Friday Musings and celebration

I don't know if anyone ever thinks of existential questions like the purpose or the raison d’être of his life or man in general, as much as I do. ( I mean amongst people like us and not philosophers). These thoughts are triggered for many reasons but this one picture which I took sometime ago often inspires many moments of poignancy.

It was taken in Kerala just off Thiruvananthapuram taken one late evening. I don't know if the picture makes it clear here, but it is the point where an estuary is flowing into the Arabian sea. I am standing on one of the banks of the rivulet looking towards the sangam and the sea. It is the point of ultimate confluence.

There are two ways of looking at the point of confluence. One is that if it is inevitable that the river will end in the sea then does she (the river) have any choice or control over her own fate. The second way, is to define the purpose of the river is its confluence with the sea (Matrix style) and hence do your best to fulfill that purpose.

My question is not which of the two arguments I believe in, but which I believe more in. Someone asked me why is it important to know the answer? Or why is it even important to think about these questions.

I don't have a clear answer? I think the answer possibly lies in our innate tendency to seek out the origins or the sources of everything that we observe around us. To understand 'The Why'.May be it is similar to the spirit in science where we all are in quest for finding out the most fundamental of principles from which everything can be explained. Or it could be explained better by our dogged determination to understand the Big Bang. While today we claim with reasonable certainty that we know what happened 1 picoseconds (10 to power minus 12) after big bang but still, we are not satisfied.Or maybe it could be likened to the countless yaatras we take to Gangotri, Yamunotri or Tala- Cauvery. (Sources of Ganga, Yamuna and Cauvery). I think it is not so much as to see or touch the source but more so in the philosophical hope that behind(or beyond) the source lies something so pure, so pristine that it is almost other-worldly.

Ultimately, I guess it boils down to one's curiosity (jigyaasa).

I am reminded of the opening track in Shyaam Benegal’s ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ which used to be aired in Doordarshan in late 80s. The entire series is up on YouTube. I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to discover this. I am overwhelmed with Nostalgia. The link to the title track is here.

As an aside, the title track asks very interesting questions and the ending track here tries to answer them.

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Over the weekend, my closest friend graduated from one of the most prestigious schools around in the world. She is now an MBA. She is currently celebrating her moment of triumph, half way across the world and I can sit here in front of this laptop, only wishing I was there. But I can claim for sure that that I am happier than she is.

Almost half a decade ago, more than that, in fact 6 years ago, around this time, we started preparing for our MS/ MBA together. While we soon gave up on the MS dream, MBA and IIM was the only thing we wanted for ourselves. We would spend hours preparing, attending classes, writing mock tests etc. Both of us were driven by the fact that we knew that each of us were capable of so much more and nothing but the best was good enough for us.

I got plain lucky when I cracked CAT in my first attempt, grabbing admits from all IIMs and having the luxury of choosing where to go. She did not make it the first time around. She slogged her ass off for the next year CAT and missed out narrowly. Agony! She then decided to apply to the US B Schools along with writing her CAT. It wasn't the easiest of times. A job that she hated yet had to work 12 hrs a day and many weekends; GMAT, essays, SOPs, interviews and the likes. I remember that 2006 was a year that she strived and struggled. But, I guess it all worked out fine. She got to say no to Stanford and GSB Chicago (if I remember right) in favour of Wharton. And by the way, she was the youngest member of her graduating class.

She graduates this year with a finance major and finds herself right in the middle of this economic conundrum. Guess it is ordained that she can't get things on a platter, but I am not too worried. I know she will get that what she wants, albeit a couple of months late.

As for the reason why I say I am happier than her, I will paste an excerpt from the email that I sent her..

I remember fondly the days when both of us started our preparation for MS/MBA together. Those days were fun :). While I got plain lucky, you just made your own luck. So somewhere I feel that the little dream that we hatched out for ourselves, sitting in that Sanatorium house, has been achieved in full measure. The incomplete happiness that I felt when you did not make it to the IIMs has dissolved.

So I am celebrating this occasion and everyone is more than welcome to join the party!