Gag bag

It all must have started with the number of animals you could kill, with the hunter striking a dot or a dash or some other symbol in front of his name for every kill. And then, the hunter with the most number of these kills might be hailed and be made the leader or the king, since he has the might and the wit to do it.

Proceeding, it went on to finer things, each as such not very significant as an activity, but then, when you bring in the number factor, it all suddenly makes it seem monstrous and huge. For example, doing a push up as such isn’t a great activity, but doing 100, or a 1000, well that’s saying something. And then, without a thought, we utter it as an achievement, saying I can do an x number of push-ups, how many can you do?

It went on and on, right from eating a certain number of Gulab Jamuns, to drinking 40 cups of tea, to the most insignificant of things today, like getting 10 likes on Facebook!

But the basic fact never changed. Keeping score! And today, this certainly plays such a big big part in our lives, wherein everything has a rank and a number assigned to it. Its present in the smallest and the weirdest parts of our life, and we are affected so much by it. And boy, am I not fascinated by it!

Since the start, I have always been enthralled by statistics. It just makes it so simple to visualize everything, to give everything a grade/ rank. I loved graphs and numbers, and have strived hard to be around them since I can remember. I still recall keeping track of cricket scores while playing book cricket, and then coming up with various worm graphs, bar charts to make it seemingly so simple and lucid. I had books filled with the axes X and Y, and then trying to make one cross the other. To me, cricket is still all about those pie charts, the partnership graphs, the statistics and the 50 over inning worm chart. And cricinfo was suddenly a  dream come true (have you ever looked at the detail level in their statistics?).

I must say, this childhood obsession of statistics hasn’t still gone. Just until a few years back, when the internet wasn’t everything for us, I still made it a point where I could keep better track of everyday things, without help. Height gain, weight loss, money earned, money spent, distance traveled, fuel mileage, goals scored are just a few I can recall behind which I went crazy to keep records and maintain track of. It was time consuming yes, but maybe it was the best time I spent. I loved to be in a position wherein I could take hold of matters in my hand, and know what I am signed up for in all aspects of life. Or atleast, the ones which mattered to be then.

Lately I have started realizing that a lot of people have suddenly realized how important numbers are in our life. (Or that they knew all along, just that I was too busy drawing graphs to realize the same). So many companies are based upon the same, wherein their whole business model surrounds around data gathering. I suddenly have started wondering how much this plays a pivotal part in our life. And each business model has a very strong motive behind it, though on the face of it it seems all so not worthy of the effort. But data gathering is catching on rapidly, and the biggest businesses are depending on market movement and peoples’ emotions and its effect on everyday factors. So much is being done to know how people think, to know the current trend, and to strike the iron when hot. Social networking plays such an important part in our life, and somehow is so largely dependent on how we behave, on how the wheels turn in our life. Today, it is all about networking isn’t it? Whether it is to know more people and to improve social life, or to come across job opportunities, or to find people with like minds. To find out about new opportunities, to get the best deals, to get help, or just to chit chat. It is all about meeting new people, maintaining contact with the old people, and to just increase your circle.

So many businesses have come and gone, and have tried to be one up over the other in this quest to be the nucleus via which all the information is passed from. And everyone had some features which made it stand out amongst all the rest. And these companies continue to spring up every day. It is good to know that somehow data is being given so much more importance. All these talks about Big data and all have started to catch on and I think everyone now knows a little something about what is being done.

Ranking features and thereby advice and updates generated are some of the best things happening now. For example, mint.com. I think it’s a smart business they have come out with. I don’t know how many people heed to it, but it certainly is a start. There are so many complications and so many contradicting ideologies. So many critics, but the basic fact cannot be taken away. This certainly is a step ahead in whatever it is we are trying to achieve.

We strive hard to earn numbers. Numbers mean everything to us. So much more, cause they are comparable. Cause they help us gauge. Cause they help us know where we stand. They guide us, they push us into doing more or doing less. Somehow, they show us a path. I think everyone is just dealing with numbers today. I post this to achieve more clicks on this site, you look at it and share it to achieve more clicks on your name and stats. I listen simultaneously to songs, wherein the play count increases. A higher played song shows up in most listened to lists, which is then listened to by more people. The trend is set, the reaction is started. The song is liked, more and more, and the artist becomes famous. He/she does more shows, advertises more, gives back more to the people, generates more revenue. His/her twitter/Facebook account gets more followers, which is then captured by some big data sites to know the most influential of people, and on that basis, advertisers know where to put up their funky ads. We click on them, generate revenue, adsense pays us when people click on something via our site. So many dynamics going on all along. And we thought that it was just a piece of cake. Ah, well, you never know, but one thing is sure. Numbers will always continue to be the guiding light for us, there are just too many people to ignore them!