Sold Out!

Falling in line, with Deja News (Google Groups), Blogger, Picasa, del.icio.us, Orkut and some more, I have sold my Blog and hence my Soul to the coffers of Google!
Henceforth, a couple of Google Ads will feature on this blog, and Google promises to pay me some loose change, in case people click on them.
So its an earnest request, that you view the sites that Google thinks are relevant to my blog, links of which appear on the top banner of this blog.
While I had made a deliberate attempt to veer clear of Google running my life, at every instant from GMail to GTalk to Orkut to Picasa to Blogspot ... Sangram told me how lucrative the whole thing is. And since Google is privy to all my mail, [orkut] Crushes ;), and so on, I might as well, get paid for it.

Pata nahi - Frankly it was a very tough mental choice, though trivial.

On a hand, this Blog although publicly readable, is something that I regard as a pretty personal notepad. I often take pains, to change the template of the blog to suit my taste. As a result, granting the machines at Google, the access to decide what goes on my blog, was like splattering fliers for Dog Biscuits, on a lovingly designed kennel (France effect - Dogs abound).
On similar lines, I never ask someone to explicitly visit my blog, don't publicize it (other than a 1 line mention on my homepage & Orkut profile), don't send out new post notifications. Everyone who comes here, does so with free will and implicitly asking them to visit the Google Ads, seems worse than doing the above things, which I don't.

Anyway, very humanly, the greed for supplementing my Intern Income ;) got over me at that instant and hence, if you may, please visit the advertisements linked above and help share Google's wealth among the less fortunate, who religiously practice the religion called Googling and more so, turn more people faithful, everyday.
If Jesus can provide for the Bread and Wine, so can Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Cheers to it!

New Age Information Sharing!

Technology hasn’t eliminated the desire for rules about who tells what, when and how. You don’t want your wife or girlfriend to tell you she’s pregnant by sending an e-mail message. A close friend could be miffed if he found about your hot date on Friday not from you, but from a casual acquaintance who had already seen pictures of it on your Facebook page.

I fail to find time to actually write something on this blog, though there are tons of thoughts about France, India, Life etc. running through my head.
Till then, sharing another interesting article from NYTimes :- about information and grapevines in new age!

ahh..

Even if you are 'Lakhon mein Ek' there are still 60,000 of you. That I think, is the major problem in this world :-< !

Take it with a pinch of Turmeric©

Knowledge in ancient India was protected by ... not legal or economic ones. The term “intellectual property” was an oxymoron: the intellect could not be anybody’s property. ... Perhaps it is for this reason that Indians do not feel obligated to pay for knowledge. Pirated copies of my book are openly sold on the Bombay streets, for a fourth of its official price.

-Suketu Mehta

On patent laws and heritage wisdom, this makes a good read.

Afghan Girl

Some images live with us, forever.


Google for 'Afghan Girl' to know more, in case you don't.

Summer Migration

While I intended to post about my French internship - on this blog itself, following Sudeep's cue (Its always a good idea, to do that), I shall now be writing on another blog - http://jenepeuxpasparlerfrancais.blogspot.com/ . So please check out that as well.

Adios!

Blame the Stars !

This is what Peter Vidal had to say about Sagittarius, today :

This is an ambitious period but, first of all, you must satisfy your emotional goals. It’s time to mend fences if there have been any arguments. Romantic hopes may call you away from home before long. The people you’re attracted to at the moment may be from very different backgrounds.

Of all the things - Sangram had to read this out to me, 1^st thing today morning!
Thankfully, I don't believe in Inter Planetary misalignments ruining my week - I am more than capable of doing it myself.

I have noticed that as(s)trologers - have 4 prime areas of concern : Romance, Career, Health, Financial Health. They choose one of the 16 subsets generated by permuting the success / failure in each of these and assign a zodiac sign to it. Good chance that every man thinks - that Bingo! his week had been well-predicted.

& coming to "The people you’re attracted to at the moment may be from very different backgrounds." .. I think I might just start eyeing French Chicks ;)

Seminar Elections Networks Eurotrip Love orkut Eurail Embassy Friendship Scrubs rsl-34 Presentation Compilers Relationships Senti Visa Kile Career Manifesto AI kpdf Cell-phone HIMYM Endsem Coffee Frankie Finger Schengen Term-Paper Elixir INRIA Campaigning StaffC Report Sweat Nat-Comp Sleep nsl-31 Yahoo Ranade Bike ISIC Break Life Google LAN Vivas Thunderbird Syllabus Porn Fuzzy-Logic Slippers Tears Latex Carte-Orange RyanAir mplayer CheatSheets

Stopping in the Labs on a Shady Night

Stopping in the Labs on a Shady Night
                                     --Shantanu Gangal ;)
Whose labs this is, I think I know.
He lives with his LAN, though;
He will not see me stopping here
As his wards squirm around in fear.

All my wingmates think it queer
As they miss my effervescent cheer
Between the courses and labs around
My room PC, is rarely working found.

I take a break from a dull screen
As I recall my passed away teen.
I think of them Miss; I miss,
All for a bright careers' sheen.
The labs are hot, humid, and bleak,
But I have deadlines to meet,
And loads to code before I sleep,
And loads to code before I sleep.

For best results, hum it to the tune of Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening .[If It wasnt obvious yet!]

Seminar

For all those, who wondered what was keeping me busy these days [I know that isnt a large number - but still I like to smart around a bit :P], its the final stages of the Seminar, with report and all.

While I dont have any time to delve into more details, at the moment - you can check out my seminar report - as complete as it till now .

--
Edit :- dated 10.4.2007
Seminar report done. submitted.

--
Edit :- dated 19.4.2007
Seminar presentation slides -- here.

Yay !

Hot on the heels of completing an year on the blog - it has recorded over 1000 hits in less than 6 months :D
Noticed this : Just now. Yay !

Not all those who Wander are lost !

All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring;

Renenwed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king.

: J.R.R. Tolkien

Needless to say - I derive the title of my blog from this poem!
Stumbled on this, today.
Since its a great poem, might as well share it :)

Why I left the LT at 44/3 ...

Over the years, I have come to realise that India cant win when Sachin doesnt play.

Obviously, like any fan of Sachin, I have heard a lot of things about how, no longer can he win matches, how he hasnt played any inning of importance for long. how he is a ghost of what he was and is highly over-rated and tons of other things you had to say to me!

But I knew the instant that Tendulkar was out - this was to be script that i had often seen in the past.
Indian cricket team- other than one lucky Lords' evening - cant win a match [especially while chasing] when Sachin doesnt play atleast a supporting role.
My heart breaks for this man , if this turns out to be his last match in a World Cup!

Thus I knew it the instant, that he was out, India isnt winning this match & the irony of the situation will be that Sachin will be blamed for non-performance and the team's failure.

Hate the 10 other woMen in Blue !

11 mein se 15 bekaar,
fir bhi mera Bharaat mahaan!


The anguish doesnt stop at 1 blog post !

Americans on Cricket :D

“You mean people actually pay to watch this?” exclaimed one American I tried to interest in the game. “It’s about as exciting as measuring global warming.”

“And just as vital to the rest of the planet,” I retorted.
: Shashi Tharoor

In an editorial to NY Times - Shashi Tharoor, whom I long suspected to be as Indian as say, V S Naipaul, actually makes a good stand for cricket !


I really hope India wins today - Tendulkar might have another chance at lifting the Cup
I really hope India loses today - I will spend much less time hereforth till 28th April.
Till then - I head out to LT to watch the screening :)

PAF 2007 - Aashayein

Yesterday night - the PAFs for the year 2007 got underway !

Hostels 3, 8 , 10 & Tansa House came together to present the 1st one - Aashayein (Hindi for 'Hopes') on 18th March , ie : yesterday.

