Sensible factors, please

I recently read this article about groom hunting, in Deccan Herald. Take a quick read for a  chuckle - http://www.deccanherald.com/content/121977/groom-hunting-unusual-place.html 

Based on my observation, most of the Indian society has a peculiar set of parameters to gauge a person. When it comes to looking for brides and grooms, it gets even stranger. Let me list the factors they consider.

For the groom-to-be:

Earns lots (read obese pay package)/ is in a big "position" ;
his family is filthy-rich;

his father/brother/brother-in-law/somehow-related-somebody is a big guy somewhere (I really don’t understand how that makes the guy suitable) 

For the bride-to-be:

Her horoscope should be compatible with that of the guy;

she should be fair, pretty;

right height (few inches lesser than her prospective husband);

must know to cook well and do all the household chores.

Is this all that takes to decide on something as huge and important as marriage?

No wonder we have so many unhappy marriages in our country. Many opt for divorce while many suffer in silence. It is really sad that a majority of our society thinks this mediocre way. When will this change? 

 *****

Current Song:

 Ambar by Raghu Dixit

"sach much kya hai tu duniya mein?..."

The Feel-Good People

Dad worked at a different city while I was studying in the Pre-University. After returning home exhausted from my classes, calling Dad would re-energize me in almost no time. To the frightening entrance tests, the terrorizing college Principal who redefined irrationality, weird peers, or any crisis of a teenager, I could just say, “My dad’s with me”.


By the time I joined an engineering course, Dad returned to Bangalore. Whatever the problem; of any magnitude, would seem very much manageable after a small talk with Dad. He never tried to solve them for me, or gave directions toward a solution. We'd discuss about anything and everything that was not related to my cause-of-concern. Still, I could get through the tough situation successfully after our talk. He stands first in my small list of truly feel-good people.

My brother, Mom, few close friends back home figure in the list (not in that order). That’s the only thing I am missing here in a foreign country.

Nevertheless, I have found a couple of such people here. One of them is my madly-in-love roomie who is always lively; truly follows what her heart says; cares a damn when it is absolutely necessary to do so.

*****
We meet lot of people, become friends with them; have a long list of friends on Facebook; we may be very outgoing (I am not :-) ). But, I need a small clique of people that match my wavelength.

*****

Read this line in a newspaper a couple of days ago - Proximity with peers does not equal affinity. Loved it.

**

Current Song:

“Oh Shanti” from the Tamil movie Vaaranam Ayiram. This song is playing on the “Repeat 1 Song” mode on my player since I do not know how many days!

Yet to learn the meaning of the lyrics…

Just that extra Mile

I was passing by the ITC bus stop in Bangalore a couple of months ago when I witnessed this incident. The government school kids had crowded the bus stop that evening. All the kids readied themselves to board a bus when they saw it approaching. The BMTC driver did not pull over at this stop since the bus was already overcrowded. All the kids, save two, wore a disappointed look. But these two kids ran after the bus. They knew that the bus had to pull over at least for the passengers to get off at that place. The bus did stop a few metres away from the bus stop. And, these kids actually boarded the bus!

Even if the bus had not stopped, these kids had nothing to lose. May be, sometimes all it takes is going that extra mile to get what you want.

*****
Current Song:

Boondein by Silk Route
...Aaina bani yeh aankhen teri...

Our little story

Has someone told you that you look sooooo cute? God! You light up my day. You always manage to bring a smile on my face.

You are always doing something or the other. It's so difficult to find you at one place for a while. I get it that it's your job; but does it hurt you to sit with me for some time even if you say nothing at all? I crave for the time with you.

The other day you were so close to me that I could not let my breath out! Guess you noticed that and moved away :( I look forward to spending more time with you, and come closer to you, hold you.

*

The squirrels in our campus are so big; and I cannot tell you how charming they are, both in action and appearance :) It's sheer joy to watch them.


*****

Current Song:

Kaash Yeh Pal Tham Jaaye by Jal
...kismat ka yeh khel hai, milna tha hamne kabhi....

My Bangalore

“Noththing is gudd in your Bangalore”, declared our neighbourhood lady a week after she had moved in to the house next door. She must have been around 55 years old then, about six years ago. “The vegetables don’t taste gudd at aall”(??); “Why do you measure land in square futt? We measure in square yard”; “People do not have any driving sense att aal here”; “Your city is not safe”; “Your Kannada is not heard anywhere; your own people do not speak Kannada” (derisively); “Weather in your city is bad” (heard anyone say that?); “One good thing about your city is lot of our people (read people from her native state) are here”, she would go on. Listening to her always-energetic rants, one could not tell that she was so old.

She would make it a point to mouth negatives about Bangalore whenever she saw me, knowing very well that I hated it! I never retorted to her statements only out of respect toward an elderly person. Whenever I tried to show her how nice my city is she would snub all my efforts. This is when I learnt that if someone does not want to see things beyond a barrier, s/he will not. There is no point in trying to reason with such people.
She never listened to what I had to say about my Bangalore. Nevertheless, I write here what I wanted to say.

- A typical Bangalorean does not have any problem conversing with people from anywhere on the earth. We, by nature, welcome everybody to our city.


- We do not look for friends who speak the same language. Like, I speak Kannada, but most of my friends are non-Kannadigas. Many of my friends are Tamil and Teluguites, some speak Hindi, English, some Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, and one friend is a Punjabi. We do not differentiate people by region or language. We respect all cultures.


- My city is so green that while I was at home, I used to wake up to the alarm bell of the bird song from the trees. The air of my city is laden with the fragrance of our rich flora. Bangalore is simply beautiful.

- My Bangalore is home to many premier education and research institutes of the country.
Needless to say, my city has a large number of job offers.









- Bad Road Sense - I agree. But, most of Bangalore’s work force consists of people from across the country. So, if you see that people drive awfully on road (sometimes even on the sidewalk) it’s a characteristic of the entire country. You cannot blame the locals alone.


Kannada Issue - I cannot read Kannada fast. I do not know everything about its rich heritage. But I know that it is one of the most beautiful languages spoken.

A language is not preserved by locals alone. My Kannada teacher during my Pre-University was a Tamil whose pronunciation had no hint of her mother tongue. A friend, a Tamil, reads Kannada books and has many blog posts in Kannada.

The Jnanpitha Award is the highest literary award in India. Seven Jnanpitha awards have been each awarded in Kannada and Hindi. Some of the Jnanapitha award recipients in Kannada spoke a different language. Dattatreya Ramachandra Bendre, one of the greatest Kannada poets, was a Marathi.

Girish Karnad, another Jnanapitha award recipient in Kannada, was born into a Konkani-speaking family. His initial schooling was in Marathi. He had once said about his literary work “my thought process happens in Kannada and then I translate it to English”. Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, who has also been awarded the highest literary award, was born into a Tamil family.

