Serendipity

A friend in high school had once narrated an amusing anecdote about her Math tuition classes. Her teacher had explained a particular concept and had asked them to learn the related formulae by heart, learn them so well that they (the students) would be able to rattle them off at the snap of a finger at any time and at any place. To emphasize this part he had, apparently, given them quite a vivid example. "Suppose someone pushes you from the top of a thirty-storey building and in the midst of your free fall, a person pokes his head out of a fifteenth-storey window and asks you the formulae, you should be able to say them as fluently as you can sitting in my class " Well, speaking for myself, I don’t trust myself with formulae in such a cliffhanger of such a situation. However there is something which can be my forte in such a predicament. Leaving aside jumping from tall buildings, I’m pretty sure that if I am ever woken up on a freezing winter morning and asked to recite t

A short note before I begin: An  essay I wrote in my school years comes back to life in this new Avatar! It was in all probability the year 1999 or 2000 and I wrote this piece on a whim a couple of months before my final exams. I remember it was autumn and I was studying for the exams when all of a sudden an idea struck me and  I got down to work on it before it flew away! I used to count this as my finest piece of work in those days,in fact, I still hold a special affinity towards it. I have refrained from making any modifications to it because I wanted to see how I have evolved over the years,whether I still feel the same about certain things in life,whether I still possess similar longings and desires. The entire essay is just the same as I wrote it years back and I have retained the title too! And yes,I still can strongly identify with the wishes of my younger self. As I sit by the window, my thirsty eyes eager to catch a glimpse of unadulterated blue among the mighty sky

" See Jehane...I remembered the roses ."  These poignant words form an abiding part of my childhood memories. It is not as if I have always remembered this line or the story it came from. But,sometimes, like a ray of glimmering sunlight through dark clouds,or like the melody of a long-forgotten song, it used to come back me to me,crystal clear. It still does... It was in the early '90s. My elder sister was in standard ten, preparing for her public exams. Her English curriculum comprised of this book called 'A Treasury of Short Stories'. I was probably in standard three or four, and devouring her English books counted as one of my favorite occupations.This story was featured last in that book. The name 'Remember the Roses' immediately struck a cord in my heart. I found something very beautiful,yet heartbreaking, very close yet intangible in this name. What added a touch of mystery and enigma to this alluring title was the fact that information on th