[All IITB lingo & usages explained here]
Background:
Hostel 3 wanted to get some guilt and shame washed off - after a forgettable 'Camouflages' . The current 3rdie batch, has over the past 2 years, shown enough promise in Dram, and was raring to go. Mishra, Golu, SMS, etc. were really pitching in. Chaube, Pondy, Nana were there to help out.
Choreo has always found H3 lacking, but with freshie enthu & H10 participation, there didnt seem a likely shortage of dancers. phew !
H 10 - the UG Girls hostel - has finished 2nd both years I have been here. Clearly something that clearly doesnt go too well down with them, given that no one remembers when was the last time they actually won a PAF. Dependable for Choreo and FA work.
H 8 - Mix of good enthu seniors and talent.

OAT :
Though practice had begun much earlier - I will cut short to the hand over of OAT [Open Air Theatre] the venue.
We had OAT for 72 hrs, before performing and handing it over to next hostel pairings. Institute wide student body elections were held that night hence the there was general ruffling about. Even then, most of the prod was moved into the OAT. There were quite a handful of frames [of bamboo] that were ready, yet the major wood frame for the central backdrop was yet to be made [by an external carpenter].
Saw how the PAF was shaping up for the first time - and - it wasnt a pretty site.

Since, most of the students attended classes on a working Friday, rehearsals and work commenced only in the evening. We had the 1st run-through scheduled at night, meant that all departments had to get their act together.
Prod - fata pada tha. The stadium was only vaguely visible.
Dram - major changes were to be made. There were long scenes that werent rehearsed even once. A chopping was on the anvil. The +ve - no ego clashes and people were ready to work around this problem and get things done as well was required.
Music - Heard it for the 1st time & was damn impressive. All was live - which is incredible. To top it off, there were a couple of original scores, which were really coming off well. :)
Choreo - neat. more later.

The run-through that started at 1 pm extended to well past 330 until - it was discontinued because the subsequent scenes were not practiced, and major reshaping of the earlier pieces was required. :D
We might not end up requiring the last scenes, if the IIT crowd doesnt take a great liking to the initial scenes. :P

Work started at around noon on a hot saturday working. Mostly Prod work - since the entire cricket stadium had to be made. A great number of seniors got cracking. We were going to try an idea to use curtains to hide the entire stage while a major prod change happened during the performance. If the curtains, putched during show - it might have been curtains then and there.

We had another run through that night.
The scenes just stretched on and on. Deletions were called for. Redundancy was to be eliminated. The entire character [of numerologist Bejan Daruwalla] was dropped from the script. (Reminded me of the quack in 'Lage Raho! MunnaBhai' who couldnt predict his future successfully at gunpoint. Like wise - Daruwalla was dropped unceremoniously from the script - almost as bad a Ganguly ;) )
There was a palpable tension among the seniors / OCs since it was a distinct possibility that the PAF might , again, not end. Faces were lined with sweat and creased with tension. An emergency meeting was convened to look into what could be done to revive. No one was really hungry to geez the Maddu food, that came along.
As usual, music & dance junta came , performed satisfactorily and left.

'D'ay
18th dawned late - since anyway everyone was around till 7 am with a hangover from the previous nights morale low.

why r we dancing ...yahan pe to kuch bhi prod nahin dikh raha hai ......paf ho bhi raha hai ya nahin ???
- Choreo Team on 18th Morn

kinda sums up the feeling.
Still the prod team was reliably up early - by mid afternoon - things were distinctly looking up on the prod front.
Non-stop dram / voice over practices lent a semblance of completeness with a fresh & slim script to boot.

Another run-through later, we were finally ready to roll at 930 pm.

The 1st boost of confidence was felt after the dream choreo was pretty well received. Though irritated by the excessive and abstract choreos, the choreo was done beautifully to say the least.
I always, knew that there were good dancers in here, but this was so close that - it was almost surreal. Anshu was too good and as graceful as i have seen any dancer [after Madhuri Dixit ;) ].
Mishra was again amazingly elegant and gave a power-packed performance. Among the juniors, Vrinda, Aishwarya and a few others were mind-blowing. The thing that was most appealing was that the dancers were actually enjoying themselves, while dancing under the spotlight and it showed brilliantly. I tried to tape as much as the dance as possible, but since I had a subsequent scene - tried to get back into my elements. Even later, I was just so floored by their dances. If everyone accepts my Orkut friendship requests, I will become a fan instantly. :)

Soon - the PAF was truly underway and inspite of the occasional heckling at lengthy monologues and cliched jokes we were going to finish this thing no matter what!

The FAgiri was visibly brilliant - Haji Ali was never so beautifully captured. Pop Tates was as close to reality as it gets. Classroom walls had realistic graffiti - it said 'Pandey Rocks'!
Kudos to Jango, Shiksha and many others.

Lights held up brilliantly inspite of lack of co-ordination during earlier run throughs.
Prod shifts were quick and swift. Music was captivating and held the audience for a really long time as the curtains were closed and there wasnt any other action to hold the crowd's action. Live singing added to the beauty. Innovative use of flute as well as Mandolin was great :) Guitar was nice as well.
At one hour mark - my initial apprehension was dispelled. After another short acting stint, I was done for the night. :D
Later, the crowd was brilliant and brilliantly reactive. They actually cowered as rains came down on Eden Garden. That wasnt even practised. Their cheers really brought the punch of the match into the PAF. Sidhu is always welcome.
This part of the match, was again - loaded with choreo - yawn - eventhough the dancing was upto standards.

But as the final wicket fell - we knew we had delivered a complete PAF - winnable or not has to wait for the next 10 days, but certainly complete. Vartika's senti ended in quick time - which is important since the audience really doesnt appreciate too long fundaes, especially at the end of 1.5 hours, [which is extremely long by PAF stds.]

Thank you all !
It might not have been a Dastak - but it was far from Camouflages.
Eventhough my contribution to the PAF was at best minimal, I had no feeling of wanting to leave the OAT at the end of it.

Cheers !

--------------------------
Short guide to IIT Lingo

• Lingo : Language frequently used that is not comprehendable by an outsider
• Dram : Dramatics, simple enuf
• Choreo : Choreography , or Dance
• Prod : The sets and related stuff of the production.
  
• FA : Fine Arts - painting and so on.
• enthu : enthusiam.
  
• putch : flaw in the performance.
• senti : sentimental speech

---
Edit :- dated 21.3.2007

Check out PAF pics on http://www.it.iitb.ac.in/[tilde]vikram/PAF-2007/
Photographer's Request - Dont add a link to the above url - in a place - where crawlers can take over
---
Edit :- dated 28.3.2007

We came 2nd in Overall Trophy & 1st in VoiceOver Trophy
Not too good [I believe we could have won] but then...
---

An year gone by ...

On 13th March 2006, in a moment of extreme frustration, mental unrest, self-hate and many other such emotions, I first decided to put hand to keyboard.

A complete solar revolution has happened since, and I am 1 year old on this blogspace.
I know that, what is written here is not of any literary importance & doesnt mean anything to anyone but me, but it means the world to me.

The blog stemmed out of a long bottled up urge to scream out at the IIT system, at my friends, at the power hierarchies of this college that :: let me be myself and just f*ck off into nothingness. I am not too sure, that the release is complete. I am not too sure whether it mattered, but one thing is sure that - this blog allows me to be myself.
Whether someone reads it or doesnt is immaterial, because this is a place where I am closed to review & criticism. Its an equivalent of biking down Marine Lines at 90Kmph in the dead of the night without a helmet - never thinking twice about any damn thing in the world, be it the signals, the police, the law, the road or its potholes. Its just about feeling the wind through your hair and defiance in your blood. If there are additional rain droplets and/or a girl on the pillion, I couldnt ask for anything else in the world.
Blogging is about a similar personal ecstacy!

As a result, you could say that I am senti about my blog. Sitting comfortably cross-legged on a couch, at home with laptop on my laps and writing a blog at unearthly hours is something I always wanted to do - and coincidentally I am doing this for the first time on this occasion.

With an year gone by, I wonder what all has changed. Nothing at the face of it. I am still as angry, much more confused, as much a lazy-bum & most of my posts are still post-midnight.
But the last year has been a year of great learning and experiences.

