Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Gametime

A deal is at a critical point and people start counting on you as every minute of the clock ticking is a minute taken away from the deal. You are playing the last quarter with 120 seconds left on the table. You play catch up and even down the difference to 1 point but only 40 seconds left. Then you take a shot at a 3 pointer and miss. On rebound your opponent scores a 2 points with 24 seconds left for you to do what you wanna do. You dont wanna miss this time, so you dribble hard and have the normal 2 points. No major surprises here. Clock's at 12 seconds with the opponent controlling the ball. You intercept a pass with god knows what and take possesion of the ball and call timeout. 7 seconds left and you can either shoot or pass.Then you remember your gods (in this case Jordan helps) and at the whistle you dribble a bit and the clock is at 3 seconds when you go for the all-out 3 pointer. You gasp, watch the parabolic trajectory with a bated breath, the ball bounces a bit and then returns to the basket at the end of the game. Phew!!

Someone once said to be succesful you need to give everything you have got and more. I never understood this more better than today. Now I now what it feels like to be under gametime pressure and I am glad I survived one. Its an undescribable exhiliration you feel at the end of it. You feel more alive than you usually do.

As soon as the next game begins, all this exuberance is history but till then its good to be kicking some butt every now and then.

"Quick Watson, The Game's Afoot!"

Thursday, March 23, 2006

The Importance of Delusions

Hmm. I have deluded myself that I will write an email soon to a dear friend, post a new blog, call some folks back home and also keep in touch with somebody. But then I didnt do any of that in the last 2 months or ever since I came back from home.

I have been wondering about the neccisity of delusions in one's life. A mother has to delude herself into thinking that she loves her kids even though the reality might be otherwise and this delusion pays off over time. Abhimanyu did know that he can never come out of the "padmavyuha" alive (because he didnt know the way out) but had to think he can so that he can do his job at the center of it.

Similarly I am deluding myself of certain things. Even though they never might happen, its useful in the sense that it drives me to achieve further more than what I would have done apart from keeping me happy for a while. I think they have a term called "Vantage Point Effect" in psychology. In the end it sounds like Luky Ali's lyrics

"Ho Jaaye to mein raazi Hoon
Kho Jaaye to mein Baaki Hoon
Yu Samajtha hoon"