No no I am not talking about my life but about the novel written by Chetan Bhagat. The novel is set in the year 2000 and revolves around three friends living in ouskirts of Amdavad(I know spelling of Ahmedabad but that’s the way u pronounce it). The chief protagonist of the novel is a young boy called ‘Govind Patel’. As the name suggest he is gujju and dreams of starting a business. He ia very good mathematician and had been the only one their locality to score 100 percent in 12. He thinks that being Gujrati, doing business runs in his genes. But he needs to accommodate two of his friends as well. So comes the Cricket Shop “Team India Cricket” with his friends as his business partners. His friends Ishan and Omi. Ishaan is a cricket fanatic, a patriot and best cricketer in locality while Omi is dumb kind of person, with not many dreams to chase. To support their income Govind starts taking maths tuitions and ishaan starts cricket coaching. With the business setting up we have three important people who are the central to the three mistakes made by Govind. They are: a cricket prodigy and a muslim boy “Ali”, math phobic “Vidya”, who is teen sister of Ishan & student of govind and Omi’s right wing hindu fundamentalist mama (maternal uncle) Bitto Mama. These three characters with a heady mix of cricket, politics, religion and love results in an enticing story.
Read it for a good fun and breeze story line. And if you loved Five Point someone then you surely should vouch for it.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
CATCH-22: What’s That?
One day while having a Chat with my friend I was amused when he said he was caught in a Catch- 22 situation. I exclaimed "Whats that?".
He was referring to a situation in which he had two choices: But both the choices lead to a lost cause. He was caught in a double bind or a no win situation.
I wondered why call it a Catch-22 situation. So, I decided to explore.
On googling I found good amount of info on this. Catch-22 a term coined by satirical novelist Joseph Keller, in his influential novel “Catch-22”. Now question arises as why to call something as Catch-22? So I decided to get hand on the Novel itself.
The novel follows Yossarian, a US air-force bombardier and number of other characters. Most events occur while the airmen of fictional Fighting 256th squadron are based on island of Pinosa, in Mediterranean Sea west of Italy.
The Catch-22 as it occurs in novel can described in words of Heller as “There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr (One of the characters: a fighter pilot) was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more combat missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane (Of sound mind; mentally healthy) if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to.”
Now what to do in such a situation?
Developing further, Catch-22 is a false dilemma in a rule, regulation or procedure where no real choice exists. Consider one more example. In order to get excused from flying combat missions in enemy territory one must submit an official diagnosis from his squadron’s flight surgeon demonstrating that he is unfit to fly because he is Insane. For this he must approach the surgeon to ask for one. However the catch-22 (twenty second of the guidelines) used by military surgeons suggest that “An insane person should not believe or suspect that he is insane. Thus, to be recognized as insane, a person must not ask for an evaluation, because doing so implicitly shows that he suspects him selves to be insane. But, if a person does not ask for an evaluation, he cannot be recognized as insane because the evaluation is the method by which such recognition would occur. Thus, nobody can ever classify themselves as insane (even if they genuinely are), and thus nobody may ever use an insanity diagnosis to escape flying combat missions.
Quite confusing? Read one more time, it is definitely going to interest you.
So have you even been caught in Catch-22? Think…you probably would have been caught.
He was referring to a situation in which he had two choices: But both the choices lead to a lost cause. He was caught in a double bind or a no win situation.
I wondered why call it a Catch-22 situation. So, I decided to explore.
On googling I found good amount of info on this. Catch-22 a term coined by satirical novelist Joseph Keller, in his influential novel “Catch-22”. Now question arises as why to call something as Catch-22? So I decided to get hand on the Novel itself.
The novel follows Yossarian, a US air-force bombardier and number of other characters. Most events occur while the airmen of fictional Fighting 256th squadron are based on island of Pinosa, in Mediterranean Sea west of Italy.
The Catch-22 as it occurs in novel can described in words of Heller as “There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr (One of the characters: a fighter pilot) was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more combat missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane (Of sound mind; mentally healthy) if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to.”
Now what to do in such a situation?
Developing further, Catch-22 is a false dilemma in a rule, regulation or procedure where no real choice exists. Consider one more example. In order to get excused from flying combat missions in enemy territory one must submit an official diagnosis from his squadron’s flight surgeon demonstrating that he is unfit to fly because he is Insane. For this he must approach the surgeon to ask for one. However the catch-22 (twenty second of the guidelines) used by military surgeons suggest that “An insane person should not believe or suspect that he is insane. Thus, to be recognized as insane, a person must not ask for an evaluation, because doing so implicitly shows that he suspects him selves to be insane. But, if a person does not ask for an evaluation, he cannot be recognized as insane because the evaluation is the method by which such recognition would occur. Thus, nobody can ever classify themselves as insane (even if they genuinely are), and thus nobody may ever use an insanity diagnosis to escape flying combat missions.
Quite confusing? Read one more time, it is definitely going to interest you.
So have you even been caught in Catch-22? Think…you probably would have been caught.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Monsoons--Here they come
The mention of word ‘Monsoon’ brings sheer happiness and fills everyone’s heart with joy. Be it a humble farmer or a hardworking office-goer or may be innocent school going child. It’s scorching summer heat that forces people to look forward to monsoon, even though it means, facing innumerable monsoon woes. Woes that we all experience, but none are outcome of our mistakes. Water clogging in our backyard, drains overflowing, potholes full of muddy water, long traffic jams and also local trains getting cancelled time and again. All this announces grant arrival of monsoon.
Monsoon and the Meteorological department have a unique relationship. Monsoon loves to give the Met department a run for their money. Monsoon has got a consistent record of proving the Met department wrong every time they make a prediction. Take the case of this year, Monsoon was suppose to hit Kerala bang on time as predicted by Met department, but Monsoon ditched us came on first week of June. Again Met dept predicted for a start of rains in Mumbai around 10-12 Jun, but monsoon came early surprising everyone alike.
But, most important point is Monsoon has arrived in city and all the colourful raincoats and umbrellas are out. The hot and crispy pakodas(bhaji), ragada pattice is back in demand. With schools opening very soon we can look forward to little students playing in rain water and enjoy getting completely drenched, making small paper boats and watching them drown with non stop rain. The office-goers have one thing to cheer about; they can get official off when rain lashes city making commuting impossible and relish on hot cup of tea sitting in their balconies simply watching rain drops fall on the newly grown saplings. Monsoon also means nature's beauty at its best. Water falls, green hill tops surrounded with thick black clouds is treat for all nature lovers.
So go and enjoy monsoon this season.
Monsoon and the Meteorological department have a unique relationship. Monsoon loves to give the Met department a run for their money. Monsoon has got a consistent record of proving the Met department wrong every time they make a prediction. Take the case of this year, Monsoon was suppose to hit Kerala bang on time as predicted by Met department, but Monsoon ditched us came on first week of June. Again Met dept predicted for a start of rains in Mumbai around 10-12 Jun, but monsoon came early surprising everyone alike.
But, most important point is Monsoon has arrived in city and all the colourful raincoats and umbrellas are out. The hot and crispy pakodas(bhaji), ragada pattice is back in demand. With schools opening very soon we can look forward to little students playing in rain water and enjoy getting completely drenched, making small paper boats and watching them drown with non stop rain. The office-goers have one thing to cheer about; they can get official off when rain lashes city making commuting impossible and relish on hot cup of tea sitting in their balconies simply watching rain drops fall on the newly grown saplings. Monsoon also means nature's beauty at its best. Water falls, green hill tops surrounded with thick black clouds is treat for all nature lovers.
So go and enjoy monsoon this season.
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