I turned 20. I decided that I would first say things about growing up, when the pangs of turning 20 first hit me on Sudeep's Bday. Then again, I was practically shaking when the bike-ride from Eesha's midnight cake-party to IIT allowed me time to think of how much turning 20 means and how little it seems. I ended up scaring her as much.
I have a draft of all that I wanted to say - on my 20th Bday & never could till then. I never got around to publishing that as well.
Each time, i realised that writing about growing up - isnt a night's work.

The year has been marked by endless nightouts discussing friendship, relationships, marriage, parenting, life, career - rather the challenges of each one of them.

It was an year of taking up challenges and failing in them. The spectacular banding of Speakers' Club sophies and as spectacular failure of the idea will haunt me for quite some time. That thing hurt me very deep, because I had put in a real fight to pull that idea off. Just that there werent enough freebies/incentives to be handed out at each point of time. Yet it was an year, when I realised that given a responsibility I can execute it well & that I can be entrusted with things.

Last year, I discovered that the joys of having a hang-out group far outweigh the transience of hopping from one group to another and exchanging pleasantries with them. I really need to write about all my friends one-of-these days and establish the role they play in maintaining my sanity.

Bike was such a crucial cog in the year gone by, that I dedicated a seperate blog to my passion. [Though I cant say, I do justice to it]. Airport, SakiNaka, Juhu Beach, Parel & Pune.

This was the year of THE 5th SEM, of persistent segmentation faults, core-dumps, of reliving the joy of being in CSE, of a week in Bangalore, of MSR, Google, of OSL, of Coffee & Biscuits, of Maddu and Jalebis.

It was of persistence through asking times, cribbing in every blog post.
It was of blogging, when the mind runs out of ideas & of blogging, when the mind is full of them, of blogging, when the mind seeks shelter & blogging, when the mind reports adventure.

It was an year of the Blog My Blog !

I Hate it when ...

Weekends go by without any activity! Sigh ..

Weekends represent a break, rather an escape from the routine of IITB tyranny :P, a chance to meet new people, relax unwind and not-look-forward-to the next week!

And all that I am doing on a Holi weekend is - face a monitor at 330 in the afternoon, with no plans for the next hour, this evening, this night or tomorrow !
& just when the weekend draws to a close, suddenly there are a heap of things to do.

Things that I could have done this weekend :
1. Go on a car-ride to some beach
2. Go to Pune for general timewasting :)
3. Spend a weekend at home and catch up with School friends.
4. Actually, get some quality seminar work done!

Alas ! none of that is happening !

If Men Could Menstruate ...

Found this pretty hilarious :D

Living in India made me understand that a white minority of the world has spent centuries conning us into thinking a white skin makes people superior, even though the only thing it really does is make them more subject to ultraviolet rays and wrinkles.

Reading Freud made me just as skeptical about penis envy. The power of giving birth makes "womb envy" more logical, and an organ as external and unprotected as the penis makes men very vulnerable indeed.

But listening recently to a woman describe the unexpected arrival of her menstrual period (a red stain had spread on her dress as she argued heatedly on the public stage) still made me cringe with embarrassment. That is, until she explained that, when finally informed in whispers of the obvious event, she said to the all-male audience, "and you should be proud to have a menstruating woman on your stage. It's probably the first real thing that's happened to this group in years."

Laughter. Relief. She had turned a negative into a positive. Somehow her story merged with India and Freud to make me finally understand the power of positive thinking. Whatever a "superior" group has will be used to justify its superiority, and whatever and "inferior" group has will be used to justify its plight. Black me were given poorly paid jobs because they were said to be "stronger" than white men, while all women were relegated to poorly paid jobs because they were said to be "weaker." As the little boy said when asked if he wanted to be a lawyer like his mother, "Oh no, that's women's work." Logic has nothing to do with oppression.

So what would happen if suddenly, magically, men could menstruate and women could not?

Clearly, menstruation would become an enviable, worthy, masculine event:

Men would brag about how long and how much.

Young boys would talk about it as the envied beginning of manhood. Gifts, religious ceremonies, family dinners, and stag parties would mark the day.

To prevent monthly work loss among the powerful, Congress would fund a National Institute of Dysmenorrhea. Doctors would research little about heart attacks, from which men would be hormonally protected, but everything about cramps.

Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free. Of course, some men would still pay for the prestige of such commercial brands as Paul Newman Tampons, Muhammad Ali's Rope-a-Dope Pads, John Wayne Maxi Pads, and Joe Namath Jock Shields- "For Those Light Bachelor Days."

Statistical surveys would show that men did better in sports and won more Olympic medals during their periods.

Generals, right-wing politicians, and religious fundamentalists would cite menstruation ("men-struation") as proof that only men could serve God and country in combat ("You have to give blood to take blood"), occupy high political office ("Can women be properly fierce without a monthly cycle governed by the planet Mars?"), be priests, ministers, God Himself ("He gave this blood for our sins"), or rabbis ("Without a monthly purge of impurities, women are unclean").

Male liberals and radicals, however, would insist that women are equal, just different; and that any woman could join their ranks if only she were willing to recognize the primacy of menstrual rights ("Everything else is a single issue") or self-inflict a major wound every month ("You must give blood for the revolution").

Street guys would invent slang ("He's a three-pad man") and "give fives" on the corner with some exchenge like, "Man you lookin' good!"

"Yeah, man, I'm on the rag!"

TV shows would treat the subject openly. (Happy Days: Richie and Potsie try to convince Fonzie that he is still "The Fonz," though he has missed two periods in a row. Hill Street Blues: The whole precinct hits the same cycle.) So would newspapers. (Summer Shark Scare Threatens Menstruating Men. Judge Cites Monthlies In Pardoning Rapist.) And so would movies. (Newman and Redford in Blood Brothers!)

Men would convince women that sex was more pleasurable at "that time of the month." Lesbians would be said to fear blood and therefore life itself, though all they needed was a good menstruating man.

Medical schools would limit women's entry ("they might faint at the sight of blood").

Of course, intellectuals would offer the most moral and logical arguements. Without the biological gift for measuring the cycles of the moon and planets, how could a woman master any discipline that demanded a sense of time, space, mathematics-- or the ability to measure anything at all? In philosophy and religion, how could women compensate for being disconnected from the rhythm of the universe? Or for their lack of symbolic death and resurrection every month?

Menopause would be celebrated as a positive event, the symbol that men had accumulated enough years of cyclical wisdom to need no more.

Liberal males in every field would try to be kind. The fact that "these people" have no gift for measuring life, the liberals would explain, should be punishment enough.

And how would women be trained to react? One can imagine right-wing women agreeing to all these arguements with a staunch and smiling masochism. ("The ERA would force housewives to wound themselves every month": Phyllis Schlafly)

In short, we would discover, as we should already, that logic is in the eye of the logician. (For instance, here's an idea for theorists and logicians: if women are supposed to be less rational and more emotional at the beginning of our menstrual cycle when the female hormone is at its lowest level, then why isn't it logical to say that, in those few days, women behave the most like the way men behave all month long? I leave further improvisation up to you.)

The truth is that, if men could menstruate, the power justifications would go on and on.

If we let them.

(c) Gloria Steinem, Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions. NY: NAL, 1986.

Can be found at: http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/steinem.menstruate.html

>:) 2

How to recognise a candidate --
A omnipresent Smile - how much so you are bugging the hell out of him
A everringing mobile
A bagpack having a diary full of 'points' & Phone nos.
An unnerving ability to appear stunned and excited at every idea the person in front comes up with, no matter how redundant and impractical it is !


The Election Committee has announced, this time in an email sent to everyone, & officially heralded in the Election Season.
Here you will find what an IITB election notification looks like.
This will be the only piece of election related material that will be as plain and uncomplicated :P

A major change from last time, has been that the notice brought all talk in the open.
In a run-up before the nominations are filed in over the weekend, candidates are being propped up, pulled down and aspirations are being played with.


