24 November
2019
22 November
2019
Thanksgiving trip!
3 November
2019
A hard puzzle from India!
Tuesday afternoon, I was all by myself. Both dad and mom were sleeping. Not knowing anything better, I went around going thru the books that still adorn the book shelves in my parents’ house. These are books from my school days. They have kept them still. Most of them are disintegrating – but they are still there. After going thru some of the books that I had studied in high school, I chanced upon this book I still remember for very hard math/physics problems. Written by Irodov, it was a book I had bought from Kolkata Book Fair in 1984.
I glanced thru a few pages. Sure enough, they are as hard as I remember them. There was one that caught my attention as a very interesting one. You can see the one in the picture that I have circled with the red line.
This is a very tough problem until you hit the solution and realize how elegant the solution is.
Here is a version of the problem:
There is an equilateral triangle – each of side length “a”. There are three ants at the three corners. Let’s call the ants A,B and C. At the same moment the three ants start moving at exactly the same speed. Ant A keeps moving towards wherever Ant B is. Ant B keeps moving towards wherever Ant C is. And Ant C keeping moving towards wherever Ant A is. The question is : eventually when they meet, how much distance would each ant have traveled?
Now realize that for every ant, the target ant is moving continuously. So, every ant is continually changing its direction. It is not as simple as an ant goes from one vertex to the other. That is what makes the problem hard.
After thinking about the problem for some time – and not getting anywhere – I posed it to my brother when I met him two days later. Together we spent about an hour in our drive to Kalyani from Kolkata discussing the problem. Eventually, we reached Kalyani and asked mom for some paper and pen. Another half an hour later, we did manage to solve the problem. Excitedly, we pulled out the Irodov book again from the shelf to see if the answer it had given matched ours. It did!!!
This was only Chapter 1 of the book and the 12th problem in it!! That chapter alone had another hundred plus problems. And then there were many more chapters!!
Man, I am way past my prime when it comes to ability to solve these kind of problems.
Anyways, see if this excites you to give it a crack.
If you get it, try the same problem with a square of side “a” instead of an equilateral triangle.
3 November
2019
That familiar lump-in-throat moment of every trip…
Drove back to Kalyani from Kolkata to spend another couple of hours with my parents. The most important goal was to take my dad out for a walk in his wheel chair. Which we did for an hour. We spent the hour aimlessly strolling around in the streets of Kalyani.
Now, he has to wait for another three months when I will be back.
He was too tired to stay awake to bid me goodbye!
Till next time!!
3 November
2019
One last surprise for this trip!
It used to be the case that the first sight of these two young gentlemen reminded me that I had alighted in Kolkata airport. That, and the oppressive heat and humidity.
These days, a far more oppressive thing called education with it daily tests, projects, private tutors and heavier-than-the-kid backpacks has taken away that luxury from my itinerary.
Met my nephews for a couple of hours before catching my flight back to Atlanta. They had no clue that I was in Kolkata!
And that would be the final surprise I had in store for this trip.
3 November
2019
Bengali Alert!!
2 November
2019
Chef Rubai Ghosh!
As a family, we have grown to be a great fan of the Westin in Kolkata. The people there are the biggest reason. The facilities are great and we have gotten to know so many of the folks working there.
Chef Rubai is way up on that list of folks who know how to make your stay very enjoyable. She has cooked up some unbelievable specials for Sharmila, myself and our families over the last couple of years.
This trip was no exception either. It was great to catch up with her.
If you folks ever visit Westin in Kolkata, look her up. She will make some memorable dishes for you!
2 November
2019
The near 50 year old contortionist!!
2 November
2019
Special coffee for a special person
2 November
2019
Moments I wait for…
Every trip to India is all about my parents and inlaws. And then the siblings. And then all those intersection points with folks who I had crossed paths with long time back…their parents… their kids and so on.
One of the most rewarding moments for me is to relax with my brother over a glass of wine. My sister lives downstairs from my parents. She bears the brunt of the day to day challenges with my parents. My brother lives in the big city nearby. He does most of the heavy lifting on the medical and financial front. And in all those high risk situations my parents get into health wise every other year.
Folks like me who live very far can probably understand the sense of helplessness I have just because of the inability to do something. And realizing that the siblings are carrying more than their share of the duty.
I have found very few ways – if any – to say thanks to them for all this.
Sitting down with my brother over a bottle of wine on a roof top terrace of the Westin hotel for four hours just to talk to him without anybody else nearby was a great opportunity for me to to remind him of my gratitude.
We are very close. We talk every single day of our lives. Still, just being physically there – just the two of us… In fact, I mentioned the first day I saw him – brought back from the hospital fresh out of a bout of jaundice after being born and almost written off… we have come a long ways together!
