Ankit", I turned around to see her standing there looking at me. She looked tired, the days work reflecting in her face.

"Hi ", I replied. Even with all the tiredness, sh

I was standing infront of 'Apna Chai' outlet and enjoying a samosa with my favourite tea.

Divya and me worked in the same building but for different firms. We go long back, we were classmates in college. She was into everything in campus - studies,arts, literature etc etc. While I was mostly into things u might have read in 5.1 someone. Strangely we became close friends and as u might have guessed I had a huge crush on her , was too afraid too ask her out and eventually college ended. She moved onto bigger things adding prefixes and suffixes to her degrees. While I fought and cleared my supplies. Eventually we drifted apart and finally met here. She was a project manager in a leading IT firm , while I was shrugging it out in small Start up.

Meeting for a tea in the canteen at evening was one of such rare occasions.

Sh Ankit", I turned around to see her standing there looking at me. She looked tired, the days work reflecting in her face.

I was standing infront of 'Apna Chai' outlet and enjoying a samosa with my favourite tea.

Divya and me worked in the same building but for different firms. We go long back, we were classmates in college. She was into everything in campus - studies,arts, literature etc etc. While I was mostly into things u might have read in 5.1 someone. Strangely we became close friends and as u might have guessed I had a huge crush on her , was too afraid too ask her out and eventually college ended. She moved onto bigger things adding prefixes and suffixes to her degrees. While I fought and cleared my supplies. Eventually we drifted apart and finally met here. She was a project manager in a leading IT firm , while I was shrugging it out in small Start up.

I used to frequent the tea shop for my tea and samosas while she used to come out to feel the fresh air and to fill her lungs with puffs of nicotine.

We shared our stories old and new, I was excited to meet her again, while she was happy to have a familiar face around. In her office she was the cut throat boss who noone wanted to mess with. ( For reference go and watch Mamta in Yes Boss)

With me she laughed over our old stories, smiled for my silly jokes. Her colleagues who saw out little interactions had the expression "ee sadanom chirikumo "

She has become what she always wanted to be - bold , successful. She had her stints in European countries, now back in the country for leading a major project and post of VP well with in her reach.

While I had become everything I afraid of a jumping jack, not sticking onto anything permanent.

The only thing common for both of us was that well into mid 30s we were both still hot eligible bachelors (at least it was true for her)

Even though we were friends back in college days and enjoyed our convos at the tea spot, we never met anywhere besides there. Our world was that tiny bit of land and outside it we were two different individuals having two seperate lives.

So "Back to the future" ( I know it's back to the present, but i can never miss a chance t say that . (Marty Macfly and Doc Brown 💕)and to those who didn't get the reference, sorry to say u guys had a poor movie taste while growing up )

Ok so snap back to reality..

She walked towards me and moved onto a corner so that she can enjoy her cigs. So how was the presentation, I asked. "Good" she replied, "Infact Great, client loved the presentation, we may able to close the deal sooner than we thought. It's a big catch for the firm."

She had a very successful day, yet her expression remained stoic. Seems these success have become routine for her and doesn't excite her anymore.

We talked for sometime, shared some office stories , she smiled at some of the jokes I made. Looking at her watch she said " It's time for me to get back to office", "Yeah sure, Divya one more thing, I will be putting my papers by this week end". She was about to turn back and walk , but she stopped in her track hearing my words. She put on another cigrate and lite it.

Where to ? She asked, I could sense her no nonsense bossy nature returning to her.

To a firm in Pune, package is almost the same ,but then it's a new city, new people, new adventures. I gets bored soon. Even things here are now getting routine and boring. It's time for me to move onto another place.

Oh, even I have become boring to you ? Her reply was quick. I just gave a smile not sure how to respond to.

She continued "So when will be u moving ?"

"Within 2 weeks, I have a cordial relation with HR and management .They have agreed to relieve me by then."

"Ah, then today will be our last meeting I guess. I will be leaving to Mumbai tomorrow, will be there till the week end and I was thinking of going back to home for a week ,it's been a while since I have been with dad and mom. "

"Hmm, I guess then this will be our last meeting here"

She then put down her cig, crushed it with her high heel boots. "Ok then I guess I will leave".She took few steps and turned facing me ,her face emotional less.

"Why didn't you ask me out back then "

I was speechless for a moment, "How did you know ? and Would you have agreed to go out with me if I asked"

"I knew", and she continued after a pause "I would have said No to you "

I gave a wry smile. Not sure what to say next.

"Bye then, wish you new adventures and happiness" she said

"Bye Divya, hope u reach the goals u always aimed for"

She turned again and walked away with brisk but confident steps as usual.

I stood there, watching her once again walking away from me.

I remembered her question, whether she has also become boring to me , No dear , you never was and never will be. But I am afraid staying close to will bring me back my feelings which I had managed to hide away. It was never easy and I don't want to relive that trauma once again. It's the best for both of us. All the best my dear. Hope we meet again at some point of time.

