J.K.Rowling & the Deathly Hallows

Let me make something clear at the very beginning. I am a big Harry Potter fan. And like many others I am also eagerly awaiting the release of the last book in the series. While searching about the new book, came across anews item which said that J.K.Rowling finished the series in a posh Scottish hotel. To commemorate this she scribbled on a marble bust in her hotel room the following line.

"JK Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (652) on 11th Jan 2007"

For someone who started off writing in a cafe as she could not afford heating in her home to becoming one of the richest women in the whole world, she's come a long way. And now she can easily get away with what can only be described as vandalism of hotel property. I guess this is one of the perks of being a highly successful author. But then why should i mind. After all she has given Harry Potter to the world.

Its Magic...again

"Every great magic trick consists of three acts. The first act is called "The Pledge"; The magician shows you something ordinary, but of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn"; The magician makes his ordinary some thing do something extraordinary. Now if you're looking for the secret... you won't find it, that's why there's a third act called, "The Prestige"; this is the part with the twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance, and you see something shocking you've never seen before."

- Cutter, The Prestige (2006)

Nothing is what it seems

From the moment we enter this live we are in the flow of it. We measure it and We mock it, but we cannot defy it. We cannot even speed it up or slow it down. Or can we? Have we not each experienced the sensation that a beautiful moment seemed to pass to quickly, and wished that we could make it linger? Or felt time slow on a dull day, and wished that we could speed things up a bit?

- Eisenham, The Illusionist (2006)

What is reality and what is illusion? Something which seems to be an illusion is actually a mirror of the real. Illusion can also be described as forced reality. Something which may not actually be there but which the mind is forced to see. Maybe I am not making much sense. I guess this could be attributed to the fact that I just watched the movie the Edward Norton starrer "The Illusionist". A movie which is based on a simple premise

Everything you have seen here has been an illusion

You Are Mighty

One individual always has the answer to our problems

One individual is always there when called upon

No mortal can deter this individual

This person is You!

You can overcome any obstacle

You can overpower any enemy

You can solve any problem

You can bypass any restriction

You can break any barrier

You can conquer any battle

You can destroy any fortress

You can pass any test

You can surpass any master

You can exceed all expectations

You can win any game

You can create a masterpiece

You can make anything work

You can outsmart anybody

You can do the impossible

You can influence everyone around you

change the world forever

Nothing would be same without you because you

YOU ARE MIGHTY

These lines coming on screen one after the other provide a real good ego massage. Just replace the name in the url to make it personalized.

http://nishant.kumar.youaremighty.com/

The Rings

Day in my Life - 3

ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,

ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,

Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,

One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie

The day: January 6, 2007: Saturday

One of the rare days without any prior commitment or any work to be finished off in the immediate future and most importantly another day off following it. So to spend it decided to watch the trilogy "Lord of the Rings". I had been planning to watch the series for a long time but never got around to watch it. So there I was from eleven in the morning till two in the night in the world of Middle Earth (with a few breaks thrown in between). As all the three parts were in the extended version, total viewing duration came to be nearly 11 hours. For these eleven hours I was in a world of humans, hobbits, wizards, elves, orcs and God Only Knows what kind of creautres. I guess even I was under the power of the ring, watched by the eye of Sauron. It was a pretty enjoyable experience as I went alongwith The Fellowship to The Two Towers watching The King's Return.

At the end of this movie marathon I could understand why "Lord of the Rings" has so many fans. The entire series is simply stunning and brilliant. I too have become a member of the LOTR fan club.

Questions 'n' Answers

Thought about this post a long time back but could never really bring myself mind to write (or rather type) it out. Summer placement interviews and group discussions were going on. Everybody in the batch interacted with some or the other company executives. This is a random sample of some such interactions.

Interviewer (I): So, what do you want to do in the long term?

Participant (P): Well, I read a book by the Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. I was inspired by the book. Now I want to Ph.D. in Developmental Economics.

The least expected career goal of an engineer...enough to shake up any interviewer.

I: What are you here for?

P: I joined this institute for learning. [a small pause] I know this is not the answer you were expecting.

I: Do you have a girlfriend?

P: No

I: So far in your life you haven't been able to market yourself, so how are going to market our product.

Good Point to ponder upon

White Roses

This story I got through a forwarded mail. I guess sometimes these forwards are also quite good.

THE DOLL AND THE ROSE

I was walking around in a store. I saw a cashier hand this little boy his money back saying "I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll." Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him: ''Granny, are you sure I don't have Enough money?''
The old lady replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy this doll, my dear.''

Then she asked him to stay there for five minutes while she went to look around. She left quickly. The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to. "It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much for this Christmas. She was so sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her."

