Sunday, April 22, 2012

You Are Unique...

"Don't let anyone tell you that you have to be a certain way. Be unique. Be what you feel."  -- Melissa Etheridge
Few days ago, I was looking how actually Astrology works and what exactly Kundli was. This has always been a topic I had thought about. I mean, from a distance it looks stupid, but then, it's more than thousands of years old. Now, I don't know if this thing actually works or not, But I was curious to know what it was all about. And then, I had an idea!!

Before I can really share what the idea was, I have to explain to you, how and what Kundli actually is. Kundli, or Birth Chart, is a symbolic representation of the positions of planets and stars at the time of the birth of a person. These positions of planets and stars have a impact on a person's life. The way, these planets are located at the time of your birth, governs your life. Now, the general Vedic Birth chart has 12 houses or 12 blocks, numbered from 1 to 12. And then there are 10 other objects. The way these 10 objects are placed into the 12 blocks, is a Kundli, which affects oneself. Here is an example how a Kundli looks like.

The 10 objects placed in 12 blocks.

Now, I don't want to get into the minute details of how this actually works. But I think we know enough for the idea. The date of birth, the time of birth and the place of birth governs where the 10 objects would be placed in the 12 blocks. And from this, predictions are made for a person. Hence, we can assume two persons with the same Kundli, will have same characteristics. This was exactly my idea. If two persons, having the same Kundli are same, then how many people are there on this earth which are same or similar as me?

And so, to know this, I had to go to the Mathematics way, and apply my Permutation and Combination skills. There are 10 objects which are to be placed into 12 blocks. So, let's draw 10 objects.

_   _   _   _   _   _   _   _   _   _

Now, these 10 objects have choice in going any of the 12 blocks. So,

12   12   12   12   12   12   12   12   12   12 

Which gives us a total number of cases as 12 to the power 10, which is a whooping 
61,91,73,64,224
Whoa!! Every person is unique to about 61,91,73,64,224 people. 

So, after figuring out, what exactly the magic number is. I tried to relate this to some facts. But I was surprised!
  • I first tried to relate this with the population of Delhi, which has a population of  1,10,07,835 people. I concluded I am a unique person residing here. ☺
  • I then tried to compare this with the most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, which has a population of 19,95,81,000. 
  • I then tried to compare this number with the population of India, which is  1,17,09,38,000. And then I came to know I was unique to the whole of India. Wow!!
  • It didn't took long for me to compare this with the world population, which is 6,84,05,07,003. This came as a shock to me. 
I had initially thought I would compute the magic number, and then compare it with the world population to find out how many people are like me or same on this planet, but this came out as a shock to me, when I realised everyone of us is made unique. It was then I realised the beauty of nature, and the way things works. So many people, and not one is with a repeat. I feel amazed the way nature is made. About 6191 crore of people, all unique, a million species of flora and fauna, all unique. Such complex systems all over.

I actually feel like laughing at those who say that the world was created out of chance. Such complexity isn't possible out of chance. Whoever created all this, actually had put a lot of effort and time. This post has now actually given me a learning. I hadn't expected it to end this way, but I'm happy the way it has come. From a little interest to find out how many are like me, I ended up in learning an amazing lesson. I hope you too got a message, and you would now realise the uniqueness of yourself and start appreciating the nature around yourself. ☺

PS: Throughout the post, by saying 'astrology', I was referring to the Vedic Astrology (North Indian).  

PPS: This post, in no way comment on the existence 'astrology'.

Special Thanks: To my father, who helped me figure out how Kundli works.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

A Lesson...

This wasn't really a professional racing track. We were street racing. Street racing requires more skill, and is actually very dangerous. You not only have to think up of the race, but also of the traffic around you. It was quite late in the night, but still one could see some traffic.

3...
I heard. I was determined, I was focused, and I knew my goal. 

2...
My eyes were looking at the infiniteness ahead, and I was waiting for the green light.

1...
I knew the moment has arrived, and I have to show the best of my skills. "It's show time", that's all I said to myself.

