The Last Jump.

I had always wondered what it takes to stand at the edge, the very edge, you know, of a cliff, a bridge and the like.

Today I know it. Absolute courage or absolutely nothing. 

I take a look at the abyss and try to remember my God. Only, I do not have one. It is as if the God mocks me! I try to remember the reasons why I am standing here today.

Friends theme song comes to my mind - "Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's D.O.A".

Yeah right, heartbreaks! Loads of them! By the way, never fall for lawyers, they give you the worst kind of heartaches! It's funny, me giving advice!

Where was I? Yeah, why am I here.

Am I feeling suicidal? Somewhat, no more than usual.

Do I need to prove anything? By jumping? I don't know! Who cares!

Does my family know? Naah, lets spare them the agony.

Doing this is lunacy, I know.

A cool breeze blows through my hair. I take a deep breath, as if it is my last one. 

I will not close my eyes, I want to see the ground rushing towards me.

I jump, eyes wide open.

For few seconds it seems my heart is in my mouth. 

Then, almost suddenly, I feel the tug of the band! Man! Bungee jumping sucks!

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First of the Many - II!

[Copied from my Facebook notes, sort of a travelogue]

Read First Part

My train starts climbing. I see below a rivulet flowing through grey stones, green grass not very far from it. The rolling green fields, you may only read about these in a travel magazine article about Switzerland or Scotland, are also visible. Very far away, I can make out different layers of hill ranges covered with clouds, farther the range lighter the shade of grey it projects! My view is obstructed as the train enters a tunnel, the first of the many yet to come! As it exits the tunnel, I see that the same rivulet has emerged into a strongly flowing body of water. Where in the heaven am I, I wonder!

The train just entered Chichonda station after passing through yet another tunnel. It has started raining. All things green turn into awesome. The road less traveled looks all the more enticing! A small stone wall runs along the boundary of a farm, ending at a well. I cross a railway gate, a lone, red Tata Ace stands shining in the rain. The rising and falling contour of the green land adds to its beauty. 

I decide not to write another word, just gaze at the wonderful scene, just be there and feel and do nothing else! The train whizzes past Barsali station as I continue to watch out of the compartment gate in hope of catching yet another breathtaking view! And to put it mildly, I was not disappointed!

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First of the Many - I!

[Copied from my Facebook notes, sort of a travelogue]

My train is snaking through a tunnel cut into a mountain as it enters Madhya Pradesh. The stones, originally light brown in color, drenched in rain water, are now slaty in color, with patches of green on them. I see an abandoned, roofless railway hut covered with moss. 

The scene quickly changes as I see farms, green farms as far as my eyes scan the horizon. I see a narrow road, washed clean by rain water, winding through the green land. Monsoon really brings out the poetry in the land! This is a place where you would take a long, long walk with your beloved, hand in hand, under an umbrella in a drizzle! And the best part? I haven't seen a single human yet! Perhaps the time has come to put down my pen as I approach Pandhuri, first human settlement for last half an hour!

The train started from Pandhuri about five minutes back. And now all I see are different shades, from fluorescent to dark brownish, green! As I enter Teegaon, a cool, slightly strong wind hits me in the face! Again, a red, rain-washed bench sits under a green canopy. Leaves of, what I assume to be a mango tree, are fluttering in the wind. Everything seems so surreal. Now the train leaves Teegaon and a single engine chugs by. I prepare myself for yet another awesome vista.

[Read Second Part]

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Life, or How not to screw it by chance - I!

The funny thing about life is that it doesn't give you a second chance. It will put your most desired thing right in front of you, just on the fringes of your fingertips, tease you with it, may let you taste it once or twice, and then pulls it away from you.

Mercilessly!

But most of the time, there is a split second window in which life puts that thing well with-in your grasp, and you have to decide whether you want it for life or let it go. That is the beauty of life, that it gives you an opportunity, a chance to get what you desire most, the thing for which you would pawn your soul to the Devil himself.

