4.28.2008

The Doppler Effect of Life

It has been a very long break from blogging - well, very long by Web (read Web 2.0 ) standards. Reasons could be many. No topic worth writing about - though, as I will tell you further on, a lot has happened during this break. Writer's block - though, I do not think I have reached a stage of creativity where I face that kind of predicament. Busy schedule, though I would like to believe this to be the reason, I believe even more in the fact that irrespective of the time at your disposal you can always find time to do something you really want to. That's the reason I was able to make two great trips in a span of 4 months. Plain laziness -now this seems to be the most plausible and digestible of all reasons and I will go with it.

So what do I talk about in this "come-back" blog post of mine. Before that, as promised, let me tell you things of reader's interest that have happened during this sabbatical that I took from writing. My nephew has been growing like the proverbial beanstalk (from Jack and the Beanstalk), I worked like a ?????? (please fill in the term that you deem fit) for close to 2 months, went on trips to North India twice (Hardwar/Rishikesh/Dehradun and Vaishnodevi/Patnitop), bought a refrigerator and a laptop (amusing to see that prices are inversely proportional to the size - at least when I see these two things), getting tantalizingly close to being married. I am sure I am forgetting the more interesting ones - but then what are the edit modes in blogger for?

Down to the topic of my post. I think I was struck with this analogue when I was traveling this time to Mumbai. I was seeing "Jab We Met" for the fourth time - a clear indication that this movie is a favorite on the air-conditioned bus circuit - I remember seeing it when traveling from Chandigarh to Delhi. Somehow, I really like the movie - has some good points too, for the ones who are on the lookout for lessons.

Back to the topic ;-)

Problems and Life are analogous to the Train and Man on Railway Platform example used while explaining Doppler effect.

As a source of sound (train) comes close to the receiver (man on railway platform) the pitch of the sound increases, peaks when the source coincides with the receiver and then recedes as the source moves away from the receiver.

Similar is the case with problems in life. When they are far away - that is, when they are too small to warrant attention - they do not bother us. When these problems coincide with our present - they manifest themselves as unsurmountable and unsolvable, resulting in a lot of anxiety and heartburn. Then, as these problems slowly fade away and join their ilk in our past, we laugh at ourselves in amusement. We find it hard to believe that something like this could affect our lives. While we are laughing at ourselves for problems that bugged us in the past, we brush the, as yet, unimportant ones under the carpet and grapple with the, current, seemingly unsurmountable, problems.

In XII standard, getting a bike was THE issue at hand. After XII, IIT-JEE was the issue. During college, getting a girl was THE issue. After college, getting a job was THE issue. During job, preparing for the daily status meeting was THE issue. Career has always been THE issue. Marriage is THE current issue. IIM-CAT was an issue for a long time. Then it was GMAT - now it is admissions for MBA.

This cycle of life goes on until you face the unsurmountable truth - Death. All your problems which haven't been relegated to the past, either get passed on to someone else or get lost in the crowd of problems looking for another carrier.

1 comment:

  1. That turned out to be one philophical blog that came to the point after roaming about everywhere else!

    What the hell, it kept my interest. So no complaints! :)

    ReplyDelete