Go...
The moment I heard it, a spark plunged into my whole body, and almost instantly, I geared my bike, pulled the throttle. Next moment, I could see myself zooming towards my destination, and so were 11 other with me. All of us, wanting to reach the end before anyone else could. This was a race, a race of skills, a race for respect and a race for your space. Everyone, zooming ahead, to achieve that feat. Only one winner, and eleven other would go disappointed. 

But this was not what I was thinking. All I had in my mind, was to be the fastest, beat everyone behind and achieve that feat, which no other would achieve that day. My full concentration was on my bike and the road. I noticed, as the speed-o-meter needle was getting higher, more people were getting behind me. 

I remember I was now at the 8th position. Just 7 more ahead me, and then I would have the respect of every other biker with me. I knew I could do this. I knew I had to do this. I looked down, and was at 95 kmph. But I knew this wasn't enough. I looked up again, and I saw a turn coming up. I knew this was a chance. Turns are taken up as a chance, a chance to beat your opponent. The more skillfully you take up a turn, the more chances you have to beat the opponent. I gave my best. And then I saw myself at the 5th position. 

Then, I was on the straight stretch, a good 4.6 Km straight stretch. It was a two lane road. We were back again, with the full throttle, everyone for the big achievement. Just then, I realised that me and my opponent ahead were narrowing up as I was speeding up. I went on to the other lane, pushed my bike to it's limits, and the next thing I knew, I was on the 4th place. 3 more to go. I had the same confidence, and I knew I could do this.

The next moment I realised, that I was getting ahead of another opponent. That was easy. That got me to the 3rd place. With just 2 more to go. It was this point, that my confidence grew up. I'd rather say, I was now in over-confidence. I started to take this race lightly as I was nearly convinced, that the winner for this race is definate, ME! I saw the other two coming close, this only made my thought more stronger. "I have won the race", that was my thought. I was now confident of the consequences. 

Like before, I went to the other lane to over-take the opponent. But the next thing that happened wasn't like before. I was blinded with the light ahead. It didn't took it long for me to realize that there was a huge truck just right infront of me! 

The very next thing I saw...


It was then I realized, Over-confidence is bad, even in game!


PS: This post is for "Castrol Power 1 Blogging Contest" on Indiblogger.

PPS: This post in no way encourage bikers for street racing. The author, should in no way be held responsible for any such consequences. 

Image source: http://www.thethingaboutmachines.com/

Monday, April 9, 2012

Probably the most unique first biking experience...

Fine day, with good smooth roads. Lightly wet due to the monsoons, and the green trees all around the road. What a fine day. And to add more to it, the beast, Yeah, that's my ride. This was my first time with the bike. There couldn't have been a better time to ride your first one. It was all over me. My mind, my heart and my soul. There was excitement all over me. I was never more thrilled than this time. What a day it was.

So, with me being extra thrilled, and the key's in hand, the next step was obvious. I sat on my ride. Sitting had never been more comfortable than this. I had never felt like this before. It was a different but nice feeling. Sitting there, I was feeling good, with finally a thing whose controls were in my hand. It was what I was. It represented me. It was as if I had got a new organ. Such a great feeling it was. 

I couldn't have waited more. And banged the key and started the bike. And then I felt as if it was heaven. The sound of the engine was music to my years, music that I had never felt before, and it was very gripping and attracting me. There was a rush of adrenaline through my body. It felt as if it was a dream. I wanted to do everything in a rush, but at the same time at a slow pace so that I could enjoy every moment of it. It was the best feeling I've ever had. 

And then after feeling every bit of it, watching every single mechanical part of it, which was a soothing experience for my eyes, I finally decided to do the actual stuff. And then finally I sat back again. Swinged the throttle, to feel the 'music' again, pushed it into the gear, and then I realised the moment have come. Oh, That was the most unique way I have ever felt. And then I finally...

TRIN TRIN TRIN TRIN TRIN TRIN..........


Mom: Wake up, It's 7 o'clock, you got to go school... WAKE UP!!!
Me: WHAT? Was this a dream? Oh, I so want to sleep again.... Awww.....

This is how I had my first bike experience. Though, in my dreams, but I do believe that it'll be same or better when it actually happens. 

Note: This post is for 'The Castrol Power 1 Blogging Contest' on Indiblogger

Image Source: http://sarwedisirait.files.wordpress.com

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