So what do you do when such a situation arises? Do you let it go and wait for something better? Or, you take that one leap of faith and grasp that thing and never let it go?

Most people are indecisive and through their indecision, they let it go.

This is a story of such indecision.

[TBC]

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Rain

I love Brunch, the Sunday magazine which comes with Hindustan Times. I have been reading Vir Sanghvi's editorials and food columns since, I don’t exactly remember, maybe class ninth. So was going through it and saw an article on monsoon. It was well written and reminded me of the several monsoons I have been through.

There was a time when, in Patna, it didn't just rain. We were used to seeing thundercloud and lightning!! The day used to turn into night, you could have seen stars, if not for clouds! And it was such a treat! Getting soaked to the bone, you know it takes time to get that soaked in a drizzle, and then Ma asking me to change clothes, what I would not give to get those days back!

There wasn't a year when we didn't have to wade through naalas to get the cake for Reshu or Gudli's birthday! Quite a feat, I tell you!

I spent next three years of my life in Jharkhand. Beautiful places, both, Bokaro and Jamshedpur. I remember getting drenched while riding a bike on my way home from school! This happened on a regular basis, may have something to do with my choosing to leave school when it started raining!

One distinct memory is of standing in the balcony of 7264 while it rained! It didn't just rain, the rain was usually accompanied by a strong wind! The huge field in front of balcony had a few trees and a lake, and man, it was such a beautiful sight!

It still rains, but it doesn't in the way it used to. I have been waiting to go back home and experience those thunderstorms, those days-turning-into-nights kind of thunderstorms which I haven’t experienced since I left home. Maybe I will, someday. Most probably I won’t.

I miss rain.

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The. Nahi bhi the.

[Copied from my Facebook notes, wrote it long back.]

पता था,
नही भी था|

तुम थे,
नही भी थे|

तुम्हारा इल्म था,
एहसास नही था|

तुम मिल रहे थे,
तुम बीछर रहे थे|

हमारा क्या था,
कोई था, नही भी था|

--------------------

Pata tha,

Nahi bhi tha.

Tum the,

Nahi bhi the.

Tumhara ilm tha,

Ehsas nahi tha.

Tum mil rahe the, 

Tum bichhar rahe the.

Humara kya tha,

Koi tha, nahi bhi tha.

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Make Anagrams, or, Remove duplicates

Intro:

This is a very basic question. I am writing about this just because I want to get into a habit of writing technical stuff. I am not so good at expressing my ideas and that is why I am starting out with such a simple example. I hope to start writing and keep on improving my writing skills. Any suggestion is welcome. 

Problem Statement:

There are two given strings. You have to find out the minimum number of character removals from each string so that both become anagrams.

Link to problem.

Thought Process:

The idea is to keep a count of all the characters in both the strings in two different arrays and then compare the counts. If there is a difference in count, the character has to be removed. Therefore, the difference needs to be added to the total count of characters to be removed.

Example:
String 1: abd
String 2: ace

Remove b & d from first string and c & e from second string and you have an anagram.

Total number of removals: 4

Code:

def makeAnagram(a, b):
    arr1 = [0] * 26
    arr2 = [0] * 26

    for c in a:
        arr1[ord(c) - ord('a')] += 1
    for c in b:
        arr2[ord(c) - ord('a')] += 1
    count = 0
    for i in range(26):
        diff = arr1[i] - arr2[i]
        if diff < 0:
            diff *= -1
        count += diff
    return count

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First Post!

I have been thinking about posting for a long time.

Too long, I think.

I went through several blogging platforms, read reviews, thought a lot and talked a lot. At last, I realized the best blogging platform is the one I start writing on!

Now, coming to the purpose of this blog, my life, the universe (mainly, this blog)-

1. Write about technical stuff I learn, 

2. Write stories and experiences, stories from my experiences, and,

3. Anything which catches my fancy.

Hope this time I continue writing.

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