Kindly ignore the fanatics who claim they are “protectors of Kannada”.
*
Well, that's my Bangalore and our Kannada for you.

**
If you think Bangalore sleeps early, Boston is no better. Shops in the heart of Boston close by 10PM!

*****

This lady had a peculiar timing to ask my Mom for favours - 7:15 am. That was the time Mom packed my lunch and I would have to leave for college by 7:30.

*****

Current Song:

Tum jo ho to gaa rahi hain yeh hawaan from the movie What’s your rashee

Three categories of people

Category 1:

They stand their ground. Follow convictions. Never budge. Hold on to their beliefs firmly. They know what they want and wait till they get it. Even if lucrative offers come their way in the meantime, they are not tempted to accept them because that's not what they wanted. They thoroughly enjoy what they are doing. They are the happy, satisfied yet ambitious souls. 

Category 2:

They go in the direction of the wind; do not complain about anything. They do not want to think. Basically, they do not know what they want. They are also happy.

Category 3:

They love doing something but are stuck somewhere else; caught-in-the-wrong-job kind. These are the poor souls. They go through great agony every moment. They can either escape to category 1 or rot in this category.

***

"Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong"

- Ella Fitzgerald

*****

Current Song:

Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi

Where do you find such a person?

Where do you find the person

whose voice commands authority and yet, can be gentle and soft spoken;

who has a clear idea about what he is doing;

who can have a calm visage in spite of a million turbulences in his mind;

who stands by himself when he knows he is right;

who has loads of self esteem;

who can smile at a problem of mountain-magnitude;

who is broad minded and has a high level of thinking;

who is independent in thought;

who is passionate about his work;

whose eyes reflect his vision;

whose smile conveys confidence;

whose every word carries weight;

who has a suave demeanour;

whose humour is graceful;

who speaks no nonsense;

who has the attitude and a beautiful smile.

*****

Current Song :

Ye jo des hain tera - from the movie Swades

...tujhe hain pukaaraan...

...tu kaise bhulaayega..

That’s my name

“What’s your name?", people here in Boston ask me. I answer. I can make out from their face that my answer did not register in their mind at all. Americans find it very difficult to pronounce my name. Chinese think it’s impossible! North Indians think the name is way too long. But some nice people (very very few) simply called me ‘Sri’ without any effort from my side to let them know that they can call me so.

I had always complained to my parents that I did not like my name. I thought, and still do, that my little brother has a very beautiful name – Rohith Raghuram D J. People appended various prefixes and post-fixes to ‘Lakshmi’ to address me, which I hated totally. Some people used to call me ‘Lakshmana’, ‘Lakshman Rao’ while I was in school owing to my boy-hair-cut then.

My relatives and people who do not like me called me (and still do) ‘Lakshmi’. My closest friends call me ‘Sri’. My college friends call me DJ (my initials), which I think is a super cool nick name. My friends in Boston call me ‘Ubuntu’! Hi-Bye acquaintances call me by first name.

Now, I do not really complain about my name. In fact, I’m proud of it. If someone wants to remember my full name he/she will. My non-Indian friends are happy to call me “Sri”, which I appreciate since they made an effort to pronounce it right!

***
A bit of trivia

The very first message transmitted on the ARPANET, on October 29, 1969, was from UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) to SRI (Stanford Research Institute). The Internet had its beginnings in the late 1960s as the "ARPANET". Google for it, if you are interested in Computer Networks. It has a very nice history.

*****

Current Song
Ab Na Jaa by Euphoria
...kehne de taaro ko kahani ankahi...
... pal mein beete kitne saal...

My Current Status

while(1)
{
Studying for 12 credits/semester;
/* Studying Applied Probability and Stochastic Processes in time "3T/5"
and doing everything else in time "2T/5" */
Working on a research project;
Solving homework problems;
Finishing weekly assignments;
// this means library is my home

}


Current Song
21 Guns by Green Day
"Do you know what's worth fighting for?...."

Where have the PCOs gone?

As a kid I used to regularly accompany my father to the nearest PCO (Public Call Office) that was a kilometre away from our home. Through our walk to and from the phone booth, I would endlessly chatter about everything - from how salty the breakfast in the morning was, to becoming a space scientist when I grew up. What days those were!

A few years later, we got a landline phone connection. But it enabled only local calls. So we still walked up to the phone booth for STD calls, infrequently though.

Subsequently, it was time for the advent of cellular phones through which you could anytime call anyone living anywhere on earth (well almost). Thanks to the ever decreasing prices of feature-loaded (overloaded?) mobile phones, we find almost everyone hooked onto to his precious ‘companion’ these days. Moreover, it is so easy to get a SIM card (not so easy in the US). Cellular phones have sure revolutionized the way we communicate. But are the fixed phones dispensable?

Sometime ago, we had gone to Chennai for my visa interview. Since I did not know how much time I would take to be done with the interview, I told my dad "Why don't you show around the place to Mom. I'll call you once the interview is over". What I had not realized was – since mobile phones were prohibited inside the consulate building, I had left my phone with my brother.

My interview got over way faster than I thought. Once I was out of the consulate office, I started to look for a PCO. To my astonishment I could not find any in the vicinity of the Anna Salai street! I walked all over the place for about an hour, asking people if there was a PCO around somewhere. A passerby guided me to a landline phone owned by some restaurant. I eagerly grabbed the handset to dial dad's number. Sadly, it could not call a mobile phone that was on roaming.

My hunt for a PCO continued. I had almost lost my way back when I spotted an Idea mobile phone outlet. The sales person there was kind enough to let me use his mobile phone to make a call. I could not have been more relieved. I dialed the number. All I could hear was "the number you are trying to call is out of coverage area".

I had no other option but wait at the hotel lobby for my parents to return.

***
The hotel there had a strange system for using their phones. You couldn’t call a cell phone on roaming from the hotel landline!

*****

Current Song:
Dhoom Pichak Dhoom by Euphoria
....mera dushman saara zamaana... :D

A beautiful poem by Aditya Awasthi to his fiancee

Don`t mistake me for irritating you
for every action has-many a view,
the day I saw u, the second time in life, i felt new,
Little patches of love in ur heart, I wanna sew.


I make no promise of stars n moon,
to say i love you, is too very soon.
I do want to enter your heart so tightly cocooned,
be left with you in this world, marooned.


The thoughts of what may come and go
in thy company, time itself would bow,
time flies often, it is said so,
with u n me together, old i wanna grow.


The tale of travels, love and wars
sweet talks over, marmalade jars
with our children sharing chocolate bars
& fantasy of aliens on planet mars.


A shadow of a dream, may i ?
A sweet little hut, in the country side, of u n my,
A summer house, with boats whistling by.
To hold dreams together, in truth and no lie.


A summer house in the mountains;
apples, peaches, pears, plums and marble fountains.


