How the Earth was made

I volunteer for a program called Book Buddies. Every week, I spend an hour with two kids helping them to read books. This includes helping them with pronunciation and comprehension. Since these are kids from the second grade, it is really a fun thing to do and the hour usually flies by very quickly. Today was a special day, since it was our last meeting for this year. The co-ordinators for the program gave the volunteers some gifts (a card, a picture of the two kids, a pencil, candy and a calendar). What's better, they had the kids hand out the gifts to the volunteers.

Typically every week, I help the kids read two books, learn some new words and play a word-game in 30 minutes. Today, one of the kids got to read a book in which a baby bear asks its mother for a bed time story. After we were done reading the book, I got talking with the kid about the story. Here's what happened.

"So, do you like to listen to a story when you go to sleep ?"

"Yes"

"Who reads to you at night ?"

"My Dad"

"Oh really ? Thats nice. What does he read to you ?"

"I forgot its name, but he read to me about how the Earth was made."

"Oh wow! So tell me, how was the Earth made ?"

"Well, there were these boy and girl called Adam and Eve. There was a poisonous snake. They had two kids and the two kids died..."

"..."

To put the media in its place

I came across this rather video of Ram Jethmalani, being interviewed by Sagarika Ghose from NDTV . Now if you are like me, and are not well-versed with popular and notorious personalities, you might not have heard about Ram Jethmalani. This guy is a criminal lawyer, who is well known for taking up famous cases (quite notably among them - Harshad Mehta). This particular video is about the Jessica Lal murder case. To put it in context, Jessica Lal, an upcoming model, who was found murdered at a bar, in 1999. The chief suspect was Manu Sharma, the son of a high-profile politician from the Indian National Congress. Ram Jethmalani took up Manu Sharma's case inspite of popular public and media opinions that Manu Sharma was guilty. Here, he states his case as to why he took it up.

A lot of things to be noted about the whole manner in which this murder has been tried in the court. Initially, the court did a lousy job of analyzing the evidence. It was only due to public and media intervention, that the case was reopened, and evaluated carefully. That being said, where does the job of the media end ? Is creating prejudice something the press should do ? Where do we get unbiased jury members from ? Should the press try to bias the defending lawyer as well ? The "popular opinion" about Indian judicial system and the Law and Order system may not be good. However, the solution is not to subject people to public trials, media scrutiny, and completely lose faith in the judicial system. Have faith in the system, and if it fails you, then try to appeal within its limits! I don't think the solution is for everyone to turn vigilantes and add to the existing law and order issue.

My morning routine

I have decided to pass on some knowledge. Something that everyone can benefit from - my morning routine. Every morning, I hope to be at my office by a modest 8:00 a.m. As you can see, I dont ask of much of myself. I try to usually go to bed by 11:00 pm, trying to give myself at least 8 hours of sleep. However, I end up sleeping a little bit late every day. Some times as late as 12 pm. So, now as I try to maximize my sleeping time, while meeting my modest goal of being at work by 8 a.m., I have set myself a very nice optimization problem. How do you optimize your early morning routine, without giving up on the important aspects of it ? Before, you jump ahead of me and assume that I arrive at work shabbily, skipping breakfast, or not having brushed my teeth, let me assure you that this is not the case. Every morning, I brush my teeth, give myself a shave, take a good bath, put on a clean pair of clothes (and these days a sweater), make myself a protein shake and drink it, leave a glass of water for my wife, warm up my car for 5 mins (since its winter) and wear my shoes before I leave.

The most important part of my optimized daily routine, is parallel-processing. Just because I have a lot of things to do, it does not mean I have to do them serially. Lets knock of the easiest thing which everyone has seen in a movie or two. Brushing your teeth while taking bath, or while picking your clothes for the day. Piece of cake. I still have not practiced shaving while doing some thing else as I am scared of cutting myself. Maybe with a electric shaver some day ? After I get ready and step out of my bedroom, my big tasks are to have a protein shake, pick up my keys, cell phone and wallet, wear my shoes and warm up my car. So, I first pick my keys and start my car. So it warms up while I do my other stuff. I prepare my protein shake and proceed to grab my wallet and cell phone. Now an important optimization step. Putting on my socks and shoes. I put on the first sock on my left leg, and while I am putting the sock on my right leg, I slip my left leg in to the shoe. Voila! knocked off 10 secs right there! Next, I slip on my other shoe. But, I do not tie my shoe-lace right away. That my dear friends, can wait. I get in to my now warm car, and begin to drive. I have learnt that my drive will typically involve at least two traffic lights. So instead of twiddling my thumbs while waiting at the traffic light, I tie my show laces at the traffic lights. Cha-Ching! A good 30 seconds in your pocket! Want to save more time, wear your sweater while waiting at the traffic light. 10 more seconds! A little more time ? Dont wear your socks or shoes till you get in the car. Put them in a cover in the passenger seat beside you and wear them at the traffic lights. Dont make the mistake of leaving the shoes at your feet without wearing them. It can be a real hazard, as the shoes can come in the way of your gas pedal or brake pedal. So, you see, I care about my safety and the safety of others too!

Do you have some tips to save more time in your morning routine ?? Let me hear them.