Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Of six degrees of seperation and the Kumbh quotient



Six degrees of separation is the theory that anyone on earth can be connected to any other person on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than four intermediaries.

Kumb quotient is something, I'd like to believe, I came up with. However in this connected world, I am sure many people have felt that they were twins seperated at birth, based on the number of things or nuances or quirks they have in common. Kumbh mela is a huge fair held at Prayag in India, every 12 yrs. Most bollywood movies in the 60s and 70s had twins or siblings seperate in the kumbh mela and re unite yrs later owing to some common tattoo or piece of jewelry. So the higher the number of common factors between two unrelated individuals , the higher is the kumbh quotient or KQ.

I have come across the six degree phenomenon way too many times. I thought it was restricted to just my line of work , when, one day I realised otherwise. I 'd been talking to an online blogger buddy and just asked him his name. His name was similar to another guy I had talked to once upon a time. I told my blogger buddy that and he goes , "yeah, I have a classmate with that name. He is now faculty in the U.S." Turns out, we were both talking about the same guy. It sure is a small world and getting smaller.

I first came across the KQ phenomenon when I started talking to another blogger buddy. We interacted online for a while first and then took it off line and on the phone. Man did we have things in common. From the coffee we drank to favourite songs to the laptops we owned and even the books we were then reading. One of us had to say something and the other went me too. It was freaky. I started pulling his leg asking him to ask his mom if she had found him somewhere. We are more or less the same age so the whole kumbh idea seemed more and more likely then.

Thankfully, after that, I havent come across ppl with that high a KQ. Yes, we have things in common but not that many and not to that extent. Phew. It is very nice to come across people who have somethings in common with you. Whats nicer though or the icing on this cake is when you share ideas and ideologies and principles. It could be something as simple as respecting the other person's space or minding one's manners and maintaining a decorum in the interaction, but it sure is nice to meet people like these.

I started blogging a year back, and have been online for quiet a while now. And in all this time, I've made a lot of friends. These are people I can share my thoughts with. These are people I am comfortable with. And though, I haven't met all these people, I am beginning to meet some and will hopefully meet them all one day. At least, I'd like to do so.

I started talking to wbix on the yahoo messenger sometime back and in a lot of respects, we think so much alike. Its a pleasure to talk to her and since she hinted that we might meet some day, I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Another blogger, I met just this sunday , is Apy. When I like a blog, I read all the posts on it, digging into the archives and then I go to the comments on the latest posts. Thats what I did to the posts on wbix's blog and came across Apy. Read his blogs and since he just started blogging, there aren't a lot of posts.

I liked his posts. They are candid and refreshing and bursting with an exuberant sense of humor. I looked at his profile and was pleasantly surprised to see that he is based in Japan. His yahoo ID was also on the profile, so I thought, "what the heck," and IMed him. I am glad I did. Even in our first conversation, we got along like a house on fire and I thoroughly enjoyed talking to him . Within a few days of talking to each other, it was decided, that he was coming over. Much leg pulling ensued over who was cooking and many change of plans were threatened. Finally sun(D)day arrived and so did Apy. We had a really good time , and drum roll please. Apy did cook. He made chapati and then he was brave enough to make aloo paratha. I hope the gals out there are reading this. I can vouch for most of his seven tag. He does say all those things again and again. Another thing, I'd like to add, is that this guy listens and not just zone out what one says. Proof are the tulips you see in the pic . He claims to know nothing about flowers and yet could pick these out. I'd mentioned on friday that I was hoping to buy yellow flowers. And Santa Apy had been listening.

And, has been listening. The tulips were just buds when he gave them to me , but have been opening up bit by bit. I've been updating him on the progress, and, by now, I am sure, he is wishing I'd shut up about them.

Hoping to meeting all the people on my blogger circle and enjoying these two phenomena even more.

17 comments:

Apy said...

Well... I m out of words... Wonderful post.. n thanks a lot....*again trying real hard to look modest*
Apy loves it when someone says goodie goodie things bout him...:D

so i can say it once again..

Kaa batayen Mausi .. ladka heera hai heera.. hehe

Rajavel said...

billy ...good one there .. but you forgot to mention the song ! Jewelry ? which movie is that ? I cant remember any where Jewelry helps in reunion ! Songs I know !