Evenings in the garden, fragrance of a day past,
of pets & children & time running fast
sweet little nothings, n gazes that last
our small tiny life, in this world so vast.


I learn a little and you from me a few
walk bare foot, on green grass and dew
hold hands, stare blank, in lieu
to thoughts, a dog bark n a cats meow.


I try hard to remember you in flesh and mortal being .
of your visage a glimpse that i`d seen
but fail to remember, as my brain in a sly smile glean
feel mesmerized with reminiscent thoughts so keen


Hold my hand and as you say, "go with the flow.."
for your happiness, i would take any a blow,
seeds of friendship, trust n love, let us sow
with time, happiness and a family we`d know.


I don`t know what tomorrow holds,
I don`t wanna know what the past beholds;
For the future together, we have to mould,
In the present, your hand shikha is what i want to hold.

- Aditya Awasthi

************************************************************************************

Current Song :
That's my name by Akcent

So, what is love?

Pre-Script: He must be read as he/she through this post wherever applicable.

My friends are watching videos of songs of a regional language of India. All the videos seem to revolve around love/romance. Most of the Bollywood movies are also based on love stories. People throng the theatres to watch these movies even if they can guess the entire plot from the trailers. They talk at length about their favourite part of the movie; they even suggest others that they watch the film. Do people love to watch love stories on screen because there is so little affection in real life?

I do not understand this - the same people who admire reel stories fail to love in real life! Why else do we have unhappy/broken marriages? Is it possible that one can stop loving his spouse after some years of marriage?

I do not understand the concept of break-up(s). Why would a person want to break-up with the one he loved? If a person does not feel the affection anymore, can the relationship he shared before be called love? Does one fall in love with a person or just loves the feeling of being in love? Billion dollar question!

Ok, before you have an impression that I do not see anything positive, let me tell you a happy tale I'm currently witnessing. It is so much fun to have a friend who is madly in love. You can pull her leg all day long. I ask her how she knows that he is "the one". She blushes saying "you just know it. How am I supposed to answer that question...(a shy smile)".

Thanks to technology, people in long distance realtionship are just a click away from each other. You will find them talking for so long everyday. They ask each other the same questions daily. I wonder if a person is asking these questions to find out if his beloved is fine or the conversation makes him feel good.

As for me, i'm just happy being outside the whole mire of these complexities and observing circumstances people in love are going through.

Current Song : Is This Love by Whitesnake
(The idea for this post came from this song too)

The Transitions

It’s a long wait till I board my connecting flight to Boston. So I sit in the dome-shaped departure lounge of Terminal 2E at the Charles de Gaulle airport watching the metal birds take off and land. The morning sun’s rays pass through the glass walls as if to welcome me to Paris. Then I turn around to follow news on the TV screen. It’s the weather report. And only Bangalore, my home city, represents India on the map.

I’m close to 8000km away from home already. In some hours from now the distance will be around 13000km. I know that I cannot go home till my first term at the university ends. I’m not sad. I’m not excited. It’s a strange feeling I can’t explain. I chose to pursue my studies at a place far away from home. No one told me to do so. I’m not complaining. But it’s an uneasy feeling.

This is not the first time I’m feeling like this. I lived away from home for half a year while on my first job. But it was Mysore, a city just 150km away from Bangalore. I vividly remember the day my mother, father and brother were to drop me off at the company campus. I had felt blank through the journey from home to Mysore.

After a light meal at the campus food court, it was time for my parents and brother to return home. This was the hardest part – saying good-byes holding back tears with a lot of force. I had stood there with a choking throat, watching them walk out of the gate.

Whenever I had time I would simply catch a bus or train to go home. I always feel that journey toward home is somehow always shorter than the opposite way. Even before I felt contented at home, time would be up for me to leave for Mysore. I used to feel nauseous till the bus went past the city outskirts.


When I was at home during college, Mom used to complain "you can forever watch that bald guy blow up things (referring to Jeff Lieberman, presenter of Time Warp on Discovery channel) but can't talk to me". I'd call her on phone from Mysore and talk to her endlessly. If I ran out of topics, I’d even ask what the pesky neighborhood lady, who I never bothered about before, did this time.

After finishing our training at Mysore we were to leave for home. Some of my friends were leaving earlier than I. Since they were going to Bangalore and I too had to leave in a few hours’ time I had not planned to see them off at the gate. But had to go since a friend had a problem. I did not know till then that I’d get so emotional. Tears welled up in my eyes. (Guess that’s why they have labs to test practically to see if what you assume is really true)

Anyway, if you know of any word that describes the 'strange feeling' best, please let me know.


**
I was sitting at the wrong gate of the terminal all the while! But had enough time to take a train to get to the right one :)

*****
Current Song:
It must have been love by Roxette

A beautiful journey

We had an early morning train to catch. Since I'm not much of a morning person, everyone at home was surprised that I got ready first. If I have to, I can get up at anytime. We reached the railway station well in time. It was raining and was pretty cold here in Bangalore.

The train started to move slowly. As we were moving away from the city, the rains gradually disappeared and the first rays of sun seemed to welcome us to the journey. I blissfully watched the sun come up. The mild sun-rays turned everything they touched into gold. Patches of the red soil neatly ploughed stood out from the green fields.

Cattle grazing in the open fields, huts and stacks of hay marked small villages. I wished I could sit on those hillocks and think of nothing for a while. Later, there was an awesome sight of an S-shaped pristine lake with tall trees along the shore.

That my best friend was also traveling in the same train was icing on the cake. But we had to text each other since we were in different coaches. She was to get off at Vellore station while I continued my journey to Chennai. I had been to Vellore three days ago with her for her admission at Vellore Institute of Technology, the place where you get the best lemon tea (both hot and iced) and chocolate brownies!

My first visit to Chennai was splendid because of the journey.

***
To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.
- Jane Austen

*****

Current song:
Heaven by Bryan Adams

I too was "a bit of an Idiot"

I watched the movie 3 Idiots just yesterday. Loved it. The movie raked up old memories. Penning down some of them here.
 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once in my pre-university class, my Physics lecturer asked me to state the Coulomb's law. I started talking about the electrostatic interaction between charged particles. She said "all that is OK, but state the law - as it is in the text book". This is something I'm really bad at. I simply cannot state laws exactly as printed in the books. She then said "how will you score marks in the board exams? Some evaluators will not award you marks if your answer is not in a particular way".

 I lost the ability to answer a question paper in a "particular way" in school itself. It was in the sixth standard that I was introduced to proper methods of learning. After every few classes, my Science teacher would ask us questions on the corresponding topics that required students to ‘think’. Since then, I never bothered about the school notes (which were nothing more than ‘parrot’ answers to the list of questions given at the end of every chapter in the text book). Reading the text book thoroughly and answering based on whatever I had understood became a habit which extended to other subjects too.

