Cubed

One of the first puzzles that I got as a gift in my life (*and the one that I did not solve for the longest time) remains the Rubik's cube. To all who knows what that six faced, not so easily tamable beast is, they know how much they appreciate one who can solve it.

I got the gift in fifth grade. I knew the formulas also. But that time, the only problem was to know what formula to apply where. Then gradually my cubic itch just subsided.

It is recently that I started looking at it once again. Thanks to Douglas Hofstadter's Metamagical Themas. All that group theory and stuff behind, got me motivated again to do fiddle with it. There started my cubic itch again.

I sought out various ways of solving it (*at least got to know the names of those algorithms). But my timing remained very very bad, around 30 minutes or so, compared to the world record of around 10-15 "seconds".

Then came the deus-ex-machisma of cubism, one of my colleague. As by serendipity my cube got to meet him. With his easy to remember moves (* which even a dumbo like me could learn in one day) and his amazing teaching skills, here I am, always finishing a cube (*unless I confuse the moves) in less than 5-10 minutes. Now the road beyond is of practice, and my upper limit, will remain a mark of my dumbness.

But yes a cube solved means, no more fear of someone destroying that perfectly set cube, kept in the shelf!!