Its my first attempt, and its because I want something to distract myself. So basically the story so far is I quit a very easy going, low paying job to try to do something I believed in 1 year ago, and now that I am abroad for Grad School, I have no idea why I wanted to do it in the first place. With a new place comes new experiences, new friends and new resolutions. And my resolution was to quit SMOKING. I always believed that I was in control, I could quit if I want, etc . And the first 24 hours, on the eve of our Independence day laid the sucker punch. Its not that I hadn’t gone 24 hours without smoking before, but its the first time I have decided to keep things in my hands.

Early morning I went to look for my packet out of force of habit, and presto it was empty-mainly because I had finished the last one the previous night. It was then I realized it was gonna be a difficult task. I thought maybe Caffeine would be good enough to beat Nicotine, but it was like David and Goliath, and this time David didn’t win. And I also realized I make horrible coffee, even if it is plain black.

Time to step up a notch, and what better than my first assignment in Grad School. Algorithms were supposed to be the basis of Computer Science. But add the dash of Mathematics to it, and you are left to wonder-was it mathematics that lead to such wonderful things like The Matrix, The Terminator and other sci-fi classics. Thus, its an important lesson for all readers-don’t let movies or any media for that matter influence your career decision. What appears in the screen is a myth, the 3 dimensions of space and the 1 of time where you are stuck in is the reality!

Induction is a very powerful tool in Mathematics. For noobs, let me give an example that all can relate to:

1. Basis: If you have one girlfriend, see how your relationship works out with her.
2.Hypothesis: If you have ‘n’ girlfriends, your relationship will work out the same way
3. Final Proof: Your relationship with the ‘n+1’th girlfriend will just be a mathematical extension of your relation with the previous ‘n’ girlfriends.

There is one basic flaw in my logic. If your relation with your 1st girlfriend is well, how are you supposed to get the rest of the ‘n-1’ girlfriends? If anyone has a proof of this paradox, please let me know.

Anyways, it was difficult to keep sense, with different withdrawal symptoms like tiredness, headache, lack of concentration creeping up. But its a battle I had to win, although I do feel its a losing battle. So after some time of struggle and solving a problem or 2, I just quit and popped a chewing gum-my weapon in this battle. The news from India indicated people from NE being driven away from Bangalore, and I realized on our Independence Day-we are still divided. Here in the US, where the Indian community is small, they are so tightly bound. That is why I am still to make many American friends, though I made loads of Indian ones here. Maybe its our mentality, brought up by the same people, always in the comfort zone of our community. For somebody like me, who was in a college with different communities-trusting and adjusting is easy. But what about the millions who are stuck among the same people, their own community, their own religion-will it be so easy as well? Are we just a federation in the veil of the one of the world’s largest democracy and republic?Maybe I thought too much-its probably another withdrawal symptom.

Dressing up in a shirt after so many days proved to be a pain. It was the first time I was going to celebrate independence day on foreign soil, and I seemed to have a sense of pride in it. Even singing the national anthem didn’t prove to be that much of a bother that it did during the start of a movie. You take something away which you had taken for granted and then you realize its importance. And this time it was my Indian-ness, something I was questioning hours ago. I concluded-its just another withdrawal symptom.

Thus, its the end of 24 hours-and I am still hanging by a thread. But I intend to win-because I am a fighter and if I go down to temptation, may I go through hell before doing so. Every story doesn’t have a happy ending and most break ups are bitter. Hope mine is better!!!Signing off….