Here are few of the characteristics of IITB elections:
1. The entire student population is eligible to vote.
2. The entire student populations isnt interested in voting.
3. The entire student population is made to vote.
4. Not every student knows whom to vote.
5. Every student knows that his vote will count.
6. Every student is intelligent [IIT .. u know]
7. Every student is intent on making his vote count, for as much as it can... for HIMself !
8. Every student is told by someone, whom to vote for!

All these things make them a very interesting affair.

Since the General Secretaries (GS) form the top hierarchy of the student body, they are earnestly contested elections. 4 GS mean 4 times the fun :D

On a more serious note, lets have a look at what ails the system:-

In spite of the wide spectrum of the campus populace, the posts are contested by only those belonging to a narrow slice of it. As a result, the elections and subsequent functioning of the gymkhana is largely immaterial to the rest.

Whats this slice like ?
Out of the 6000 odd campus residents, only 3rd / 4th yr. UG students are known to contest. They constitute about 1000 odd. Even among these, less than 20% have ambitions that have anything to do with this annual parade.
These ambitions are varied in nature -
They may spread from actually contesting and winning an election to propping up a familiar face as one to getting ulterior motives fulfilled.
Since the college spectrum has enough posts to satiate everyone [Read this - extremely hilarious and almost true article] only the posts at the top are keenly contested, while the rest are shared with much co-operation.

As a result, its a matter of these 150-200 people [which works out to abt. 12 per hostel or quantified still better - 2 per wing] that a candidate has to 'work' out things with.

That is the phase the elections are in right now!
Its called - Groundwork, Manifesto, suggestions and so on - but boils down to laying the groundwork of present & future networking.

Its to early for deal-making [Have just heard that it happens, donno whether it is true :P] but its early nonetheless ;)
Till then..

V Day Special

Unless there is a twist of fate;
Yet another year I'll end up without a date,
While I wish you a Happy Valentine's Day;
I think I will just turn Gay !

Made this up - in an instant of inspired self-loathing on the eve of another V Day.

[The above rhyme is made with a imaginary individual in mind. No direct reference to the author is intended .. ]

---
Edit :- dated 16.2.2007

Sonal's reply to the above :-|

'Tis sad, I understand mate;
No twist of fate;
got you a date,

But, never you mind;
Someone of your kind;
Is just difficult to find,

Someday,
It would all be very fine;
For today, heres a wish of mine;
O dear - Happy Valentine !

>:)

The institute Poltu. Season has begun. :D
While it actually began some time ago, it has heated up things to such extent that you cant walk past the canteen without people casting 'will-he' looks in you direction & instinctively you end up doing so more than once-in-a-while.

Hope to keep you more updated :P, though I have no idea, what fraction of the things I know can be publicly shared. [While I dont claim to know a significant amount, sharing any fraction of the 0.00001% things I do know, can be risky proposition].

More later ...
The handshaking has just begun, the smiles have just widened & the phone has just started to ring.

The movie - 'Dor' ;

& little More !

While the rhyme up there is on the lighter side, the rest of the post will not necessarily be :)

I am just done watching the movie - 'Dor'.
While I must agree that I had heard positively about the movie, I had no idea what the movie was about.
The movie starts and doesnt take too long to introduce the main cast :-
Gul Panag - I never knew much about her, other than the fact that she landed some pageant crown, some years back. With minimal beauty accessories in the movie, she is still very beautiful. She plays Zeenat, a self willed teacher from Himachal.
Ayesha Takia - I always knew she was ravishing, but she manages to act here & not appear a misfit in a rural setting as a Meera.

Zeenat maries Amir, just as he leaves for Saudi, while in parallel Meera takes a tearful farewell of her husband, as he leaves as well. Meera finding herself, being shoved into the background & behind the veil, as the doting husband leaves, is a perfect foil to Zeenat.

Other characters, like the commanding in-laws of Meera, the stern grand-ma, the effervescent girl and few others are seen around.

Their lives collide when, Amir is indicted for murdering roommate Shankar [Meera's Husband], while in Saudi & the put on the death row. Only a pardon, by Meera can save Amir [according to Saudi laws].
In search of this pardon, Zeenat leaves on a journey to Rajasthan, that is portrayed very beautifully. The interaction between the two leading ladies in the backdrop of a very conservative Rajput family, forms the major of the later part of the movie.

At this point, I will stop from making a movie review and stress slightly on the few things that twanged my heart strings - while watching the movie.
That the happy starting and romancing, between the two couples would end was obvious, the depiction of Meera's stress disturbed me a lot. Call me a sissy or whatever, the scenes following the death rites were brutal to say the least.
Her resignation to her fate and compliance with the traditional norms of the family structure bring about an inherent imbalance in the family structure. Very subtly, the issues of a widow being forced and expected to remain sad - as a mark of loyalty - to the memory of her late husband are brought up.

While clearly, the urban Indian society has come far from this speed breaker, & that contemporary girls cant be granted even a percent of the innocence of Meera, I over the years have come to accept atleast to myself, that certain inequalities still persist. While I have no idea, how my parents would have treated a girl child, I do see many parents [of guy-friends + gal-friends] still making a marked distinction between the two.
I am sure, never was the utmost importance of the academic career of any guy friends, ever questioned. I am pretty positive that wasn't the case, with most of the girls, even those - who mingle and wander amongst us.
Similarly, never was I expected to devote valuable [& justified] academic time to do housework, something that I find out doesn't translate on to girls in equal measure, even now.
I was shocked a few days ago, when I came to hear of, that a professor teaching in IITB still held the view that - 'Beti engineering kar ke kya karegi?' !

Every time, any girl confides in me something about her family - I am like 'Aise bhi hota hai kya?' . Suddenly, I feel so very advantaged that am a guy. Most of the things that have been so very obvious to me over these years, apparently are not equally obvious to some parents, wrt both genders.

The icing on this cake turns out to be - that my classmates are being confronted by their parents about getting married, at regular intervals. YA RITE !!
Just that, there comes a time, when one can no longer laugh it off !

[Disclaimer: This neither explains nor justifies all that actions that contemporary girls are known to indulge in, which are still very deplorable. The above post talks only about the inequality in a family structure. I have not come across, nor do I expect to do so, any such example in college setup.]

No Strings attached ;)

Read this article :

It talks about something that holds a lot of promise for the future .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6129460.stm

Ability to transfer power overatleast short distances without any kind of cables will mean that - charging of CellPhones, Laptops and many other things will essentially becomes automated.

A truly wireless world beckons :)

Sunday Special ..

As you grow up, you often miss the small details that used to overjoy you once upon a time. [ & I stop short of philosophizing abt. it ].

Sunday mornings were always special to me. Contrary to normal beings & my behavior on other days of the week, I was known to wake up early on Sundays. Sunday meant that Baba [Dad for the mand firangs ;)] was at home, & I wasn't in the mood to waste a second of a holiday.

So what did I do on a Sunday morn. :
1. Wake up to a bright sunny day !

2. Realise that it was the day of the week, when 'Mahabharat' showed on TV
One really cant appreciate the effect that series has on television and people in general in late 80's, unless he/ she witnessed it. [Wo jamana ab nahi raha ;)].

3. Shop in 'Samarth Bhandar' - a big co-operative shop - kinda precursor to Big Bazaar and all.
That was really the last time, i enjoyed shopping. The awe of such a big shop, full of activity - when pushing a cart was physical exercise & where managing to stand at the tip of my toes to see across the payment counter - a feat !

4. & once in abt. a dozen Sundays, have a haircut.
For some reason, a visit to the saloon was pretty closely associated with a Sunday. Length of my hair wasnt necessarily a pre-requisite for a saloon visit, length of my dad's hair was !

So all in all, I was reminded of all these when I went for a Sunday Haircut today, after quite sometime.
Much like those days, it was a carefree Sunday morn. & unlike those days, I woke up lazily arnd noon and yet went to the saloon.
Surprisingly, for a Sunday Morning it was only just filled. Normally, barbers enjoy a field day every sunday. But thankfully, it also meant that I could have a leisurely haircut and ask for an extra snip without the barber making meaningful glances at all the people waiting to fill in my place.
Suddenly, the morning was extra bright again, and I almost starting humming the title track of Mahabharat.