Divya walked towards the elevator, while she waited for the elevator she could feel tiny drops of tears forming in her eyes.She quickly wiped them away. No Miss Divya can never been seen in tears. And Ankit , I would have said no back then. A girl with lot of ambitions and aspirations, a guy who was aimless, pending back papers wasn't the ideal choice . Even how much she cared for him. But Ankit it was back then, it was the thoughts of a 21 year old. If you have asked now, the answer would have been Yes ..

But then I didnt want to weigh you down, you want to fly high , have new experiences. I dnt want to be a burden to you.. Good bye dear. You will always have a special place in my heart.

The lift door opened and Miss Divya Varma entered the lift..

Falling for Formula 1

Michael Schumacher vs Mika Hakkinen, Belgian Grand Prix @Spa-Francorchamps 2000 . One of my earliest memories of Formula 1 and probably one of the moments that got me hooked to Formula 1. I had watched a few races by this point but was by no means an ardent follower . Formula 1 was just one of those things I would watch if there was nothing more interesting going on while I was channel surfing. Of course there were things that intrigued me... the high level of technology - these cars looked nothing like the road cars, the crazy high speeds - they were pushing 300 kph down the straights!... and of course the roar of the V10 engine (although I did not realize it at the time).

It was another tight fight this season with both Ferrari and McLaren producing cars that were title contenders. Michael Schumacher leading the Ferrari charge against the McLaren defending driver's champion, The Flying Finn, Mika Hakkinen. Schumacher was just 2 points behind Hakkinen going into Spa. Hakkinen qualified on pole position but spun in tricky wet conditions to hand the lead to Schumacher. With a handful of laps remaining, Schumacher starts to struggle with his tyres but cannot afford a pit stop to put on new ones with Hakkinen closing in. The stage is set for a chase to the flag. 

Hakkinen is closing in by 2-3 tenths of a second every lap and seemingly faster on the Kemmel straight and stronger on the brakes at the end of the straight. This would be the place to go for the overtake. Lap 39 out of 44, Hakkinen has Schumacher in his sights and closes the gap down the straight, benefitting from the hole Schumacher's car is punching in the air ahead of him and thus able to close up even more than usual. By the braking point, Hakkinen is in a position to dive down the inside and goes for it. Schumacher though pulls out one of his infamous dirty driving tricks and blocks the inside at the very last second, leaving no room for Hakkinen. For Hakkinen, its either drive off the track or back off. He chooses to back off. All this is happening while braking down from 300 kph over a distance of 100 or so metres and then navigating an upcoming turn while the gap between the cars is less than a metre. Crazy. Brilliant but crazy. 

Schumacher is ahead for the moment and tries to break free over the rest of the lap but Hakkinen is having none of it. Hakkinen keeps him in his sights all the way and on the next lap lines him up again. They have Ricardo Zonta, one of the backmarkers ahead of them going into the Kemmel straight. Michael stays on the inside line covering Hakkinen till they arrive right behind Zonta. Schumacher then flicks to the left of Zonta to the outside line leaving Zonta on the inside line hoping to cover Hakkinen that way. Hakkinen instinctively starts tailing Michael but then sees the move and judges there's room enough for 3 cars on the way into the braking zone and throws his car down the inside to the right of Zonta. Zonta has Michael on his left and Hakkinen on his right, he holds his line and eases off the accelerator into the braking zone as the title contenders surge ahead. On the brakes, Hakkinen has the inside line and the lead!!! 

Watch the video below. Added bonus: enjoy the commentary from the bygone era!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fZolMGFDal0&feature=youtu.be# 

Enjoy the glorious roar of the V10s in the video below without commentary.

There's a lot to love about Formula 1 but this is what I fell for. Gladiator-like performances from the drivers taking these absolute brutes of machines to the very edge of what is humanly possible. Perhaps even beyond at times.

 

142857

 I have been enamored with numbers for a fair while now. The idea behind this post is to share some of that love with my friends and the world. Maybe it will reaffirm the doubts in your mind about my sanity, maybe it will make you see numbers in an entirely new light, at the very least it will be an interesting tid bit of trivia. So, onto 142857. It is nothing but 1 divided by 7. 1/7 = 0.142857 recurring. I believe thats what caught my attention in the beginning, the 6 number combination recurring, which is rare, I thought. 1/3 = 0.333333 recurring but its just one number recurring. similarly, 1/6 = 0.16666 recurring, just one digit recurring. However the fractions of 7 are way more fascinating as you can see below.

1/7 = 0.142857

2/7 = 0.285714

3/7 = 0.428571

4/7 = 0.571428

5/7 = 0.714285

6/7 = 0.857142

Spot the pattern yet? Its the same six digits, doing a little dance! They go round and round, keeping their respective positions, taking the first spot after the decimal in turns.

And the fun part with playing with fractions is they always translate nicely into percentages, which is especially helpful when trying to comprehend data. So next time you come across 43% it is definitely in the realm of possibility that it pops up in your mind "Hey that means 3/7!" . So while others pull out their calculator and jump through hoops trying to do the math, you just go 43% of 700, well thats 3/7 of 700 so 300. Tadaaa!