In the seventh grade, my Hindi teacher had a different approach toward notes. We had to draw a picture based on the lesson taught and answer all the questions on our own. If the picture was striking or the answers were out of the ordinary, she would write “good” on the pages. We would eagerly wait to see how many ‘good’s were in our notebook!

My History teacher in eighth standard taught so well that I listened to all her lectures with rapt attention. History was never this interesting. It was then that I learnt that the subject was lot more than wars, dates, chronological order and tongue-twisting names of some of the prominent personalities from across the globe.

Later in college, I got tired of many of the classes which were more like tapes of definitions, assumptions, laws, proofs and derivations being played multiple times. Only the classes handled by our HOD were inspiring. Bandopadhyay Sir had worked with various government organizations and post retirement, he took up teaching. Alongside preparing us for the exams, he would narrate so many anecdotes. What a raconteur he was!

Sir was not a conventional teacher to demand “pin-drop-silence” in the class. Once I could not resist looking out of the window at the fighter aircraft sortieing in the sky (our college was located near the Air Force Base) He noticed that and simply smiled. Other lecturers were not so kind.

Sir never spoke in a raised voice. Once when students were making a lot of noise, he shouted “shut up”. After a few minutes he said “sorry” for that! Unfortunately, we have lost him. He succumbed to cancer the day after our final exam of BE in 2009.

If not for these mentors in my life, I would not have been “a bit of an Idiot”!

PostScript:

In high school notes became a mere formality. I never referred to them unless I had prepared them.

HOD- Head of the department

Just to let you know – I was two marks short of a centum in Physics

The scene in the movie where Burkha clad women were being photographed – it seemed to convey a lot without any lines being spoken!

 Current Song:

Welcome To My Life by Simple Plan

Do you ever feel like breaking down?
Do you ever feel out of place?
Like somehow you just don't belong
And no one understands you
Do you ever wanna run away?...

Bungled Distribution

A year ago, if you traveled on NH-4 from Bangalore toward Kolar, you could find tonnes of plump, red tomatoes thrown away by the roadside. The farmers could not recover their investment on the crops, so they discarded the produce and anybody could stop by and take as much as they wished.

At the same time in Bangalore, tomato was priced at Rs.20 per Kg ! Ride about 30km from the city and you had loads of tomatoes that you could just grab for no price at all! This is the pathetic state of the distribution system in Karnataka since years. No wonder so many farmers have committed suicide over losses they incurred.



Here's what a district in-charge officer could do :
- collect various crops produced in the district;
- fix a price that ensures profit to the farmers and pay them right away;
- collect data about requirements in various parts of the state/country and study it;
- send the goods to optimal places to ensure maximum profit or least losses;
- we sometimes have empty buses/trains plying between towns. How about using them for transporting the crops if dedicated transport is an issue? I know that this is on a small scale. But it can cut down some cost, isn't it?


I think we should make the officials in charge study Operations Research and the passing mark should be at least 75%!


Current Song :
Savin me by Nickelback

...Well I'm terrified of these four walls
These iron bars can't hold my soul in...

For all the Crybabies

Are you an extremely sensitive person? Can a slight, rude remark set off a torrent of tears from your eyes? Do your eyes become moist at the thought of leaving home and staying at a new place? Do you cry when a close friend ignores you? And, do you feel embarrassed when someone notices that you cried? If the answer to the last questions is 'yes', read on.

**

How to let the world assume that you are all right when you are actually choking:

1. Take the weather's help. If it's cold, say "I think I'm catching a cold. My eyes are watering". If it's hot, splash your face with water and leave it wet.
2. If you are living in a city that is rich in flora, like Bangalore, say " I'm allergic to pollen". Else, you can even blame the dust!
3. If you have long hair, leave it loose so as to cover your face.
4. Sing aloud a rock song.
5. Show off that you are a protective elder sister or brother. Talk to your sibling about how his/her studies is going on. You could give all the gyaan on handling the exam pressure.

Do this; people around will think you are perfectly ok. After a while, you'll actually be all right! :)


PostScript: Do not try to act smart with your Mom. She'll somehow know that you are sad.

*****
Current Song:

Payal by Jal (Album : Boondh )

Kaanch ke thhe saaare vaade
Rishtey ya kachche thhe dhaage
Dil ke taaron ko chhed kar
Tum kahaan chal diye

Joy of problem solving :-)

We were facing some problems with our modem since a few days. It would work fine for a few minutes and suddenly disconnect, leaving my brother fuming since his downloads got aborted. Unlike me, he lives 'online'. He approached the BSNL technicians to get this problem solved. They declared that the modem must be replaced.

Modem was replaced today. But the problem persisted. My little brother screamed "do something. I want internet!". The the young engineer at home (who is seldom taken seriously) got to work. Yeah, that's me.

The glitch was in the cable. Wrong wires in contact. Then my bro said "that was it! so simple " Problems look miniscule only after being solved.

It'd been quite some time since I really solved a problem. I'm elated :) The solution did not involve rocket science. But, what a joy is it to make something work!

PostScript:
There was nothing wrong with our old modem!

***
Quote of the day:
Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action.
- Benjamin Disraeli

*****
Current Song:
Cannot Turn Back The Years by Phil Collins

First fine for traffic rule violation

I was about to reach the Honda service station to take my Activa back when it struck me that I had forgotten to carry my helmet. This had never happened before. I never ride without a helmet. Then I thought "Big deal. Home is just four Km from here... just ride this time..."

I could not believe what happened next. The traffic police appeared at a junction from nowhere and caught me! I have been riding on this this road for five years and there was never a cop at this junction. Yesterday, I paid my first fine, of Rs.100 for not wearing helmet :(  My perfect driving record no more remained so :(

Anyway, what was amazing was - Bangalore traffic police use a Simputer ( Hand-held simple computer) to record traffic rule violator's name, license number and vehicle number to their database. And, details are sent to the wireless printer that another cop manages few feet away so as not to cause bottleneck at the junction. You pay the fine there and collect your receipt. Way to go Bangalore traffic police!

 ***
Does it happen to you that you make a slight mistake once in a blue moon  and get properly reprimanded for that? It always happens with me! Talk about luck!

******
Current song:
Don't Cry by Guns N' Roses

Talk to me softly
There's something in your eyes...

How about a little bit of courtesy?

Some days ago while I was picking up groceries in a market I witnessed this act of arrogance. There was this lady shrieking with anger at an attendant "You people don't have yoghurt? Such a big store does not have yoghurt?" The lady had given a cursory look into the cooler and when she did not find what she was looking for, she made a big fuss over the issue.

If this lady did not find a product at one store, she could simply have got it elsewhere. There was absolutely no need to shout at the attendants. Why do people yell at others who are not in a position to shout back at them?

We are all in a hurry to get to college/office in the morning. But how much time do we really lose when we slow down a bit to let the school kid or an aged person cross the road?