I replied to him that maybe Santa Claus will Bring it to her after all, and not to worry. But he replied to me sadly. "No, Santa Claus can't bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there." His eyes were so sad while saying this. "My Sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.''

My heart nearly stopped.
The little boy looked up at me and said: "I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall." Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. He then told me, "I want mommy to take my picture with her so she won't forget me. I love my mommy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister."

Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly. I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. "What if we checked again, just in case you do have enough money?''

"Ok", he said, "I hope that I have enough." I Added some of my money to his without him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the Doll and even some spare money.
The little boy said: "Thank you God for giving me enough money!"

Then he looked at me and added "I asked yesterday before I slept for God to make sure I have enough money to buy this doll so that mommy can give it to my sister. He heard me! I also wanted to have enough money to buy a White rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose.''

"My mommy loves white roses."

A few minutes later, the old lady came again And I left with my basket. I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started. I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind. Then I remembered a local newspaper article two days ago, which mentioned of a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car, where there was one young lady and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-assisting machine, because the young lady would not be able to recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy?

Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the newspaper that the young lady had passed away. I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before burial.

She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed forever. The love that this little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.

And so the story ends........................

Carpe Diem

I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out the marrow of life! to put to rout all that was not life. And now, when I come to die, discover that I had not lived.

To be read out at the beginning of the first meeting of the Dead Poets Society

- Dead Poets Society (1989)

Carpe diem (latin for Sieze the day). Its about living for the present because thats the only time when a person has control over anything. You cant change what has happened and nobody knows with cent percent surety whats going to happen in the future.

In the movie, the new english teacher Mr. Keating tells his students about carpe diem. This leads to a process of awakening in the students about life. They realize that the only place a person can find his true identity is within himself. And so they carry on their life with a new perspective of their world.

So everything in life is about seizing the day and living for the moment. Taking every opportunity as it comes and most important always remembering that it is only the present which matters

Carpe Diem

P.S:- This blog is dedicated to the first person who posted a comment on my blog

Diwali Dhamaal

Been a long time since my last post. I guess the excuse would be I was busy with many things at the same time. Well, Diwali was nearly 10 days back, but got a chance to write about it only now. This is the second post of A Day in my Life series.

The date October 21, 2006, Diwali. The first Diwali on campus. The day started like every Saturday at Planet I. Three classes in morning...many people were grumbling about this what a way to celebrate diwali. But my thoughts went back to Diwali 2005. On that day I had to gone to Digboi for some field work (nitrogen unloading job to be precise), which was 50 km from my base Duliajan. Although not exactly ideal but relatively speaking it was still a far better situation.

After classes went to the city with a big group of friends. Going to the city seems like a big escape from the daily routine over here. Big movies like Don had been released over the weekend but no one was in mood for that. So all of us went to fun and games section (me thinks that the name is something else....but who cares). So then it was 2 hours of bowling, pool, video games, races and finally striking cars. Never thought that this could be so much fun.

Late in the evening, back to the campus for the Diwali celebrations. Had a gala time there too. So overall quite an enjoyable day.

L.E.M.O.D.

L.E.M.O.D.
It was during my class 11. One day a poster was put up on the school notice board with the letters L E M O D in large and bold. And quite a few people were gathered around it. Now, my first reaction was somebody had misspelt lemon. But immediate second thoughts said what silly thinking. So after craning my neck over the small bunch of not so small people gathered there, managed to read the writing underneath.

LEMOD stood for Living Every Moment Of Day. It was a kind of camp for exactly 24 hours from 6 in the morning to next day 6 in the morning. There were lots of activities scheduled in the 24 hours. activities both in groups and individuals. It was billed to be 24 hours of fun and enjoyment. It was a wonderful experience for the people attending the camp.

Unfortunately, I could not attend this camp. Then, why am I writing about this?
LEMOD was an exercise to make you appreciate time. People are always cmplaining that they do not have enough time. They are unable to do something as they are not able to find time to do it. If this is the case, then how do some others get the time. This given that there is equal amount of time available for everyone.

This is one of the first things I learnt after joining an IIM. There is enough time and how you manage it in an effective and efficient way is upto you. To the outside world, there is a feeling that life in a B-School specially in an IIM is very, very hectic. Students (or rather participants as we are called) hardly get time for any extra activity. Its studies, studies and studies all the time.

Not all of this is completely true. Life here is a bit hectic.The study load is also there. But inspite of all this its quite enjoyable. And I feel here that the concept of LEMOD comes into play. There are 24 hours in a day. 24 hours means 1440 minutes which comes out to be 86400 seconds. This actually is a lot of time. Enough time to get all the academic work done, connect with people, engage in various extra-curricular activities and get some sleep too. So here I am actually putting an almost forgotten learning into practice. The concept of Living Every Moment Of Day. Or simply speaking the concept of LEMOD.