one of the few friends I have from my school days who has clung onto her single bachelorette status for this long. Most of my friends succumbed to the love bug and settled into marital bliss over the last decade. Some of them got married right after they got through high school, some while they were in college and some waited till they graduated.
RS is one of few people from my school days who have kept in touch with each other over the years. We kind of lost touch for a few years in between but in the age of the internet and e-mails we rediscovered our old friendship and got back in touch and keep each other posted on our activities almost on a daily basis. Every scandal, every memory, every little incident is relived, discussed and probed through e-mails that can mount upto a 100 new mails in your inbox on a particularly active day. We've shared each other's joys and held together in pain: we've supported friends in love; we've been there for weddings and graduations; we were there when they were having babies, getting new jobs, when they moved; we've rejoiced when they bought a car, a house. We've held together for support when they fell sick, when things were down and they were depressed. We've stuck together as a group for a good many years and we've derived happiness and comfort from each other.
Now RS is getting married and is ready to move half way across the globe to start her new life, I wish her the very best from the bottom of my heart. And although I will not be at her wedding physically, someone else will be there and will give the rest of the unfortunate ones (who cannot make it there) all the details of the wedding. And from across the miles I will hear the conch shells when the groom arrives, smell the rajanigandha when they exchange garlands, revel in the smell of jasmine, incense and laughter when RS weds SB.

school days and Yeats

I never quite explained why I chose this particular url for my blog. The fact is it is something taken out of one of my favorite verses by Yeats: "Tread softly because you tread upon my dreams". It was one of the most romantic and sensitive lines I had come upon and I've held it close to me for many years. It has this vulnerability that defies everything else.

I cannot recall these lines without remembering SM. SM and I were in school together and were the best of friends during our 'plus 2' days at Loreto House. The funny thing was SM and I had been in school together since we were kids but we had not really interacted much until we entered the portals of Loreto House after the Class 10 boards. She was probably the best thing that happened to me in those two years. We became friends real fast, we shared the same passion for books and music, and we could talk endlessly on anything and everything. We told each other our deepest secrets and shared each other's success and failures. I think one of the most memorable times we spent together was a school trip to Chandipur where we lived, ate, slept together for two days and vowed to stay friends for the rest of our lives.

SM fell in love with a guy who lived two houses down the road from where she lived, except she was not sure whether this guy had any feelings for her. They were neighbors and family friends but he never showed any overt interest in her which made it all the more difficult to fathom whether he would reciprocate her affection. She decided to send him a card for Valentines Day. I distinctly remember us sitting down together in the LH library deciding what to put into the card. She was sure he would know her handwriting, so she made me write in the card and all I could think of was that line from Yeats and so that was it...tread softly because you tread upon my dreams. She dabbed some of her favorite perfume onto the envelope and posted the letter. He received it, had no idea who had sent it, and wondered....while she continued making blank calls to his house on the phone (this was before the days of caller id). On one such (fortunate) occassion when she had given him a blank call and had him on the other end trying to cajole the silent admirer into revealing her identity, a car drove past honking away, the way cars do in Kolkata. Mr M heard the car through the phone and the next minute he heard it right outside his window and knew right away! The rest is history. For those who would like to know how the story ends, SM married Mr M and they are living happily ever after.

So this post is for my friend SM and our wonderful days in school and yes, Mr. Yeats for giving young romantics a new meaning to love.