Students who have just completed class X/pre-university/Class XII are at a crucial juncture of their lives. This is the time they would have to choose a field of study/degree major, which they mainly base on their exam score. There is no dearth of so-called-relatives/friends who only know to play down the poor student's results. The percentage could have been 95+ or just average, some people by default downgrade the score. How difficult is it to be a little supportive?

Enter a moderately crowded city bus, holding two bags. It is not uncommon to find people looking at you scornfully because the space around them just got congested due to your luggage. Why do people scowl over trivial issues? You may be dangling from the support rod, still not many of those seated comfortably would offer to help you out by holding your bag for a while.

We do not lose anything by being a little considerate, do we?

*****
Current Song:
Title track of the movie Dil Chahta Hai  :)  :)

Kaisa Ajab Yeh Safar Hai, Socho To Har Ik Hi Bekhabar Hai
Usko Jaana Kidhar Hai, Jo Waqt Aaye, Jaane Kya Dikhaaye
Oh Oh Oh ...

Disillusioned

Sister Joy walked into the classroom during the second period post lunch with a bundle of report cards and a cane. Third round test results were to be announced this day. All the students of Class IX 'B' waited with bated breath for Sister to announce who got the third rank this time. Shrishti and Reena owned  the top two ranks anyway. Suhas got the third rank. After Sister gave away the report cards, cane did the talking with the flunked students, naughty guys and the bullies of the class.


"If you had got two more marks, you would have secured the first place" Reena said. "That's ok. We have both been there, missing out on the first rank by a small margin since Class VI when I joined this school", said Shrishti. Reena smiled as the two friends were walking back home that evening.


After a few days Reena suddenly stopped talking to Shrishti. Well, it was not something new that Reena went on a stint of silence. It happened once in a while. She would initiate conversation after a couple of days.

Three weeks passed. Reena was still in no mood to talk to Shrishti.  It was strange to see them sit beside each other on the same bench in the classroom and not talk to each other for so long! After much prodding from Shrishti, Reena finally gave the reason for cutting-off friendship.

"You told Lekha about your badminton tournament first! And I get to know of your selection from her? You always told me everything first. I.. I'm your best friend!"
"You are upset over that small issue, Reena?"
"You've been selected for the National Badminton Championship and I get to know that from somebody else. Is this a small issue?"
"Oh yaar, she was there while PT Sir informed me of tournament... All right, I'm sorry. Let's get over this."
Reena shook her head in dissent.


It was the National Badminton Championship final. Shrishti had to face fierce competition to reach here. Keerthi from Bhopal was the other finalist. The final match was a tough one. The audience had their eyes fixed on the shuttlecock flying between the halves of the court, waiting to see who would make the first mistake. After a long battle Shrishti won the match. Everyone was cheering. But Reena was not there.

On the way back home, clutching her tropy, and leaning against her father's arm, with her voice choking Shrishti said "I thought she would come, daddy".

Calculus with Analytic Geometry by Joe Repka

Legend says that an ancient king was so pleased with the new game of chess that he offered a huge reward to its inventor. The wise man asked the king to put one grain of wheat on the first square of the chessboard, two on the second, four on the third, and so on, doubling each time. 

Calculate the amount of wheat on the sixty-fourth square, assuming a grain of wheat weighs 50mg and bearing in mind that the annual worldwide wheat harvest is about 500 metric tonnes. 
Incidentally, the phrase "check mate" is apparently a corruption of 'shah matt" which in old Persian means "the king is dead".
(Take this problem as an exercise. You'll be astonished by the results. Btw, don't forget to use common units of measure)

This was an introduction to the chapter Logarithms and Exponential Functions in the book Calculus with Analytic Geometry by Joe Repka. This is an awesome book for Engineering Mathematics with detailed explanations. Numerical examples are used to illustrate concepts (unlike the books engineering students are made to study from in which the sole aim is to arrive at a solution without any concrete foundation). If you are interested in studying calculus this is a great book to start off with.

Some of the interesting intros I found in the book are as follows :

Limits and Continuity

Aristotle declared that heavy objects fall faster than light ones, in proportion to their weight, and for centuries the world believed him.
Finally Galileo showed otherwise, reputedly by dropping a cannonball and a musket ball from the tower of Pisa. He is often regarded as the father of experimental science (Aristotle purported to have conducted similar experiments, but presumably never did). 
Galileo's work lead to Newton's study of gravitation, which in turn led to the development of calculus.

Derivatives

Newton studied gravity, reputedly after watching an apple fall from a tree. Combining this work with his recently developed techniques of calculus, he was able to show how the laws of gravity explained the motions of the planets. This had been a great mystery, and his solution established both Newton's reputation and the importance of calculus.

Integration

To find the area of a circle, we tried approximating by a number of triangles and adding up their areas. Then we took a limit as the number of triangles goes to infinity.
To find the area of a region enclosed by a curve, we approximate the region by a number of rectangles and add up their areas. If we use narrower rectangles, the approximation should be more accurate. The exact area is found by taking  a limit as the rectangles get narrower and narrower.

Series

A hare trying to pass a tortoise must first catch up half the distance between them. Then he must catch up half the remaining distance. Then he must catch up half the remaining distance, and so  on.
The argument known as Zeno's paradox, suggests that the hare can never overtake the tortoise.

Vector Calculus

The Mobius strip challenges our intuitive ideas about surfaces. Take a strip of paper, make a single twist in it and tape it into a loop. With a pencil draw a line down the center of the strip without crossing the edge of the paper. You will find that the pencil has returned to the back of the paper. For this reason people say that the Mobius strip has only one side. 


If you have performed this experiment, you might like to try another by taking a pair of scissors and cutting along the line down the middle of the strip of paper...


Current Song:
Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd

Muktha Muktha

Mr. T N Seetharam (TNS) is a popular personality in the Kannada TV industry. His serials revolve around tender emotions, valuing relationships and addressing social issues; everyday life that you and I can relate to is  brought out beautifully. The language in his work is pristine and pronunciation is impeccable.

Of all the serials he has written and directed I could catch only Mayamruga, Muktha and Muktha Muktha, not the entire thing though. There are a certain  characters common in all his serials. Here, I'm writing mainly about Muktha Muktha with a few roles from the other series. 

There is no mother-in-law or daughter-in-law or anyone contriving to wreck some poor soul's life, unlike in many other soap operas on Indian television;

there is an irresponsible and extremely lazy head-of-the-family, who, if just keeps quiet, will save the members of the family from a lot of trouble;

a mischievous kid who reminds you of your own childhood;

a young scientist who makes path breaking discovery;

a nagging wife;

a young man who is proficient in Indian classical music and takes up floriculture as his profession rather than sell off his suburban land to real estate sharks;

a young man who is in search of God; becomes a sanyasi; later falls in love with a woman. Then thinks he need not abstain from nuptial vows and responsibilities to seek God;

a highly qualified young woman who returns to her motherland from London after her father's demise to fight for the rights of farmers; to protest against the exploitation of farmers by the industrialists.

a nutty lawyer (played by TNS himself) who leaves no stone unturned to get justice done to the weak of the society. To express his distress, frustration and even happiness, he recites corresponding verses from poems;

and a foolish and foolishly religious, superstitious typist to the eccentric lawyer.

