Serendipity and Learning

When I was in school, I recall my mother telling me how she hardly knew to cook when she had just got married. I found it impossible to believe because she was such a fabulous cook. And she said no, I knew very basic things when I started off, so I had to ask people, try out things and slowly work on it until I got really good at it.  Today some 25 years after that she has added more skills and cuisines to her repertoire. Almost all mothers around are good cooks. This might seem obvious - all mothers are usually good cooks (add a few more skills) - but what is not obvious is that they get good at something over time.  I started making chutneys a few years ago - mainly to escape the boring routine of having to eat idlis in the morning. Now about 3 years into the process - I am actually very good at it. Indeed I made a chutney infographic (see the picture) - and have tried more varieties post that.  And India has humongous varieties of chutneys - with their local varia...

I have 30 years of experience, said this character in a popular sitcom of the 80s that aired on Indian television. Most of those who have seen this sitcom will remember this vividly. And this character would start every statement with "I have 30 years of experience". Recently in a conversation with someone, the person kept on bringing up 30 years of experience. However, what we heard post that sentence was, quite, tame and pointed more to blindspots, than to the experience.  Sometimes, experience can be a sunk cost that prevents you from seeing what is in front of you!

 A few days the son built Tetris on his own using a game engine. So what? It is a game that has existed - why go through the trouble of building it.  Turns out, a few friends decided to built Tetris in 2 days. They realised when they got into it that almost nothing can be done in two days. Realised because some managed to build a grid, some managed to get a small piece of code working and some just gave up. But one among them persisted and cracked it in a week. Another one copied code from Github and built something. So this guy decided to build it and see. And every few days he would share the progress or frustration depending on where he was. Starting from a single block, learning from youtube videos, de-bugging - after nearly a month of part time effort, Tetris has been built from scratch.  To me, this was a lesson on interest. There was interest. The challenge was high - but not too high (unlike the case whey they decided they can create a Machine Learning algorithm u...

Across all my mediums - Kindle and Hard copy, On my list at the start of the year are: The Human Cosmos - where the author takes into a way the cosmos has been mapped and seen by various cultures from the beginning of mankind. A fascinating journey - I intend to savour this book slowly. The Parasitic Mind - This is a thinking book. In a world where everyone seems to have the same, one-sided opinion - I hope this one enables my critical thinking.  Becoming Myself - a psychiatrists journey. I am halfway through this. While it is an autobiographical story, it is also a sort of history of psychiatry and psychology and I like it for that.  Fermats Last theorem - A story of how this theorem was solved - even for those not mathematically inclined. Geometry in Ancient and Medieval India - an exploration of ancient geometry. I got this book after much waiting.  Range  - a book on specialists versus generalists. I am not sure where I fit, so this seems an interesting read for ...