Zero

The numbers are many, but the zero is special,

The round and hollow leads others to follow;

In the vast and expanding space,

Find out how the number got its rightful place.

Least amused were the Greeks when it ducked the axiom of Archimedes,

Aristotle, the lighting house of the society, so much despised it,

God was summoned to deny the moron for centuries;

Thus orphaned the conception of the Babylonians,

But the Indians embraced it like their own child,

They nourished its soul, so to make it play and run in wild;

The invading Arabs saw the virtue, they took it wherever they ventured,

The number thus learned to do business in the east and the west;

The Renaissance threw the light, suddenly the number was shining bright,

No longer was Aristotle right, the zero finally won the fight;

Even strange is the twin sibling, the infinity, the limitless,

‘Cause no subtraction changes it;

Pascal, when combined the pair, Was pleased to find the Almighty there;

The poor mathematics was in trouble,

When the logic and the proof were gone out of the roof;

It takes faith to believe in the void, the nothing, and in the infinity, the everything.

Newton and Leibniz saw the roots of Calculus,

That changed the face of the craft, for once and all;

Physicists find it in the creation and destruction of the universe,

Like the Lord Natraj in His dancing pause;

Be it zero hour of the big bang,

Or the ground zero of the black hole,

Zero triumphantly appears in them all;

Nothing can be created from nothing, so they thought,

But it has all the worldly powers, the nought,

So the zero shall live on, when all of us are gone.

The Flight, the Plight and the Might

Today is a super Sunday. I participated in Bangalore Sunfeast World 10K Run in the morning. In the afternoon, I have a flight to Ahmedabad – yes, I am going home for a vacation. But the special thing about this flight is that my best friend Alpesh is going to cruise the plane in the air. So after a wonderful run, I am eagerly waiting for the afternoon to meet him on the board.

I start very early for the airport, thinking that I may encounter heavy traffic on the way to the airport, which was not the case this time. I reached much before the scheduled time, but the moment I enter the airport, I get a message from the airline that my flight will take off thirty minutes late as it gets delayed in Kolkata from where the aircraft is supposed to come. No problem, I can wait that much. But the weather gods have different plans. Suddenly Bangalore weather turns windy and rainy, with clouds covering the sky all over. In a moment heavy rainfall starts, with sky-splitting lightening and deafening roar. The mad flurry goes on for hours and the flight-delay jumps from thirty minutes to two hour. But what can I possibly do in this situation? I try to read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s book, but lack of sleep and tiredness of the day full of activities don’t allow me to read – the words just fly in front of my eyes! I stop reading and sleep for some time. When I wake up after a little sleep, I come to know that the flight has delayed by another two hours – yes, you heard it correctly; total four hours delay for a two hours flight! The wait grows longer and longer, it seems like it will go on till the eternity. I turn to my iPod for some relief, but poor little music player is in no mood to help – it plays Buck Owens’s How Long Is Forever. Finally after toying around with the book, the iPod and sleep for unsuccessfully, my wait is over as the plane arrives.

I see him, dressed in impeccable white of aviators, waiting for me when I board the flight. It feels very good to see him. After a long time, we have met. I remember the days when we used to chat endlessly – contemplating about life was our favorite pastime, which continues to be the case even these days, but we don’t see each other much now because of our professional commitments. The advantage of having a pilot friend is that you get to see inside the cockpit. I sneak a look inside the cockpit – it’s full of small and large displays, buttons, knobs and what not. There is not an inch of empty space.

As my plane takes off, after a long delay, I watch out of the window – I see roads, huge buildings, houses etc. As we go up, these things get smaller and smaller. After a while, they are reduced to a tiny dot on the surface of the earth. From above, I can only see occasional lake, a river or a mountain, or just green patches of forests – the things with which the Creator made the world. And it is how it was supposed to be, until the powerful processor of human machinery, the brain, started to think otherwise. He divided the land, the rivers, the mountains, and even the God! In his quest for quality life (not sure of what quality), he replaced what was naturally provided by his own creations of machines and buildings. There is no problem in having strived for quality life but the problem with we humans is that we have consumed a lot of natural resources to produce this life we so dearly desire. And in return, we have not contributed positively to the nature. As George Orwell noted in his book, Animal Farm, “Man is the only creature who consumes without producing.” Unwittingly we are working towards our own destruction. We happily think that we are creating something unique – be it a baby or a robot. But more we create, more resources are wasted. That triggers a self-destruction, albeit a slower one. How well can we dupe ourselves! Or is it the case of the Creator disguising us? Don’t believe me? See how well our planet rotates around its axis and around the Sun, but we always feel that we are standing on the earth that always stands still. This may be the Creator’s ultimate purpose of putting brain in our heads; so that we can prepare the blueprint of our own destruction.[1] In Nature, all the things have to end; there is no special treatment for anyone! This is going to be a slow end (a billion years, may be) Remember T. S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men? :

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but with a whimper.