There is a heartborken girl who focuses all her disappointment toward preparing  for Civil Services exams and does become an IAS officer. Being an upright officer, she invites the ministers' wrath and faces them with confidence that frustrates the nefarious politicians.

There is a suave but wily politician who humiliates people in an acceptable language.

There is this highly educated, audacious and stylish son of the Chief Minister who deals with illegal money in the figures of crores; his elder brother works in the field of media; earns 17K per month and is content with it.


The riveting part of the serial is the court room battles, especially the murder cases. The IPC sections quoted, legal procedures, Supportive and Discrediting Cross Examination and forensic report explanation are all technically perfect. There is simply no nonsense.

The Love Stories

1. Girl falls in love with this guy for his ideals  and principles. They get married. When the guy starts living in the present world of practicality, she walks out of the marriage with dignity.

2. There is a young IPS officer who remonstrates in Gandhi style to get his mother to agree to his marriage with the woman he is love with. The mother disapproves of their relationship and reasons that the girl is no match to her son; she reckons the problems they might have to face in the future due to the girl's  social status. If you are the kind who believe love must triumph, chahe duniya bhaad me jaaye, you might get angry at her being the thorn in the flesh, but you will not hate her. By the way, the mother actually respects and admires the girl for her straight-forwardness and very high self respect!

3. Childhood friends fall in love. Get engaged. There is tender romance between our love birds even while the members of the family are looking. But the girl gets the guy married to her best friend due to various reasons. The three still remain best of friends. The way this is portrayed makes you think this was pragmatic even though you might get a heartache.


4. Girl is hopelessly in love with this guy. She gets married to him against her father's advice. It turns out the guy is a loser. He physically and verbally abuses her. When she cannot tolerate the torture anymore, she returns to her parents'. After some days the guy comes to his disillusioned wife. A few loving words and a bit of pleading is enough for her to go back to the husband. Then the abuse continues...


PostScript : Muktha means Freedom
**
Just to let you know, this is the only serial I watch on Indian entertainment channels.

*****

Current Song:
Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down

I watched the world float to the
Dark side of the moon...

...If I go crazy then will you still
Call me Superman...

What's 'not' wrong with Sri - A reminiscience

"No! I'm not in love. Neither have I a crush on anyone! Please! I'm not going mad either. Very much sane " That's what I told Mom yesterday when she asked me what the matter was, after noticing that I'm smiling to myself quite often since the time I came home from Mysore.

Why was I all happy and smiling? I was just reminiscing our college days and those good times spent with friends. We were there in college just last year. Four years flew by and we didn't realise. I wished we had one more semester!

I have got a bunch of super-cool friends. We were a group of six girls always seen in a cluster. We were called the gang of girls (GoG). Outside this group too I had a few close friends.

Different sets of my friends : GoG of course, a close friend in a different college  with whom I shared all that is going on in my life; a blogger friend who, until he started blogging, I did not know much about other than that that he was a nerd; a witty and genius friend who is very quick with brilliant answers; a live-wire friend who is on a high all the time; a quotation group - sharing thought provoking quotes; and a Nat Geo/Discovery/History friend with whom I talked about the programmes on those channels with just about twenty minutes to go before the semester exam paper started! (have almost lost contact with him now...)

College days are the best days of a person's life. Bisi-bele-bath from our college canteen, a view of the Indian Air Force Base from my classroom and the Dorniers hovering over our campus made it even more special for me.

*****

This particular incident was hilarious. College reopens for our eighth semester. Our lecturer asks a guy in class if he met with his project guide. He says he did. She says " I am your guide". !!

*****

Current Song :
Kitni der tak from the movie Delhi Heights

Resplendence

We are traveling by a bus. I'm sitting on a window-seat; dad is seated two rows ahead. I don't know why we are travelling. I do not ask dad either. I'm looking out the window.

The rift in the cloud is slowly growing wider, making way for the sun rays to reach us. I see only hills by the roadside; trees with green, yellow, saffron and red leaves on the hills. What a splendour! It has just stopped raining this evening here; I feel the moisture in the air. I put my head out of the window to feel the cool breeze and the mild sunlight caress my face. It's sheer joy! Can I ask the driver to pull over so I could savour the surroundings in entirety?

Then, someone rings the doorbell and I wake up from my afternoon slumber. Oh man, it was such a nice dream. The rankle-r is a guy from the bank. He came for ID verification to issue a Titanium credit card. Why today? Couldn't he have come at least after a while??

Even about ten days ago this bank spoilt my perfect evening (of staying-home
+ playing-music + watching-the-rains + and-sipping-coffee) when the bank representative came down to our place for signatures. I don't know how the frequencies of my idea of a good time and their timing of contacting me synchronise!

*****

The Credit Card Saga

The frequency of phone calls from this bank increased since three months informing me of the Titanium card I can avail. They called from different branches; so I could not identify the numbers to ignore the calls. I had been politely declining their offer till the manager, who had helped me with my account, called up. He had taught me, the new kid on the block, the fundamentals of banking. Upon learning that I was about to embark on my first job, he had advised me about investment too. Then I heard myself say "OK, Sir".

Then the application and verification process started. I informed them that I quit my job, and I'm currently unemployed. One person from the bank updated my employment status to 'self-employed'!!

I have received five verification phone calls asking the same questions - Date of birth ? Own house/rented? Do you own a vehicle? Job title? (to which my answer has been "I do not work with XYZ anymore. I will not work anywhere else for some more time since I have not been relieved yet".) And, they are happy that I'm still XYZ's employee on paper and say they'll process the application quickly. (before I'm officially unemployed? ;)  )

Next time I get a call from this bank, when they start the conversation with "you had applied for a credit card..." I'll say "I did not apply. You were hell bent on giving me one!". To the job title question my answer will be " Whatever they have in No Man's Land!"

*****

Current Song

Secrets in Mirrors by Spitalfield


Lets take our time
We'll make it worth the while
(How long? How long?)
Speed up and then slow down
but never out of style...

State of Higher Education in India

Today, one of my friends joined a medical college to pursue a post graduate course in medicine. She had been preparing hard for a government seat for the past two years and finally achieved her goal. She told me about this malpractice in medical seat allocation.