Withall the thoughts on a foreboding monday, I cant help chuckle at the evergreen, 'Monday morning always found Tom Sawyer .. ' piece by Charles Dickens.
Till then adios ..

---
Edit :- dated 10.2.2007

For some reason [read :- writing this post, at unearthly hours of the morning], I forgot the joys contributed by the following -
1. The Jungle Book
2. Duck Tales
3. Tales Spin

Such gross mistakes ashame me :D, for it is the love of Mowgli, Bageera, Kaa, Bhalu, Kid, Uncle Scrroge that took me through the week
---

Priorities and Reversals !

Its pretty strange that, when I was facing a time-crunch experienced never before in my life, I had a nagging desire to post something creative here.
I thought of half a dozen topics on which I could scribe and the world would benefit from my posts and accompanied time squandaring !

& yet at a time I am free and unfettered, I find it impossible to get myself to write anything more than 500 words long at a time.

This post marks another of my failed 'I-will-post-about-xyz-today' resolutions !

Of Honour and redemption ..

Read this mail I sent today -

hey,
just was reading through some of my archives , and came across this mail!
Well, Sem 5 just abt to end, & I am proud to say that in this mind
boggling nerve-unnerving semester, I havent copied a bit :D !
[as in not that not doing a bad deed, wud count for much, just that
resisting the temptations happens to a qualifying benchmark for
maintaing self-honour ]

It reminded me of If by Rudyard Kipling -
'If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs ..'

Rest is fine,

Lets see what turns arnd !
Shantanu

ps - Clearly, I didnt make a good first impression ! Phew !

On Sat, 5 Feb 2005, some-ta wrote:

> Hi Shantanu,
> I remember you did attempt lab2. However while checking for
> cogging, I found that 2 ppl dzz and d08 have submitted
> the same files.
> Did you allow someone to copy from you / vice versa?
> There are some 7-8 cases we caught. I guess this will go off as a warning.
> But I'd suggest that you avoid this in future.
>
>
> bye
> same-ta

As is happens, its not as much as lauding oneself for not commiting a crime, but rather redeeming oneself after shitting hard on one's own and family name !
[To those who wonder what I am crowing about, there arent more than 150 in our batch of about 550, who can claim this claim. Sad but true.]

Crazy ...

Crazy day, Crazy week, Crazy fortnight !

Nothing special, nothing ordinary !

So much to say, so less said !

Abstract thoughts max!

Kick, Vroom .. & Away !

Hey all,
One of the original reason of setting up this blog has re-incarnated in the form of another blog -- http://4stroke.blogspot.com

No specific reason, other than
1. This will continue to have things I think
2. That will have Things I do.

Anyway, this will continue to be more active among the two, since I think a LOT more than I do [though occasionally things I do, are WAY more interesting, than the things I think :P] !


Or in CSE terminology --
[Caution -- Fatta Ahead]
This one will have all the Static Meaderings
That one will have the Dynamic Meaderings.

So in order to avoid a Binding error, had to create seperate scopes :))
[First one to point out a technical flaw in this, will get a kick on their @$$]

Happiness Reloaded !

A few weeks ago I had shared the essay I wrote about, 'My Idea of Happiness',
as an assignment for the Design and Analysis of Algorithms course.
Strange but true.
Well, below is the feedback given by Ranade Sir on the classes' 'performance'
on this assignment. Not is it one of the best analyses of an IITians psyche,
that I have seen, its heartning to see that some professor would take so
much time out to contribute to the students' growth!
Not Surprisingly, one of the most lasting images of contentness, that I have
seen is that of Sir himself, sitting at Shack reading a book, golden rays
streaking all over him.
In his time, to a stray observer, Newton would have appeared something similar
to an Oxfordian, instants before the apple hit him.

Here goes the mail ::

Here are some comments on the Happiness assignment.

I will begin by describing some of the major issues raised in your
essays.  I will then describe why I gave this assignment -- why I
think more students should relate happiness and academics.  Then I
will talk about job satisfaction and competition.

WHAT YOU WROTE: SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS
First, the most important source of happiness reported by many, many
people were family ties -- happiness in just being with your
parents/siblings as well as enjoying specific family events and get
togethers.  As it turns out, this also tops the list of what makes me
happy.

A number of people did say that academics/solving problems gives them
a kick and in general makes them happy.  Several also said that
accomplishment makes them happy.  These two are of course different --
you may be happy with accomplishment because it is noticed by your
family and friends; the study/work needed for the accomplishment might
not have made you happy -- just that you have the persistence and
mental strength needed to complete a task once you undertake it.

Several people also mentioned hobbies such as music that made them
really happy.  There seemed to be some disappointment that they cannot
pursue the hobbies and some hope that after they are settled in life
they will devote time to their hobbies.

Finally, there were also several who said that the competition in IIT
makes them nervous and prevents them from enjoying what is going on.

ACADEMICS AND HAPPINESS
The first point I would like to make is that it is worth asking
yourself whether you are happy with academics.  By this I dont mean
the grade you get -- but whether the material you learn is itself
causing any excitement in you, whether you are feeling that you are
learning anything of significance, or whether you are seeing anything
beautiful in what you are studying.  The beauty/excitement in
academics is not always easy to see, however.  Anyone can see the
beauty in snow clad mountains/flowers/ocean.  To see the beauty in a
computer you need to be able to look under the surface a little bit.
But once you do see this beauty, it is as exciting as natural beauty.
Anyone can see the excitement of being able to play tennis well or
play the guitar well.  I hope you can also see that being able to
design good algorithms (or analyze them or program them) is an ability
as hard to cultivate -- it has as many intricacies and frustrations as
there are in playing tennis or learning music.  But it is also as
satisfying.

Being able to relate happiness to academics has a few other important
side effects.

JOB SATISFACTION
I feel that as an adult it is very important to get a lot of
satisfaction out of your work.  After all, you will spend about 10-14
hours every day on it.  Note that satisfaction is different from
salary/promotions/prestige.  You may have salary/promotions/prestige
but may not really like your job.  If this happens, then you will have
to look elsewhere for your real happiness -- remember you only have
8-6 hours for it outside your work.  And that time is also needed for
many of your natural responsibilities as an adult (including
maintaining the family ties that are important to us).

If you developed the ability to see beauty and excitement while you
are a student, you will find it easier, I think to see beauty in your
job too.  This ability I am talking about is not related to CSE -- it
is the general attitude of looking under the surface, looking for
patterns and order etc.

I dont mean to suggest that you should learn to be content with your
job -- by all means aspire for promotions/better jobs/salary.  But
decide for yourself whether the Narayan Murthy's of the world
accomplish a lot because they like their work intrinsically or whether
they work (even without liking it much) because of the money/prestige
involved.

COMPETITION STRESS
Many of your essays report that academics in IIT is very competitive
and causes stress and hurry and so on.

I think there are reasons to ignore competition as well as reasons to
pay attention to it.

Competition usually focuses on external attributes -- how many marks
you get rather than what you have learned.  To keep things in
perspective, note that your relative standing in the department will
play a smaller role after you finish than the role played by what you
really have learned.  So it is worth focusing on what you should be
learning -- are you learning the ideas/techniques being taught --
never mind what others are doing.  Again the message is similar to the
one before: focus on the material you are learning, see the beauty in
it and so on, rather than worry about the marks.

Of course, you cannot ignore competition and marks entirely.  For the
simple reason that most of us have a tendency to get lazy -- some kind
of spontaneous decay.  So competition keeps us on our toes.  It asks
us "how come he/she gets so many marks while I cannot, am I just
lazy?".  If you think you are working hard, then you could ask
yourself -- "how come he/she gets more marks and understands
everything faster -- is there something more he/she sees in all this
that I dont?  Is it because he/she is having more FUN with this than I
am?".  If you can ask such questions you will be able to make
competition work for you than hurt you.


CONCLUDING REMARKS
I am not an expert on happiness, or on people's motivations,
personalities and abilities.  So what I have written is to be taken
with a grain of salt, and as an inexpert opinion.

