My entry for 'Who dunnit' : A mystery fiction contest

Posted by dreamz2achieve on 5/18/2010 comments (3)

This is my entry for BlogAdda's contest Who dunnit. You can find the contest details and case here.

MY ANSWER

The three logical possibilities:

1. Suicide

2. One of the 5 guests killed her : M, Author, R, G, Sia

3. A subset or all of the guests conspired

Lila killing herself or suicide is not a possibility. She was a woman who believed to live her life to the fullest. She had always been able to work out a favorable situation for herself in the past, by finding a new person whenever the earlier one left her. So we eliminate option 1.

Guests coming together to conspire against Lila is a big NO, because each held a personal grudge against the other guests too. At some time in her life, Lila had been close to each one of them and then left them for one of the others. So, option 3 is eliminated.

My answer: Author (Second husband) killed Lila.

How did he do it?

The thought which triggered off this answer is the fact that cops found everything in the room except the yellow rose which the author gifted Lila.

In my opinion, this is how he did it:

· He sprinkled poison/or hidden it somehow in the rose.

· He made an excuse of headache.

· Lila offered him tea.

· Avoiding Lila’s eye, he poisoned tea.

· I assume that Lila had the tea.

· As the poison started showing its effect, Lila became anxious and withdrawn.

· She went back to her room thinking it’s the effect of the virus, to take medicines.

· Due to poison’s increased effect, she couldn’t control her walk.

· She takes the medicines from the bejeweled case on her bedside cabinet. Her hurried actions lead to the dropping of porcelain cup which breaks.

· She moves towards the bathroom as she is not feeling well now, twisting the rosary beads in her hands which become mis-shapen and drops to the floor near the bathroom.

· When Lila didn’t come out for a long time, guests went inside to check.

· In the hustle-bustle of the initial few moments, the author very cleverly removed the yellow rose. This is the reason that cops found everything at the crime scene except the yellow rose.

Justification:

The murder has been done in a very subtle manner. This is the signature style of author. The author wanted to complete his incomplete task of killing Lila and achieve the satisfaction of the final WIN.


I think I saw the following mug at Lila's place.




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My First Crush

Posted by dreamz2achieve on 11/06/2009 comments (9)

This post was triggered off by an interesting conversation started by Chetan Bhagat on twitter (Yes I am on twitter @Pooja_Gupta). He asked all his followers to tweet about their first crush. No doubt, an interesting parady of tweets followed this.
Well, this lead me to think of mine. Though, it might sound crazy, but I had my first crush (and yes it still exists) in III standard. My father brought him home one fine evening and introduced him to all of us. I stood behind my mother gazing at him dreamily, completely awestruck by his simple looks yet immense power. Then I heard the magical words from my father's mouth that he was here to stay with us forever. Yes! he was our new family member. He spoke english, but not our kind. My father said that he had a different set of rules for english. My father told us that he will teach us how to talk to our new family member and that I can spend 15 minutes every evening after school with him under my father's supervision.
I welcomed our new family member with an open heart. He was none other than our FIRST COMPUTER.
Every evening, I would rush to meet my computer. I loved to watch him startup (or as I later learned 'bootup'). The sequence followed during booting became a permanent imprint in my mind. I knew the exact statements which flashed on the screen (though I had no idea of their actual meaning), the sequence of lights ON and OFF on each of its parts - CPU, monitor and keyboard (I later learned that this is known as POST : Power On Self Test). My father taught me how to play Pacman and my fingers started moving deftly on the keyboard.
Few months later, I joined standard IV and guess what, a new subject was added to our curriculum - Computers. I guess I was the only student happy with the addition of a new subject and also a member of the handful of students wo had met Mr.Computer before. Computer course at school started off with an introduction to computer, its evolution, its different parts and finally moved onto the simplest of computer languages - LOGO. I was fascinated by the small turtle moving steadily on the screen and that too on my instructions! Even the simplest task of drawing a square on the computer screen,now seemed the most important and meaningful task to me. I would go back home and replicate all the tasks on my home computer too. Writing FD, BK commands of LOGO became the top highlights of my day. Needless to say, I scored highest in my computer exams at school. My favourite question would be the booting procedure and I would happily describe it the way it was imprinted in my mind.
Today, as I sit in front of yet another computer and write this blog post, I thank ny first crush for all the decisions which it had made simpler for me: Be it selecting my subjects in XI standard, engineering branch, industry in which I want to work and many more.