This is what is happening - there are some agents who approach talented youngsters from across the country and persuade them to take up Karnataka's Common Entrance Test for Post Graduation. The plan is - those bright students who would have got top ranks will surrender their seats just before the classes start. The government rule says under such conditions the colleges can allot the vacant seats under the management quota. Most of the colleges offer (read sell) such seats to mediocre students for a hefty donation (anywhere between 80 lac to 1cr+ depending on the reputation of the institution and the desired course of specialization). This amount is then distributed among the college (they get the lion's share), the agents and those students who surrender their seats.



With this kind of unprofessionalism, reservation for backward class students (the students who actually need reservation are seldom identified) and small number of seats available, the general merit (GM) students are deprived of the opportunities they deserve.

Imagine being treated for an illness by a quack! God save us!


***************

Rural Health care :

Yeshasvini Health Insurance Scheme

Yeshasvini is the world's cheapest comprehensive health insurance scheme designed by Dr.Devi Shetty (a cardiac surgeon who has pioneered the spread of telemedicine as well as low cost cardiac operations in India) and the Government of Karnataka for the poor farmers of the state in 2003. For a premium payment of only Rs 5 per month or Rs. 60 per year, participants are covered for all surgical interventions, major or minor, and for outpatient services (OPD) at a network of private hospitals. At the end of the first year of operations in June 2004, 9,039 surgeries had been performed, and 35,814 patients had received outpatient consulting services. The Yeshasvini scheme is the world’s largest health insurance scheme for the rural poor.




Source : Farmers in my hometown, Wikipedia and the draft THE KARNATAKA YESHASVINI HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME FOR RURAL FARMERS & PEASANTS: TOWARDS COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR KARNATAKAthat is available here www.isec.ac.in/Karnataka_Kuruvilla16.5.05_aligned.pdf


This measure is commendable.
There is still a large part of rural India that needs quality health care. There are so many maternal deaths and stillbirths that could have been medically prevented. With the MBBS students refusing to serve in rural areas for one year before they are awarded with the degree (as proposed by the government) and fake doctors holding the scapel, future of health care in India does not look all too good.

********

Montessori Competition!

My cousins had to attend an interview for Montessori seat in a big-school in Bangalore. Not just the poor kids, their parents had to attend the interview too. All this because it would ensure hassle-free continuation in the same school for kindergarten! The fee per student, per annum was way more than what I paid in a year for technical education! The school expected both parents to be at least graduates and proficient in English. The authorities were happy that my aunt was a home-maker so that she could help the kids with studies (she quit her job to take care of the boys). In a long meeting with my uncle and aunt, the school authorities briefed them about all that they have to teach the kids. The projects and assignments they give students are such that parents have to do most of the work.

I wonder what the school does then! What about kids whose parents are not graduates or/and cannot afford hefty fee? And they talk about education for all... blah... blah...

********

Current Song:
Dakota by Stereophonics
Thinkin 'bout thinkin of you...

AIRTEL – BIG TIME SWINDLERS

It started that fateful day when I googled on my phone. Next morning, I woke up to this message from Airtel – “thank you for subscribing to BIZZARRE Club. You can download 1 FREE content and one more FREE content from Play n Win everyday for the next 7 days. Enjoy”. I wondered whatever this thing was. Didn’t have the time to bother about that since I had to get to work fast.

In the next two hours, I received a number of SMSs from Airtel – “thanks for downloading {content name} from Airtel. You have been charged {Rs.15 to Rs.99} Filmy Buzz and Pics *321*69#.” By the time I could contact the customer support, I had been charged more than Rs 400 for supposedly downloading content. God knows when I downloaded something I didn’t know anything about!

Dialed 123. After “press 1 to recharge, 2 for something…,”somewhere toward the end there was press {something} to contact customer support. I politely asked the concerned person to explain this predicament. He did not have a convincing answer and asked me to wait till he connected me to a senior officer. In the meantime, I got the message “thanks for contacting Airtel. Your request reference number is {XYZ}Simply Life! Dial to get instant info…” (All I wanted was my money back, not unsolicited services, damn it.) And, the person assured me that he’d look into the matter.

After a while I received this SMS “dear customer, we wish to inform you that the balance depletion concern on your Airtel Mobile has been resolved. Thank you.” I was not refunded with any amount. I do not know what their notion of “resolved” is. I called them up again to express my displeasure. I told the person straight “look, first of all I’m not interested in any pack whose name itself is so stupid. The message you sent about “resolving the issue”, what the hell is it trying to convey? And, there is NO content downloaded to my phone. You can scan my phone to find out if any such thing is available. This is daylight robbery you are doing.” That person said “sorry ma’am, we cannot refund any money. All I can do is re-send the content”.


By evening the ‘thank you for downloading…’ SMSs stopped, thankfully. After a few days this gibberish SMS started “You have been renewed for BIZZARRE Pack Subscription service from Airtel. You have been charged Rs.XY. Filmy Buzz and Bollywood Pics *321*69#. Filmy buzz&amp". Bollywood, for a person who has just above-zero Movie Quotient and has no intention of improving on it? What the HELL!! Don’t they understand English? How many times should I tell those morons that I am not interested in any ridiculous pack?


AIRTEL only knows to CHEAT and say “Thank you”. To hell with Airtel, big time SWINDLERS. Guess, this is how they pay their ‘superstar’ brand ambassadors who endorse these BILKERS in preposterous ads. (I find some of these stars really really very very STUPID. Nothing more than dumb show pieces)

Here I am venting out my anger. AIRTEL, YOU ARE SOOOOOO BIZARRE.

The only reason I’m continuing with the services from this company is – I need to retain the current phone number at least for some more days.



PostScript: I still get the renewal SMSs after every few days :( :( and often get these messages – “thank you for using browsing services on Airtel Live. You have been charged {Rs.0.3 to Rs.6} for browsing {XY}KBs” when I dare not access web on phone :( :(

*******

Current Song :
Chup chup ho tum by Jal from the album Boondh


chup chup ho tum gumsum khade...
yeh sab baatein jab yaad aaye

palkon se aansu tap tap bahein...

 

Congratulations ! :)

It was nice to see friends graduating from coloured ID-tags(trainees)
to Black tags (employees) last week. Guys, you have done it!
Congratulations!

What an ordeal past 5.5 months has been! Successfully completing the
training of the nation's best IT company, Infosys Technologies
Limited, is in deed an achievement. The trainees have been through
extremely high levels of stress. I used to jokingly say, “ Once I
complete this course, I should be awarded stress management degree too
;)

Whenever we saw the Black tag people we used to look at them as if we
just saw some celebrities! Sitting across a table at a food court,I
once told my friend “Even you will not be a normal human once the
final exam is over!” She is a super human now :)


Special credit due to the Open Systems (OS) stream guys. (We were the
chosen ones to be put in the most difficult stream) We had cases of
5-pointers scoring just above the passing mark; cases of the best
minds flunking a test. My friend, who knew the subjects inside out,
and was the best in practical application, had two dead modules. His
favourite line was “These people are teaching me how to fail!” He made
up for the lost credit points by performing brilliantly in other
modules. Trainees faced so many twists and turns that until the last
exam results were out, they could not be certain of their future in
the firm.