Yes, I have in fact seen people who can do work that they find
unpleasant just because they have will power that keeps them going.
However, most high acheivers I have seen have made their mark because
they love their work.  The first step to loving work later in life is
to develop the ability to love academics right now.  This will require
efforts on the part of students, and also, I am sure on part of
faculty.  If more students participate in this process, the better it
will be.

The Bee Box

In this small box, my love,
you'll not find a ring,
but instead, a brave, little bee.
He'll be dead by morn, having given his life
defending his flowers against me.
I felt his sting
while picking the small, purple pansies
growing wild along the roadside,
in hopes of an afternoon bouquet for you.
And I grieved the sting,
more for him than me,
knowing full well the price he paid
for my small pain.
And I allowed him his victory,
leaving his flowers as a memory,
and brought you instead
this brave, little bee,
who proves there is love
even in the smallest
of things.

-- Lowell Parker


Again, I am posting something, that although not quite mine, was so moving that I felt that I had to share it !
Btw: Got it from Kram's blog. Really admire him as a person I have often heard about.


Also, my blog has had 108 visits, since setting up the Counter on 2nd Oct. Exlucding abt. 9 of my own, that makes it an average of 9 visits per day -- not great, but made my heart warm :)

Muaaah !

In recent Hindi Movies, with a declining interest in dialogues that outlive the characters, seldom are lines as well scripted as the ones below from Lage Raho MunnaBhai !
Delivered by Vidya Balan, 'apun jab bhi yeh line sunta hai na, to apun ke mooh pe mast smile aa jati hai'.

"Good Morning ...... Mumbai !
This is Janhavi on World Space Radio
जाने से पहले, ये है मेरा आज का ख्याल
उन सबके लिये, जो दौड़े जा रहे हैं इस शहर की दौड़ में
शहर की इस दौड़ में दौड़ के करना क्या है?
अगर यही जीना है दोस्तों, तो फिर मरना क्या है?
पहली बारिश में ट्रेन लेट होने की फिक्र है, भूल गए भीगते हुए टहलना क्या है?
सीरियल के किरदारों का सारा हाल है मालूम, पर माँ का हाल पूछने की फुरसत कहाँ है?
आप रेत में नंगे पाँव टहलते क्यूँ नहीँ?
एक सौ आठ हैं चैनल पर दिल बहलते क्यूँ नहीँ?
इंटरनेट पे दुनिया से तो टच में हैं, लेकिन पड़ोस में कौन रहता है जानते तक नहीँ!
मोबाइल, लैंडलाइन सब की भरमार है, लेकिन जिगरी दोस्त तक पहुँचे, ऐसा तार कहाँ है?
कब डूबते हुए सूरज को देखा था, याद है?
कब जाना था शाम का गुज़रना क्या है?
तो दोस्तों, शहर की इस दौड़ में दौड़ के करना क्या है?
अगर यही जीना है दोस्तों, तो फिर मरना क्या है?"

haan , and btw: Thanks to boss for the unicoding the text, and Sangram for the English version! :P

My Idea of Happiness

The Essay below was written as an assignment for a course in Algorithms [Can u belive it ?] but we have a stud prof. so I guess, we cudnt have asked for anything better !

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My Idea of Happiness
Happiness is something that has over the years always been a concept that has more complex than before. After thinking of it again on the fly, and re-writing & erasing it repeatedly, let us define happiness as a state we always aim to acheive.

Defining the concept of happiness as simply doesnt end this essay, rather opens up a plethora of questions, that are more difficult to answer. What the definition does, is that it sets the questions in the right perspective. eg: We seek to define the properties of the state. Thinking of it, we can define the state we seek to acheive, in terms of financial health, job [as in the current engagement] satisfaction, personal & family fulfilment, social acceptance and so on.

After this rather formal and hence boring interpretation, to think on a more intutive level, I must say that I get happiness from the freedom of doing what I want to do / pursue at any point of time (which would fall under the heading of job satisfaction among those above).
But clearly the ideas of happiness have changed radically along with growing up. As a child, the ideas of happiness were really simple. A 'Lego' set entertained me for weeks at end. Watching the progress of India in an arbitary sporting competition kept me engaged for days. Over the years, this concept has been compounded (& I would say, clouded as well) with what the society and the people around oneself, define the properties of happiness state as well.

With these imbibed inputs from the society as well as the inherent concepts, have enabled me to sketch a rough picture of the state i wish to acheive. Hence in the future, I think satisfaction in terms of career and family will have top priority. I think financial health [subject to a certain threshold] is irrelevant. As long as I can provide for the basic needs of all those dependant on me, I will be decently satisfied. Though it would be grossly errorprone, I think to quantify it, an inflation-corrected income equivalent of about Rs. 3 lakhs p.a. should suffice. Hence once this is assured, I think family and career have a unmatched importance.
I strongly think, that a 45 yr. old man who has considerable financial clout, who meets his 16 yr. old child for less than 20 hrs. / week, which is spent in minimising friction, simply cannot be happy. Choices between family and career could be made on each case basis.

& once I am done, projecting a rosy future, as I sit and try and answer the most crucial question of them all:: What makes me happy in the present?
I am firmly of the opinion that happiness though defined (in a very convulated manner) to be a state, it is rather travelling a journey. If it was a state, a person wudnt try and change it. This is clearly not what happens. What a man is 'happy' for is that, he has progressed along the path towards the 'Happy' State ! So I think it isnt wise to be happy for what one is, but rather for being more of what he thinks he hopes to become.

As I try and wind this essay up, and read through it again, I realise that the above might not be the most coherent of thoughts and thought process, but since I am unsure of my idea of Happiness, I can hardly complain!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back from B'Lore !

After a hectic Midsem week [TableTennis really tires one out, u know ;)] and a Work Visit week [MG to Brigade to MG again, is tiring as well], am headed back for the 'usual', 'boring', 'peace', 'lazed-out' semester starting tomorrow.

Firstly, I have to make up my mind, what makes me Happy ... as if that was easy ...Phew !
Then, Double OS Lab this week, is a threatening situation. [HP Analogy : Seems much like Double Potions, that Snape took. Snape had greasy black hair. In my case, its greasy enough.. but thats about it :P]

Nevertheless, heres what I took from the visit:
1. Quality Research in CS is possible in India, wrt: MSR, Google etc.
2. Value knowledge and satisfaction over an overkill of financial pay-off. The second follows the first. The question essentially is: what is the the differentiating line between basic & surplus !
3. Reading is a joy. So is spending on quality books.
4. Coding is an important skill, no matter where you land up !
5. B'lore has amazing weather, and thats about it. Its costly and un-safe with a non-existent night life.

I have become a boring person over the last month or so...

No late night adventures, No freakouts at amazing places & to top it all I am in the lab at 8 in the morning, after having chopping off errors / warnings of a monster named DMD's OS Lab assignment. Needless to say, like the mythical Hydra, another one props up before you are done dealing with one ! On a sadist note: I would have said, that Sir himself resembles a Hydra : Alas god wasnt gracious enuf to grant Sir as many black hair protruding off his skull !

Midsems start tomorrow, and needless to say I am gonna be utterly screwed esp. in OS again. Might fare marginally better in PoPL & dB if Sangram / Ankit are gracious enough. As if it wasnt all so 'rosy' we also have a pending submission [of what else but OS Lab] within another 16 Hrs.

The week after Midsems, my batch leaves for Bangalore for a work visit. Really looking forward to that.

While another class, again OS, beckons at 8:30, I must conclude by saying that, yesterday I went to Chowpatty, [with Mama, Mami etc.. so spare me the looks ;) ] for Ganapati Visarjan! If not anything else I was simply amazed at the fantastic organisation put in place by the Police and BM C ! Kudos to them ! More abt that later, if I end up being more interesting :) !

will 'Even' things out some next sem.

Sorry, but I havent been doing this for over a month now!
The thing is that the 2 semesters in IIT are very distinct in some aspects.