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Do you love your job?

Posted by dreamz2achieve on 8/27/2009 comments (10)

Wow! That's an amazing question.A question which probably instead of asking others, we should ask ourselves. So, let's rephrase the question - "Do I love my job?"

Well, I can proudly and confidently say Yes. But maybe for me this question does not count as I have entered my job only 3 months back. Anyways, let's come back to our original theme - do we love our jobs and how important is this question for us.

Some quick Mathematics
Most of us spend about 8-9 hours/day in our jobs for 5-6 days a week. That comes in the range of 40-50 hous per week. Now, considering that we are awake for 16 hours a day implies 112hours/week. This clearly shows that we spend close to 50% or even more of our time in our jobs.
Whoops!! That's a huge amount of time. So can we or should we really be in a job which we don't love. I am sure that all of us agree that we cannot spend 50% or more time of our life doing something which we don't like.

Now, this discussion gives us a nice foundation to start off a new related topic - Selection criterion for a job. This si highly relevant for all students sitting for campus placements.
Everyone have different selection criteria while selecting a job. I had a simple selection criterion which helped me get a job I love. This was a simple question, which I asked myself when the placement season started. This was - What is the work which I would enjoy the most, I am ready to do continously at stretch and would still not get tired, I am well equipped to do and most importantly I would be proud to tell about it to everyone I meet. I would ask this question to myself everytime a company came to campus for placement and base my decision to apply for it or not based on my answer.
No doubt, being this selective for a job (that too in this bad time of recession) was a huge risk. I had to face some sarcasm too. But, I was ready to wait for my dream job.
Now, why is it so important to be in a job that you love?
First and foremost, you lead a happy life. You are content and happy the time you spend at your workplace and you surely parcel this happiness to your personal life too. Secondly and most importantly you perform your work in a much better manner.
So, though pay packages may seem very attractive, you may find everyone getting beautiful jobs, but it always pays the best to wait for your dream job!!!!

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A deep insight into life

Posted by dreamz2achieve on 7/29/2009 comments (6)

I have this funny habit of thinking about the most abstract things in the midst of my daily routine. Now these thoughts are not limited to my idle time, but enter my mind (and that too at dashing speed) just about anytime and anywhere. And the reason they are problematic is that they refuse to leave me until and unless I have given them justified time and thought.
I was comfortably sitting in my cubicle at office answering a new mail which had just popped up in my inbox. When, suddenly this strange thought came to my mind and I was doing a critical analysis of goals and their importance. People often talk about the goals of their lives. Everyone has goals - both short term and long term. Now, the dilemma is that is it good to have goals or not. Goals give our actions a direction which is highly important, but at the same time limit our actions only in that direction.

Well, its finally a personal choice for everyone. Let me tell you all, how is it for me? I always have goals in my mind - but they are neither short term nor long term. They are just plain simple goals. Now, a question that comes to my mind is that why are these goals so important for me. Well, the only reason existent for me is that goals give me a sense of accomplishment when I achieve them and I am able to happily bask in the achievement's glory for some time. I love those sweet moments - the feeling of accomplishment is the greatest HIGH for me. :)
But just like any other high, even this is a temporary one. The hangover quickly dies. This is the time, when I feel the urge of a new accomplishment and thus the birth of another goal in my mind. So, its a vicious cycle. Goal leads to accomplishment and accomlishment leads to newer goals.

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Why is this rain not the same?

Posted by dreamz2achieve on 7/23/2009 comments (5)

NCR was blessed by a huge downpour yesterday. A much awaited rain.

I was in my office working calmly on my comp when a girl sitting in a cubicle next to the window stood up and shouted with excitement that it was raining heavily outside. All of us gathered around the window, most of us with a coffee mug in our hand, and stared blissfully at the rain.
At this moment, a thought crossed my mind. All I was doing now was looking at the rain that too from behind a fixed glass window standing inside an air conditioned room with a coffee mug in my hand. I suddenly remembered the younger me - when a rain always meant getting wet in the rain, making paper boats and playing in the rain with cousins, scolding from mother for getting wet and the sweet pampering by grandmother later on with a glass of hot turmeric milk.
Don't know when and where, but the younger me got lost somewhere in this busy hectic life. A deeper thought lead me to a funny discovery - we strive hard to achieve a life of comfort and joy and on the way lose the same.