The plane is flying between the clouds and they create a dark, demonic print on the mind. The scene outside the window darkens the thought of the end of the universe. Now I can be wrong about this whole thing. Ask my friends, they will cheer to the fact that I am wrong in almost 90% of the cases. The case of remaining 10% is even more curious – I am plain lucky in those! Before I paint grimmer picture of the world, my thought is halted by an air-hostess. The other advantage of having a pilot friend is that all these crew members treat you royally. You can actually feel that their smile is not sugar-coated and fake.

The scene outside the window is better now. The clouds are dispersed. The evening sun is setting down in the west. Some of the clouds have worn orange linings. It’s beautiful the way different colors have painted the sky – white, black, grey, gold, orange are all filling the canvas. We are above the clouds now. From the top the clouds give the impression as if the waves of the oceans have frozen in air. I don’t exactly remember when sleep gets hold of me. When I wake up after the landing, my iPod plays the sobering thought:

Jaisi bachi hai waisi ki waisi bacha lo ye duniya,

apna samaj ke apno ke jaisi utha lo ye duniya.

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[1] I am glad that the Creator didn’t choose George Orwell’s totalitarian recipe to destroy the world though. To be stripped of the ability to think and to revolt is worse than being shot down. You can only die once with a bullet!

Run Maadi Run!

The day has started very early today. Today is the day for the second edition of Bangalore Sunfeast 10K World Run. It is the most prestigious 10K run in the world. I got up at six in the morning. My run is scheduled at 8:10, but I leave at 6:30 with my friends as we want to watch Elite 10K Run and also do some warm-up exercises before the actual run starts.

 People from all walks of life are flocking in Kanteerava stadium this morning. A giant screen set in the stadium shows professional long distance runners competing for the top honor. While we are doing some stretching, we see a group of runners entering from the main gate. An Ethopian, Deriba Merga, is leading the pack. He finishes the race in 28 minutes and 13 seconds to be eventual winner. Pretty impressive! How fitting it is that he has bib number 1 on his chest! But he doesn’t get it easily. The runner-up, Mark Kiptoo of Kenya, is just two seconds behind him. It must be heart-breaking for him – but there can be only one winner; the life is tough!

 As soon as the female elite runners start their race, people all around us start to get to the running track. We are going to run in a few minutes now. But it’s not at all easy to reach to the track. Total 23000 people have registered for the run, and Open 10K run, in which I am participating, has 8000 runners. Eager to touch the track, enthusiasm gets better of us and we jump the barricade just to be a little ahead of other runners. Even the security person standing there watches in awe, as we get pass him. I don’t get to see the winner of female elite run, as our run starts in a few seconds. It’s like flood of humanity. In the beginning I walk, since it’s impossible to clear the rush. I just watch the people around – so many of them, dressed in different colors. Some of them are dressed up to win the costume award. The real diversity is on display here. Many of them are running for a cause – charity NGOs they are supporting: these NGOs work for destitute children, children with special abilities, aged people, women, environment, health, primary education etc. This seems to be the best way to engage people in charity work. We need to give them sense of purpose and involvement – then they will be involved in charity work. Only asking for their money is not the surest way – money alone does not bring the satisfaction, whether you are giving it away or earning it in lumps.

 The city roads wear a completely different look today. There is no usual long traffic jams. No vehicles are to be seen, and it’s a relief not to breath carbon and put the lungs to trouble. I can hear the chirping of the birds. Now that’s quite rare in Bangalore, where honking of vehicles is the only real music you can hope to satisfy your hearing senses with on a busy day. Before today, I never noticed how may trees are lined up on these roads; most of them are gulmohar trees with red flowers as their ornaments. Only movement seems to be of runners. Bangalore beats, and sometimes it beats to the different tunes! By the time I reach to the Dickenson Road, I overtake many slow runners. I notice a runner in front of me. Actually I notice his shoes, if you can really call it one. It’s a peculiar type of shoes, of military green and grey color. It rather gives the impression that it’s marriage of a sock and a shoe – only difference here is that they are locked forever in sanctity of the marriage, there is no way they can get divorce.  

            Soon I see 5 km mark on the road. Wow! I have completed half the distance and I didn’t bother to look at my timing in my watch – but there were better things to look at. I am feeling a little tired now. In a moment an aged barefooted person overtakes me, panting heavily and completely soaked in sweat. He looks like above sixty, but his legs put even an eighteen years old to shame. I draw some inspiration from him, and try to follow him. The remaining part of the motivation comes from the crowd gathered to cheer the runners. They have occupied the footpath on both sides of the roads. Some of them are clicking the pictures. I wonder how difficult it may be for them to get up early on a Sunday just to see people running and cheering them up! Two gentlemen holding a poster give us a thumbs-up. The poster happily announces, “The finish line is near. Keep Running”. 

             When I see the finish line, I start sprinting. The thought of crossing it rubs away the tiredness of the body. I see a runner in Parikrama NGO outfit. The line on his t-shirt says it all – No Difference at the Finish Line. As I cross the finish line, I think about it - that is what running is all about. It doesn’t matter what is your caste, or creed, or religion. It’s important to get the feet on the street, determination at the starting line and more importantly, the perseverance to reach to the finish line.