The 1st semester of the year, is odd: Half the sem is spent running around [if not behind :p] the freshies. The later half cramps in a truckload of events.
As a result, the Odd sem, doesnt really give you a chance to think what you are doing. You just end up doing it.

The 2nd semester, gives you slightly more time to reflect upon yourself, as you plan for the year ahead. So you even, out the reckless execution of the previous semester.

This blog, was initiated in one such reflection session last semester. This semester, I hardly have time to think whether the things I am doing are right or wrong, I just pray for the best and take the plunge. Hindsight judgements , and hence longish posts can wait for February.

NUMB3RS !

On this lazy Sunday, chatting with my parents, the topic of Love & Relationships among people of my age, came up!

In an effort to corner me ;), my mom wanted to know which of my friends were in a relationship, now or at some point earlier. I asked her to name a few girls, she knew & I would tell her how many, if not who all.
To her evident shock, out of the 10 girls she recounted, only 3, hadnt been in a relationship yet.

Things got scary for her, when for the 9(+ me) guys, the corresponding number was still stuck at 3.

Freedom ... ya rite !

The earlier blog isnt a pre-timed one! Still what happened is too much to describe.
That I am back in my room and typing this, is testimony to God's grace !

Excitement to Exhilaration to Madness to Despair to Releif ! Phew !

Freedom ...

with my four stroke past Midnight ! Read it !

Its a lonely night ...

:P

The following is a famous Marathi song, that I have flavoured. It came to me pretty spontaneously on a Sunday morning, for reasons clear below ;)

उषकाऴ हॊता हॊता,
काऴ रात्र झाली
आईनॆ पांघरूण खॆचण्याच्या आत,
उशीत मुंडी खुपसली ... हॊ हॊ हॊऽऽ !

Technology !

Well, to be frank .... I was never among those gadget geeks.

Sleek and high end things, that are at a cutting edge of technology never really impressed me as such ... but

Today this is a heady feeling.

Am at my uncles' place tonite, and boy.. it is a treat to the most novice of them all.
Have a IBM ThinkPad on my laps, with a Dual Band Wi-Fi connectivity ( I still dont know what it means, just that it is seems very cool.)

Behind that, is a 17" TFT FlatScreen for the Desktop, with wireless mouse and all !

So its like 2 comps. 6 inches away from one another !
A HP Printer on the right and a Fax Machine on the left make up the desk.

I had seen each of these devices seperately at some point of time or other .. but today they are really making my head go dizzy !

Now I know, what they mean when they say 'And Sparks begin to fly'.

Blast from the Past

Its too sad to be true !

And the longer I think about the title, the less the amusing it seems.

The day has been a violent concotion of a number of strong and numbing emotions. Each one as potent as the previous and the hangover persists. It will take me some time to settle down while I write this !

11/7/2006 1830 hrs. IST:

Within a span of minutes as many as 7 blasts ripped through the heart of the Western Suburban Train System, killing as many as 150 till the last count and injuring as many as twice as many more.

Theres much I want to say, about the psyche about the terrorists and the impact it will have on the City, its people and other things. But there are many who would want to say that, in fact to think about that should be among the most easier things to say in the wake of these blasts.




But that post, if it ever will come, has to wait.

Today I have to pass more personal judgements on the nature of the city, its citizens and 1 in particular.

Cut back 13 yrs.

12/3/1993 1745 hrs. IST:

My father was waiting for me at the school gates, an incident I dont recollect happening ever before. But then I have few memories as concrete as this one from class 1. [If you want to picturise what class 1 is, think of the twins from the movie 'Bombay' . They were in class 1 that fateful year.]

I asked what was special. He mentioned about a series of bomb blasts in Southern and Central Bombay. It later turned out to be 12 in number. But little did it matter to a 6 year old. Its just meant a drive back home in our 9 month new (then) FIAT, rather than in the rickshaw, as the daily routine was, much to the envy of others.

Little did I realise that, later that evening many of those kids would be waiting anxiously for their parents to return home, safe!
Little did I realise that, it wasnt that those kids were loved by their parents any less!
Little did I realise that the fact that they didn't posses (in case they didnt) a car, would stop their parents from picking up their kids from school that ill-fated day, in case they could otherwise!
Little did I realise that, living in Bombay meant that one had to trust the serpentine monster machines, called trains more than anything else and I belonged to one of the very few lucky households in which noone travelled by train.

Little did they matter to me, then. After all I was escorted safely by my parents back to home, at every instant of turmoil.

Did I ever feel rocked by these blasts? Did I lose someone near or dear to these blasts? Did I share the guilt of being a part of a community, that was in part responsible for the events of the 3 months leading upto that day? Did I whimper while the famed 'Spirit of Bombay' was assaulted? Did I loose a drop of sweat, blood or tear to make up the black ink that rewrote the history of the city?

What the Heck !! NO !!!

I was 6 then. I was doing what Calvin & Dennis continue doing till today....

In short, At that point, Did the Bombay Blasts in any way, seem closer to Home, than the year or so old insurgency in Kashmir??

NO !!!

I grew to be quite a normal kid. I imbibed in me all the qualities, that a 'Mumbaikar' would be proud of! In time, lives ruined on Dalal Street had more to do with Harshad Mehta and Ketan Parekh than Dawood Ibrahim. Plaza Theatre was an artistic monument that stood testimony to every passing 'Ganapati Visarjan'. The Sena Bhavan roared its loudest at the movie 'Bombay'.
The Air-India Building, Hotel Sea-Rock, The Centaurs, The Zaveri Bazaar et al were up and running in matter of weeks if not days.

I was soon to be told that this was the 'Spirit of Bombay' that everyone talked of.

I went into High-School and Bombay gave way to Mumbai. So what the spirits were still high in the city of dreams. Soon Dawood, Chota Rajan, Arun Gawli and their henchmen were household names. Daya Nayak, Praful Bhosle, Vijay Salaskar and Ravindra Angre were hot in their pursuit. Company found a place in the city's subconscious, Ab tak Chappan followed suit.

I soon found out how to travel by trains. Were they dangerous? Nah... dismissed everyone.
If the Spirit was to have a circulatory system, the suburban train network was the heart.

Then the terrorists learnt as well, and found out what a better place to attack than the heart itself! Blasts on trains, in Ghatkopar, Mulund followed. Vile Parle Station was rocked.

Did it shake my spirit? Well a little, a wiggle here and there. But then I was 16, had a mission in life (read JEE). I was not too be bothered by these things. The Spirit knew how to take care of itself.
& mind you it did!! In a brilliant fashion, Mumbaites rose to the challenge. Within hours the trains were back on track. The subsequent day, offices registered near usual attendances.
Did it seem any closer to home? Hmm.. certainly a little, but nothing that couldnt be taken care off. So what I almost daily traveled by that route.



Cut to Present Day:

I was 19 able-bodied, had a motorcycle at my disposal and didnt have any immediate goal in life. But as the City suffered 8 heart attacks within a matter of half an hour, I was stationary. While I could run, jump, carry and help I was coolly sipping away my coffee and following up the news on innumerable websites, all the while thinking 'Shya ! What has the city come too !!'.
Didnt the thought that someone might need help cross my mind at all: well it did, certainly !
But then I knew, the Spirit would take care of itself. And it bloody did !
[For those who thought, I was going to lament the loss of a great city, I am not! What follows is personal anguish.]

Hundreds of locals poured out of, each building, shanty and every other structure outsiders denounce mumbaikars for calling it their homes. People were rushed to the hospital, free of costs by taxi drivers. Shopkeepers gave away food to victims. Youth groups rushed to hospitals like KEM, Sion etc. offering to help in all manner possible. Doctors here, worked overtime to care for patients in unparalled heroism. [So much so, for being the Rudest City in the world.]

Aha ! no need to worry, I couldnt have been of any additional help - I thought, conviniently.