But that apart ... I am not a great beleiver of .. "I am so much like you" dramas ! ;) It might work well to establish a rapport .. but eventually .. it mostly turns out that those were likeness of convenience ! We are individuals .. and we might meet at some crossings !!! There wont be much fun if we follow the same track all the time though !

Ardra said...

enjoyed the post...
as for me bilbs, have been a bit weary abt getting to chat- or more close than the comment interaction level- tho I do keep in touch thru mails too- mostly becos- I've this anxiety abt the other person discovering sooner or later that I'm too boring- or too clingy or some such thing- or dissappointing in some way- and then the interaction petering off to nothing- has happenned now and then and this does happen often in the virtual world- and its not entirely painless :-)

nyways am glad u're able to connect beyond the virtual world- its indeed gratifying to find friends...

bilbo said...

chet,
I hope I was not projecting a " I am so much like you " vibes. Pretty much can't stand that drama myself.
Yes we are individuals but even individuals look for and are attracted towards a common meeting ground. That is somehow hard to find these days and I enjoy it when I do.

ardra,
dunno who these ppl are, who can think of you as clingy. I hear you when you talk of interactions petering off as painful.

La Louve said...

That Apy guy is THAT sweet?? *j/k* lol :) Cool to hear that you had a fun sunday.

I was/am real surprised tht i figured in your blog. Hurray hurray am a heroine now! :)) Thanks Lady, love talking to you too and we are so definitely going to meet up someday soon. I know so :)

and on your theory, i met another gal sometime back, a year back actually. We thought sooo much the same things, we had so similar mood swings, and so similar likes and dislikes, tht at some point, we'd just be smiling at each other and could very well guess what the other was thinking. aint bluffing but it was soo soo super cool :)


@ Ardra, You're too sweet and good listener, to be clingy and all that you mentioned!

Rajavel said...

billy

"That is somehow hard to find these days "

WHat is special or bad about these days that makes this finding difficult ?

bilbo said...

chet,
here's the analogy. Go to any mall and try buying a simple white Tshirt that fits you well. You'll get gazillions of spangled shiny stuff with all jhinchhak stuff like sequins on it.
People these days don't have the time for niceties and pleasantries. And most ppl I've met tend to thing on the lines of why need principles. Believe me, thats an actual line I am quoting. Needless to say, I am not friends with that person anymore.
Don't know if its just these days or it was always like this. I can only talk of these days

Rajavel said...

dont worry .. there has been no great injustice ! its been always like that !

Anonymous said...

Very interesting blog bilbo. Never heard of such a theory until today. But looks like its also been disproved.

now i dont know about meeting people with the same tastes, i guess its different each time for each person.

but yeah this would be an interesting find, if i met someone like that!!

(btw why do you have only 8 letters for word verification!!!)

PS said...

Kumbh quotient - what a lovely concept! I likee, I likee.
But alas, in these days of RFID tattoos, no brothers may be lost anymore in the great kumbh mela, and I fear that this may not bode too well for the hindi film script writers.

Crystal Blur said...

Okay...you should not spring a song like this on unsuspecting bloggers. I almost jumped out my skin :)
-Crys

bilbo said...

crys,
a little adrenaline rush is good some times :P

bilbo said...

pradz, u mean there should have been more letters in the word verification?

Atra they no longer make movies about long lost siblings meeting . Man I miss those shots of the kid running an while running developing into a scarf toting white shoe clad jaani :P

bilbo said...

hey siggy,
thanks for making an exception and reading this and for leaving the comment. As usual, it made me smile, made me feel warm and I am honoured to have something in common with you.
Take care

burf said...

beautiful pics that you have clicked

my sis always says that universe is symmetrical and there is mirror image somewhere, i find this [hypothetical] theory fascinating and wish it's true and i am able to see it too

:p :D

burf said...

btw, which DSLR r u using?

bilbo said...

hey burf,
thanks for visiting mah blog. hope, you'll keep coming back. I am using a basic point and shoot cam for now , but have been drooling over a dSLR for quite a while. I am hoping I can buy one soon :)