I Thought I Was Moving Forward

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I still remember the moment I decided not to learn Sanskrit. I was in seventh grade in Bangalore, choosing between Sanskrit in the State Board and Hindi in ICSE. I asked my father what he thought. His answer was simple: “Why do you want to learn Sanskrit? It serves no purpose.” That was enough. I dropped it. It felt like a smart decision. Hindi seemed more useful. I even convinced myself I was choosing the “national language”—not realizing India doesn’t have just one. Looking back, the decision wasn’t about language. It was about how I was thinking. I chose utility. Whatever moved me forward faster. And for a long time, that worked. I moved to the U.S. Finished my Masters. Found a job. Built a life. There was always something more urgent—visa timelines, work, responsibilities. Life ran on schedule, and I stayed inside it. But something else was happening quietly. Distance was doing its work. When I visited the Kanchi Mutt in Malleswaram, ...
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Teaser!

On a lazy afternoon, as I was getting ready to do something in my research, I got this forward from Deepak Challa. Post your answers in the comments.

The question reads thus:

You are on a game show.

The host tells you, ‘I want you to open one of these three doors. Behind two of the doors is a bale of hay. Behind one of the doors is a million dollars. Choose a door’.

You choose door number one.

The host, who knows what is behind each door, says, ‘Before I open door number one for you, let me show you what is behind door number two’.

He opens door number two, revealing a bale of hay and then says, "Now I can open door number one for you, or if you want, you can switch doors and choose door number three, what do you want to do?"

What should you do, and why? Or does it even matter what you do?


Comments

  1. AnonymousApril 4, 2006 at 10:10 PM

    It was an unwarranted action by the host to unveil the contents of one door. If you are an optimist, you would go ahead with opening the door of your original choice ,a pessimist, you would open the other door. For me it matters what you do, because people will always keep springing surprises on you, but you have got to keep going, believe in yourself, and believe that you are destined to succeed. There is always a door open for the eternal optimist.

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  2. AnonymousApril 6, 2006 at 11:51 AM

    Probability increased from 33% to 50%. Its like tossing a coin in air.
    You live with your call. I stick with the first one. If I get hay in that,
    I would probably sell it to a farmer and get make a burger out of it :-)
    Dude, Smitha and her hubby Suhas visited this weekend from Wwashington.
    Had loads of fun together.

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