And as the day draws to a close, I feel sad for myself! Why did I not move a limb, while tons were being sharded? Was this one too 'far from home'? Clearly not !!
Had it been Central line under attack, in place of the Western, my mom was in the line of fire. If this wasnt reason enough, there could hardly be any !
On any other day, irrespective of Rain or Sun, all I need is an excuse to bike all the way to Juhu or Bandra.
Did I need an excuse today?? Or did I find one too many ! 'There would be traffic on the road', 'I wouldnt be of much help anyway', 'Its half an hour away' and so on ...


What stopped me from responding to the call of the abstract I called, so very proudly, my Spirit!
I let my City down, more than its insecurity, prices and crowdedness has ever let me down!
I shall never be able to call myself a Mumbaikar without lowering my head in shame.

Back to d Blog !!

Well after a gap of nearly 2 months, I am back on the Blog....

No idea, when the subsequent post is going to make it here, but atleast this streak has ended.

I am inspired (or heckled) by the following ppl. :

Aditi : For her repeated reminders that theres more to writing than, replying to scraps.
Anchit : For his extremely articulate and well written blogs, mostly regarding Football
Rahul : For the beauty of his writing. He also, writes stuff I dont understand.
Rutuja : A arbit blog, I liked reading.

and, also Sangram : For asking me to write my Trek details !

Thanks Guys !

Also : I will be writing a few Pre-dated posts :D

Sudoku Solver !

I have made a Sudoku Solver using JAVA.
Check it out at : www.cse.iitb.ac.in/~shantanu/sudoku

Its an Applet, hence will require you to download a few things if not already present.
Also, it might be slightly problematic on non-Windows machines.

All coments and suggestions are welcome !

Trek: Day 0 to 2

Day 0 : 3rd May

Left Dadar Station late at night, on the illreputed Dadar - Amritsar Express. Illreputed 'coz its scheduled time exceeds the maximum time taken by all other trains, and ofcourse more of than not, this one is late itself.
Living upto its reputation, the train lost no time, in losing time. We were almost an hour late reaching Kalyan. 100% late. We reached 4 Hrs. late eventually, a total of 39 Hrs.


Day 1 : 4th May

Crossed MP in searing heat. There was 'Loo' in your face (Pun intended). To think of it, MP in summer is a tragic site. Miles and miles, of barren and sunbaked land thirstily look up. As if all this wasn't enough our train was the destined to stop at every village which had a semblance of railway station. That it also, stopped at a dozen other hamlets is another story.
[btw: did i mention that we were traveling in AC ;)].

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At this juncture I will introduce you to the cast:from l to r :

Avijit (aka Sexy) Has a style of doing things, that no one can emulate and a caustic sense of humor. Has a shapely @$$, which re-christened him. An omnipresent wicked grin, and an abundant flow of cash (more on that later), made up his front portion.

Anchit (aka Sports God) Has stamina. How much is not known, except he never ran out of it. Calm until ruffled, as Jajoo found much to his dismay. Utter perfectionist, he crax Acads, Sports and an occasional NP or DAC ;)

Shirish (aka Jajoo) A complete womaniser, with tinges of innocence, meant that he was easy and common target. Combed his hair more often than he drank water.

Shreyas (aka PornStar) Long hair, Pink Floyd fanatic, lives in Mallu land hostel, yet doesn't drink, dope or fag. An eye for girls, but far from being a skirt-chaser. Wont say more, else he can take my case as well.

Apoorva (aka Stud) Unbeatable zest for adventure, be it cycling from anyplace to anyother, fixing all of his own things. But cant work with a thing without spilling it. (no pun intended).

Devang (aka Vang) Straight-upward guy. Amazing musician and always a helping hand to have around. A 6' 3" frame, oops .. stick, was the perfect foil for Anchit. Another Floyd buff.

Rohan (aka Freshie) If you have heard of schools like Balmohan, Parle Tilak etc. , you can imagine what their cream is (or rather, what they think their cream is). That's Rohan for you. A cute smile, and a baby face to facade a Devil's Workshop [I aint saying that his mind is empty, in fact far from it], he also guess by the name C. Billa.

Mayur (aka PG or YZ) Quiet, No nonsense guy. Minds his own business. But has a flair, that is distinctly similar to Rajnikant, hence the name PseudoGult.

And of course, the Narrator / Sutradhar, or in case of this pic. the man behind the camera: Yours Truly.
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So in the train, I got to know these guys better. Being the senior, they showed some respect (Cough ! Cough !!), and that meant that I had some immunity from being teased. I left no chance to rag them, and get them to rag one another.


After a complete day in the train, I dozed off after departing from Mathura at about 0130, with an ab-delhi-duur-nahi satisfaction ...


Day 2: 5th May

... I woke up at 9, to find we had just left New Delhi. Train was stalled at NDLS for a little over 4 hrs. With a scheduled arrival at Ambala of 0930 hrs. , the attendant almost sadistically reminded us, that we were traveling by Dadar - Amritsar, and as a matter of belonging had to share his misfortune of being delayed on every journey.
At 1330, when we eventually pulled into Ambala Cantt. station, we had a task on our hands. With no travel arrangements to Kasol, we had to fix it as well as our lunch. Would we report on the 5th, was a question that was topmost on my mind, and nowhere near the tip of my tongue.

As luck, would have it, there was a Haryana Roadways strike that very day. Not to lose the oppurtunity, the private operators had hiked their rates. In Haryana, dealing with the local guy meant, 'No if, No But .... sirf JAT'. We ended up with all his terms. Atleast we were able to start by half past two.

We had hired a Qualis, and with 9 of us travelling alongwith the driver, 4 of us had to be cramped in the back of the vehicle. With solemn promises from the rest, that we would swap seats midway thorough the 10 hr. journey, we lost no sweat, then.
The roads gave us no rest and the winds gave us no respite.

Lapping town after town, and cross-checking it in the map, we crossed through 3 states before finally stopping after Mandi, to take Dinner. Since it was dark outside, I snuggled upto Anchit and had an hours' nap. We left the National Highway, that leads to Kullu and thereafter Manali, at Bhuntar. While NH 21 continues along the Beas Valley, we now crossed over into the smaller Parvati Valley (Parvati river joins Beas, somewhere before Bhuntar). 30 Kms. from there, we peered into the darkness for the Base Camp. As fate would have it, we reached the Base Camp at Kasol at 2340 Hrs. After hastily unloading and paying the driver, we rushed down a flight of steps and in ekdum-filmi-istly reported at 5 minutes to 6th May.

Little did we know that YHAI enforced lights-out at 2200 hrs. and that we would have to follow that for the coming days. More surprising was the fact that we did end up sleeping that eary every day, a heresy that hasnt been committed since.

We ended up filling up our forms partially at past 12 in the night. We realised that we had to sleep in tents at about that time ... Many more illusions were to be shattered. Also, this was about the time that we found out that we had no proof our having registered for the trek. All but one of us, had forgotten that we needed a particular printout with our reg. nos. that no one had remembered to carry along. Nevertheless that is a problem to be handled the next day, and the next posting ...


For the interested below are the maps of our jouney from

a)Ambala - bypassed Chandigarh - Bilaspur - Mandi - Bhuntar - Jari - Kasol &
b) Region where we trekked (More later .. )

And Google Earth Rocks !

Travelogue

I am leaving for a Trek in the Himalayas in a Few hours from now and am pretty excited about it !

Am part of a Youth Hostel Team that will trek that Yankar Pass and so on. So for a few days this will become a Travelogue.

Leaving by the Dadar - Amritsar Express, that is anything but an express and will take almost 34 hours to take us from Dadar to Ambala. The Next leg of it is completely unplanned, as we will move from Ambala towards Chandigarh -> Shimla -> Kullu -> Kasol. Kasol is only a few kilometeres short of Manikaran known for it Hot Water Springs, and is a popular Sikh Pilgrimage. Another Road from Kullu takes one to the more famous Manali, Hill Station!

At Kasol, we are to report at the Youth Hostel Base Camp, from where we are at their Mercy ;)

Current state is the Photo Alongside:


I mostly will not have access to internet while I am there, so much of the remaining will be posted as one after I return !

So long ...

Or as they say: in Hindi Cartoons :
Alvida ..... Yarron !