Who does not know Mr Vishwanatha Anand? Five time world
champion in chess, truly a king of the game. Did you ever wonder when and where
was the game originated? Who invented this lovely game?
1500 years ago there was a king in India. He set some goals
for himself and achieved all of them. Then he became complacent and literally
had nothing more to do. The king got bored after some time and he announced
that whosoever takes in boredom away will be given any reward which pleases the
person.
Lot of musicians, artists, singers and dancers came in the
royal palace but none of them could kept the king engaged for long.
Then came a Persian student Sassa with a wooden board with
64 squares in it and few other pieces of wood. He explained the game to the
king and soon the king was busy playing this wonderful game with ministers and
the queens with their lady slaves. Sassa kept on training people in this game
and all the people in the state liked the game very much. Then the student
Sassa wanted to go and the happy king asked him: “How can I reward you? Gold or
Jewels? Perhaps you want to marry one of my daughters? - the most beautiful
one. Choose anything you like.” Sassa replied "Your Majesty, all I
ask for is some grains of wheat. Put 1 grain of wheat on the first square of
the board, 2 grains on the second square, 4 grains on the third square, and
continue to double the grain on each square until all 64 squares have
grain."
They all wondered at how this silly Minister was, since he
only wanted a few grains of wheat after winning such a prize. The King Kaid at
first thought he'd gotten off easy and readily agrees.
First the King's Ministers sent for a few stalks of grain,
then they sent for a few buckets of grain, then they sent for a few bushels of
grain and then... they sent for a few fields of grain!! After that, they sent
for a Mathematician. The Mathematician told the Ministers and the King that the
amount of wheat that Sassa requested would take all of the wheat in the entire
world! And perhaps still will not be met. It is multiple times higher than the annual world
production of wheat.
Do you want to know how many grains would it take to
fulfill this condition? Let us do a quick calculation:
Square 01 = 1
Square 02 = 2
Square 03 = 4
Square 04 = 8
Square 05 = 16
Square 06 = 32
Square 07 = 64
Square 08 = 128
Square 09 = 256
Square 10 = 512
Square 11 = 1,024 (Thousands)
Square 21 = 1,048,576 (Millions)
Square 31 = 1,073,741,824 (Billions)
Square 41 = 1,099,511,627,776 (Trillions)
Square 51 = 1,125,899,906,842,620 (Quadrillions)
Square 61 = 1,152,921,504,606,850,000 (Quintillions)
Square 64 = 9,223,372,036,854,780,000
On the entire chessboard
there would be 264 − 1
= 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 grains of wheat, weighing 461,168,602,000 metric tons, which would be a heap of
wheat larger than Mount Everest.
This is multiple times the global production of wheat.
Yes, this is the
power of compounding. ‘The most powerful
force in the universe’- as Albert Einstein said it. Really it is
astounding. Mr Einstein also gave a rule
to calculate the number of years it takes to double anything which is getting
compounded annually. This rule is known as - Rule 72. You simply need to divide
72 with the current interest rate. For example if the rate of interest is 24%
per annum, your money will get doubled every 3 years.
If you invest Rs 1 lac on your 25th Birthday
and it gets compounded at an annual rate of 24%. You will have Rs 1300 Cr in your
account on your 75th Birthday. And if you are lucky enough to live
for 100 years, your ATM will show you a balance of Rs 335544 Crore.
That is the power of compounding. The good news is - compound
effect is not limited to numbers only. It is equally effective on our choices,
behaviors and habits. Small steps taken on consistent basis can do wonders in
your life.
Go make the first bang and start harvesting the power
of compounding. Remember, early start is the key in compounding. Just to give
you a perspective - In the first 3 years the money grew just by 1 lac while in
the last 3 years this grew by 167772 Crore.
