Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Time is not constant

Einstein once commented philosophically on relativity - "When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours that's relativity." The essence of the quote is that time is different for different people, its not constant, as we generally think.

I experienced this, in a sad ( for me ) way, while I went to interview students fom Delhi School of Economics for Summer Internship at our company. This was my first at the Campus. As I entered the Campus, a distinct feeling hit me and blew my mind apart into pieces. Young boys and girls, casual atmosphere, casual togs, not bothered about the interview, joking, loud music, who cares attitude..... the whole ecosystem is different. And we were like two overdressed dolts wanting to interview them.

You never feel this way in the office or in the condominium one stays, wherein there is some kinda formal approach to everything you and your peers do. I shared this with my HR colleague, Sheebu David, who I think underwent the same emotional stress and was coming terms to.

Yes, the Time is not constant, it runs and runs fast. Its different to me and different to students I met, its relative. To me it appeared as contant, until I became an external observer, similar to the train example of Einstein wherein time contracts or expands as the case may be to an observer. Hail Einstein.

What else did we learn ? Not to hit any other campuses :-))))

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Books from Simon Singh

I hadn't heard about Simon Singh earlier. Was just going through the science section of Crossword Store and chanced upon 'The Code Book - The Secret History of Codes and Code Breaking'. Its an absolutely enthrawlling book - full of intrigue and thrill, toil and determination, passion and hard work with lots of science and lots of luck. It has been a while that I read someone who puts across mathematics with such amazing simplicity and clarity, coupled with stories around those events with pace of a racy thriller.

That lead me to his next book - 'Big Bang - The most important scientific discovery of all time and why you need to know about it'. You think of Big Bang and you think of Stephen Hawking but honestly, how many of us can actually claim to understand and appreciate its nuances. One should start with this one. Right from Earth centred view, to Sun Centred View, to Einstein's revolutionary theories to the creation of Universe, with a BANG, the BIG BANG.

If 'The Code Book' arouses your interest in Mathematics, this one will bring out the Physicist in you. In the end its the Science, which is the winner. And so be it. Amen.

Go for it.

The Inner Voice

The Inner Voice
Do what you think is right

Do what you think is right ?

I am not a frequent blogger, but I always wanted to be. Need to build some discipline around it. So what brought me back. In the early days,...