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The Great Driving Experience Part II

Posted by dreamz2achieve on 7/19/2009 comments (4)

I am back with a second article on my ultimate, mind rocking experience on the Delhi roads these days. As a general thumb rule, practical learning is always very different and more benficial than the theoretical learning. This is a well known fact. But i had no idea, that this thumb rule would be so aptly applicable to driving. When I started driving, I knew all the basic rules quite well - wear your seat belt, never overtake from the wrong side, speed limits, etc, etc..
But I came to know the actual rules of the game only once I started driving. And the best thing is that there is not a single book where these rules ae written but they are followed very religiously on the roads. Some of these interesting rules are (for the benefit of all those who will start driving new):
  • Use of mobile phones is banned while driving and not riding. Thus, it is perfectly legal for bicycle riders to use mobiles phones even while they are in the midst of a crossing.
  • Speed limit of 50 is for car drivers and not for Auto rickshaw pilots.
  • It is absolutely sane, if two car drivers decide to stop in the midst of a busy road to fight over a small scratch accident and jam the traffic for the next two hours on the road.
  • Auto rickshaws will and always do overtake from the wrong side. Its a basic lesson they have to pass when they enter the profession.
  • You should always align your car in the lane with the shortest queue at a crossing irrespective of the fact which direction you have to go. You can always change lanes and go in the opposite direction when the traffic start moving and block the traffic behind you.
  • Parking attendants in markets know a vanishing act. They would vanish when you reverse the car and get it back on the road with much trouble, but would appear back the very second you have completed the herculean task to claim the 10 ruppee note which they have earned by showing you the vanishing act.
  • Cars develop automatic wings when the red light at the crossing stops working. Why else would all the sane drivers get their cars to the middle of the crossing from all directions and jam the way ahead.
  • If only 1 second is left for the green light to turn red and you are still 100 metres away from the crossing, then you will be able to cross the road in the nick of the time if you horn like a mad person at the car ahead.

The list of all such unsaid rules go on and on. Hope you enjoyed the above. Would get back to you with more such interesting rules soon.

Disclaimer: The above article has been written with the intention of bringing a smile on the faces of its readers only. There is no intent to hurt anyone. :)

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The Great Driving Experience

Posted by dreamz2achieve on 7/15/2009 comments (2)

Well, I have decided to write about my recent discovery of Delhi roads.
Believe it or not, but I have started driving lately only and I must say that I am having the experiences of a lifetime when viewing the Delhi roads from a different perspective all together.

My daily driving consists of almost the same route between my home and office. I live in South Delhi and my office is situated in Noida. Yes !! I actually travel inter-state everyday :) though it hardly feels as if I am going from one city to another. Everyone living in NCR would agree with this that all these diverse cities merge into each other seamlessly.
Always being a backseater in a car till now, I had been oblivious to the fun, thrill, scare, tension, surprise, despair and numerous other feelings of the person in the driving seat. Till now, driving seemed to me like a mundane, routine task. But this misconception of mine was corrected in the very first few days of driving myself. I describe the driver's seat as a Hot Seat. Every moment is different from the others as you experience varied feelings in almost each moment.
You could feel at the top of the world if you cross the red light in just the nick of the moment (it turns red the moment you have crossed), or an unusual feeling of joy when you see the parallel road for going in the opposite direction jammed with a traffic jam (and you are travelling smoothly), scared when a rash bus driver misses your car by a few centimeters, angry when cars going straight block the free left turn road, thrilled when you drive at more than 90 kmph on expressways, pathetic when you get a flat tyre in the middle of a traffic jam and all you can hear is cars honking, sympathetic when you see a rickshaw puller sweating it out in the hot sun while you are comfortably seated in an air-conditioned car, irritated when the red lights are not working and the policeman is giving eternal time to cars on the other side of the crossing and the list goes on....
So, you see that driving is not a routine task but a constant test of the umpteen emotions hidden in an individual.

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