Before I started trying to pen down my thoughts, I used to think "the history part should be easy, after all, I've lived it, first person, ringside seats all my life". Boy, was that thought off-track or what.

I've travelled into the minds of some of the most influential people in my life. Thats how they got to influence me, me thinks. Early on, I got addicted to these book things. Ever since, I've found it difficult, if not pretty much impossible to pry myself away from them. Also, what I've realized over the years is that the best way to learn about a topic is to devote a few weeks, fortnights or months to books related to that topic and let go, to the exclusion of all else.

Gain Knowledge
Dive into the oceans of knowledge,
Flow with the rivulets of facts and ideas,
Churn datum to create a lattice of intelligence,
And finally, burst open like a volcano full of energy,
Pulverizing the best of them with armloads of information.
Vinit Bhansali, 20th October, 2003.

Sadly, my poetry might never be appreciated by professors of the english language.