Luck by chance

I've been downplaying the role of words like 'luck','fate', 'chance', 'fortune' all my life. I always thought of them as something I would not associate with my successes or failures. Recently I saw a youtube clip of Harsha Bhogle about it in which he mentioned people start believing in these things more and more as they grow older. He couldn't have been more right. 

Most of the times, bad luck or misfortune can be wiped away by getting around it. A small inconvenience and pinch of hardwork will brush it aside. But I've learn't that's not always the case. Although the decisions we make are the biggest contributors to our destiny, we have to understand that there still are awful amount of things are beyond our control. 

We can buy a property at one of the most lucrative places and yet there is no guarantee that there is a price surge in the next couple of years. Agreed we have a lot of choices to make in most of our decisions and we could make our lives a whole lot better by making good choices. The same way bad choices can take us downhill. But not every bad choice will. If we ask ourselves, I am sure everybody will have gotten away with making bad choices every once in a while. 

Although, I have started to come to terms with luck, it still is unpredictable. You cannot base your decisions based on it being in your side. Heisenberg's uncertainty  principle also applies to real life. The difference being that uncertainty  is not a constant here, it's a variable. It affects some more than others. You cannot estimate it and try to tame it. Buying a car on a Tuesday or getting your name changed to certain numeric addition is not going to change it. Even if it does, you would never know what would have happened if you did not. 

I would like to end this post by a Donald Rumsfeld quote. 

There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know.

Random Musings

Haven't scribbled here since last May. Missed out on so many opportunities to Blog about. More than that, I've come to a realization that I've really missed writing. Haven't been able to convert the drafts folder to a concrete blogpost. No this isn't a writer's block, this is more of laziness creeping in. Just trying to kick it out. 

I have a post about my Brazil world cup experience lying around in my drafts folder, but that's for some other day to complete. Had an eventful last year, with five international trips and ended up getting married as well. Life has changed a lot since marriage. Mostly for the better. Many other things have changed. A photo of my apartment last February would have very little resemblance to the current picture. But that would be true in case of most marriages I guess. It's not my way or the highway anymore, it's more of my way or wife's way. 

Jokes apart. Bali, Indonesia honeymoon trip was a great trip. Over-commercialization has plagued the pristine Bali Island, but in patches, you will see that the heart of the Island is still buzzing with the calmness and the hospitality you need for a relaxing vacation. Did some experimentation with my new DSLR camera, Bali is certainly a nice place for doing that. After a few clicks, I managed to come out of the auto mode, I will consider this as progress. A big thank you to my friends who gifted me the camera. 

I've started strumming the guitar again, after more than 2 years. This time around to teach my wife. I do not know how far I can go in that department, but the rusted strings have been replaced and time will tell the rest. I am cooking less often than before, which is a good thing as I've never really enjoyed cooking. I've done it more out of necessity than liking. 

This might be one of my most random post with no sense of direction. But posting this one will mean that I have to cover it up with a substantial blogpost soon. Hoping to get back. Here is one of the photos from Tanah Lot Bali.