Some things are genetic..

It's funny how genetics work, you know!! 

If you have ever been to our house, you would remember that as you enter the house, there's a switchboard with 3 light switches - one each for the night lamp outside, a chandelier that shines the spotlight on anyone entering the house, and the staircase upstairs. For reasons that will be clear soon, let me also tell you that each of these lights can be operated by 2 way switches elsewhere in the house. 

This was sometime last week. It was almost bed time. The kids bedrooms are upstairs, and it is part of our nightly ritual to tuck them in to bed. As my daughter and I started making our trek up the stairs to her room, as part of my daily habit, I switched off the lights to the stairs by the door. My daughter, walking ahead of me, stopped in her tracks, turned around, walked passed me and switched the lights to the stairs right back on. Then she sped up the stairs and switched the same lights back off using the other switch closer to her bedroom. All, while I stood there with a completely puzzled look on my face.. 

"Don't you see??", she asked pointing to the switchboard by the door.   

I still couldn't see it. 

"Look!! All three switches are pointing down at the same time!!" 

It made perfect sense!!! I couldn't help but wonder, how 12 year old me also used to be fascinated by random instances of symmetry in real life. Of course, 2-way switches were something I had never seen in my life till I was maybe in my twenties, but I definitely remember ensuring doing hockey drills in perfect 8's and painstakingly making 2 stacks of 26 playing cards instead of randomly just making 2 piles. I would even prefer to keep my 3 books in 3 piles of 1, instead of 1 pile of 3 - at least that's my excuse for the mess on my table :) 

Somewhere along the road, this changed. I stopped looking out for such random symmetries in life. I guess life happened.

All these thoughts flashed through my brain in that single moment. 

And then I said exactly what I think my very practical minded dad would have said to me 30 years ago.. 

"Stop doing this timepass, and go to bed quickly" 

It's funny how genetics work, you know!!