My friend Sancho

As I walked into my room the other day, I saw Sancho sitting in the corner. And although it had been quite some time since I last saw Sancho, I really shouldn't have been surprised - given his habit of showing up in my room at odd times - when he's least expected (and least wanted as well!)

Seeing him there that day took me back to H11 A#70 where I first made friends with Sancho.
I had just shifted to a swanky new single room at the hostel, had decided the where the bed, the cupboard and the table should go, had arranged all my belongings neatly (:)) and was just settling down to admire my new room, when I first heard his voice and then saw Sancho.

My first reaction was disgust. Then anger - at having to share my new room with Sancho. But there was nothing much I could do.
Although Sancho and I never could get along from day one, we had this unsaid, unwritten treaty of having our own ends of the room. And we both respected that treaty...I never ventured near Sancho's part of the room - from the window to the cupboard (Well, at least never went there whenever I knew Sancho was around) and always ensured I came back to my part of the room as soon as (as soon as was humanly possible ) I had fetched whatever I wanted from the cupboard :-|
To his credit, Sancho never tried to encroach my end of the room either - from the door to the bed.

After a lot of initial disgust and (futile) attempts to reclaim my room, I gave up and resigned myself to the fact that I better accept Sancho's presence.

Slowly, I came to depend on Sancho's (always) being there.
Late nights - when I was up fighting with some algo problem - Sancho was there. Sancho kept me company as I struggled to make sense of the innumerable symbols jotted down in my machine learning notes. When I used to come back from my lab after a night of squashing code bugs and still lie awake from anxiety of the unresolved bugs, Sancho used to be there - he knew the joy and pain of squashing bugs too.

I never realised when I started taking his presence for granted...until one day, (although I can't recollect exactly when) Sancho was no longer to be seen. He stopped visiting.
I took a few days to realize Sancho was missing, because I thought he'll obviously come back soon enough.

But my friend Sancho never came back - at least not until I was at H11A#70.

So imagine my surprise when I saw Sancho again, after almost two years, at my room in Pune - sitting in the corner - just like old times!

I didn't question Sancho regarding his whereabouts nor did Sancho ask me how I was doing...It was like when old friends meet after a long time - you don't question, you don't explain, you just start back together from where you had left off...
This was what happened - only this time I didn't want Sancho to stay for long...

Oh, btw, I really should have posted a pic of Sancho, but he's really really shy and doesn't like posing for pictures. So you will have to do with one of his pics I found on google (Yeah, my friend Sancho is quite famous you see :) )

PS: The post's title is dhapofied from the title of a book my friend M had. (It also had a pic of Sancho on its cover :) )
PPS: I really really hope Sancho doesn't take a liking to my new room and goes away real soon :P

Stack Overflow...Or not...

I had one of my #philosophical moments the other day.
There was just too much going on all of a sudden, and I felt like life was taking me on a super tizzying giant wheel, spinning away so fast that everything around was just a daze, and I could barely hold on and keep myself from falling off.
Round. Round. Round. Round it went...People, Events, Mishaps, Happenings, News, Celebrations, Facts, Hearsays, Snide Comments, Meetings, Petty Politics, Emails, and Yet more Events, People and Happenings. Whew!
It was pretty hard to keep a track of all that was on my mind...and I got around to being even more forgetful and confused than ever...:-|
This "stack" of things on my mind had really started getting the better of me.
Then I realized that the best way to deal with all of this "too much happening all at once" feeling is to deal with the topmost feeling in my head and sort it out. Simple. Call this.pop(). Deal with it. Do it till you feel a bit better. :)
Guess this is what most people usually do, knowingly or unknowingly...

while (_confused){
_dealwith = this.pop();
if (feeling_better)
break;
}
Note: This assumes that you will feel better before your mind stack gets empty and hence isn't included as the breaking condition :P

And I realized that more often than not, it's not that important workitem assigned to you, or your finance sheet, or that house hunt, or your health in general, or even your family troubles that actually bother you.
When you do call this.pop(), you'll realise that the topmost item bothering you is usually made of much much smaller (and dealable) stuff - the status email@work you have been meaning to send to your mentor, the electricity bill due in a few days, the property ad on sulekha you have been planning to long reply to, the neck pain you have long been ignoring, the visit to your granny you had planned for last week and postponed...the disarray on your workdesk, the umbrella that needs oiling, the gift voucher you won and never en-cashed because you couldn't decide which book on your wishlist to buy, the haircut you've postponed since eternity, that call from your friend you missed and then completely forgot to call back, the birthdays of near and dear ones, the new backpack you promised you'll get your maid for her kid's new school term, the refund from your cancelled ticket you never got and need to follow up with the booking agent, the trip you've always been planning, the blog posts that merely sit as idea bullets in your evernote list...I could go on and on and on...but you get the point...:)
So, without meaning to sound preachy, just call this.pop() and resolve the thing that's bothering you the most.
Take a bet, it'll be easier than you think ;-)

...And thus ends my feverish 'filosofical' bout.