When asked about the benefits a 5-pointer (someone who has scored
maximum grade throughout) would enjoy, our educator said “people will
look at you like an alien!”. Well, we had just two aliens among 90+ OS
trainees. Special Congratulations to them!


 ***********
Current Song :

I'll Be There For You by Rembrandts

So no one told you life was gonna be this way...  ...You're still in bed at ten
And work began at eight You've burned your breakfast So far... things
are goin' great...

How much do I love thee

Dear SEKi,
I still remember that evening when we met. (I was in II sem, BE) When I saw you first time, you looked like a knight in shining armour. It did not take long to start liking you. You are such that anybody would love to love you. You look so good :) Well, it's not just because you look so good that I like you...

You have always been there for me when I needed you. You were with me when I was alone in a crowd. You helped me best when I wanted to avoid interacting with certain characters! You have been part of all those times when I was jumping in joy and celebrating; and while my friends were celebrating. You were so friendly with my friends.

When we went on those long walks together, just the two of us, I had a great time:) When I was listening to you, I could not hear what the world said. Everyone complained that I was spending a lot of time with you; it fell on deaf ears.

My liking toward you grew so strong that I could not take a word against you. Whenever someone introduced his/her more-than-friend to me I used to think " not as good as my SEKi :)". My day started with seeing your pleasant face. And, we were together all day.

Unfortunately, distance and presence of someone else separated us for a few months. But I always thought of YOU. What you mean to me, nobody can take it away. I'll see you in just a couple of days when I come home and we'll be together again :)
*******

I'll be back with my Sony Ericsson K750i phone :)
Nokia E63, you have been a good friend and always will be. SEKi is more than friend to me. I'm sure you'll understand.

Typical Study Leave

We used to get about 25 days’ study leave before every semester exam. This is how mine would go.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At the beginning of the study leave I’d think I still had a lot of time to revise the chapters, so I would not be very serious about preparation. Then, after two-three days I would work on a detailed ‘study plan’. I would write dates across the list of chapters in the syllabus book, very confident that I would finish studying those topics on the earmarked days.

It’s time to start studying. Lot of breaks was taken in between. My idea of taking break was to help mom in getting groceries, teach bro Trigonometry even if didn’t ask for any help with the subject, watering the plants and paying bills; plan how to spend the vacation following the exams. And this “planning” consumed quite a lot of time and effort! I’d be in great disposition to do everyone favours. During that one month, I’d be an achcha baccha at home.

My endeavor followed Gaussian curve peaking at the middle of the study leave (with quite a good a good bandwidth). Ten days into the study leave was the time to burn the midnight oil. A cup of tea kept me awake through the night. My best friend and I used to exchange text messages every hour through the night keeping each other awake and going. She would diligently study and I would listen to radio Indigo which played great music all night; but I did study between the music. And I’d like to thank the dogs in my locality who barked at regular intervals to wake me up in case I dozed off on the text books. Some days I went to sleep at the break of dawn with the birds’ song for lullaby.

During an all-night study, when it was time for a break, I’d join dad to watch a black & white movie and term it “classic”. Then I would discuss with him the movie’s finer points like an expert critic. After the break, back to serious studies. Certain topics were beautiful; some interesting; some challenging. The beauty of certain subjects held me glued to the corresponding books. Also, I have felt like tearing away few text books.

We had two kinds of text books, the prescribed ones and the ‘Indian author’ versions (read VTU version). A lot of the prescribed books were good. But I feel it would help a great deal if the university prescribed better text books and asked sensible questions than requiring students to mug up lengthy derivations and solve huge (pedestrian, though) numerical problems on Laplace transforms, Bessel functions etc that are given ‘very well’ in the Indian-author books. 'Very well' here means ‘how to arrive at a solution and score grand marks in the exams’ and not necessarily ‘the actual meaning of the concepts and problems’.

I have studied from some of the finest books, form the ISRO library. The way they have presented topics keeps the student’s interest. These books explained what the transforms and functions actually meant and why we need them.

(OK, enough of the outburst now :) )

When it was about a week before the exams began, I’d feel I had studied quite a lot and there was no need to study all night now; slow down the pace, it’s ok. You have to relax before exams. Stress can act negatively you see. So, back to the initial phase before the peak :)

Just before the D-day, sunset looked brilliant, music sounded better than ever… but I had to revise…

This episode played eight times :)

PostScript: VTU – Visweswaraiah Technological University aka V torure U :D

Lincoln’s Letter to his Son’s Teacher

My dad had given a copy of this letter few years ago. Now I completely understand what it says. I wish we had teachers that followed this letter. Nonetheless, my dad has always taught me all that Lincoln asks his son's teacher to do... :)
Stumbled across this scroll of wisdom today, so posting it here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just, all men are not true.
But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero;
that for every selfish Politician, there is a dedicated leader…
Teach him for every enemy there is a friend,
Steer him away from envy,
if you can, teach him the secret of quiet laughter.


Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest to lick…
Teach him, if you can, the wonder of books…
But also give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun, and the flowers on a green hillside.
In the school teach him it is far honourable to fail than to cheat…
Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him they are wrong…
Teach him to be gentle with gentle people, and tough with the tough.


Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting on the band wagon…
Teach him to listen to all men…
but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth, and take only the good that comes through.
Teach him if you can, how to laugh when he is sad…
Teach him there is no shame in tears, Teach him to scoff at cynics and to beware of too much sweetness…
Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to the highest bidders but never to put a price-tag on his heart and soul.
Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob and to stand and fight if he thinks he’s right.
Treat him gently, but do not cuddle him, because only the test of fire makes fine steel.
Let him have the courage to be impatient…
let him have the patience to be brave.
Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will have sublime faith in mankind.
This is a big order, but see what you can do… He is such a fine little fellow, my son!


- Abraham Lincoln

Freaky

My best friend SK has a long commute from her workplace to home. During this time, if I'm free, sometimes we exchange SMSs till she reaches home. The following is one of those conversations.

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me: Wassup? In bus?
SK: Nothing up. Yes in bus.


me: ok, I'm going shoppin here tmrw. Don't know what to get bro. Suggest somethin
SK: Got no clue. Get a sword or something.

Now I sense that something is wrong.

me: what happened to yr mood? somethin at office?
SK: Don't want to talk about it.

me: even I'm not all fine. Walkin back to my room, sulking :(
SK: Great, let's both sulk together.

me: a school friend is fuming at me for no fault of mine. she does not get it...

* * *
At this time another friend AS texts

AS: Hey.. spoke to SK?something is wrong with her man..really wrong..she's not chatting online properly and full day talking crazy things..dunno why.. me and RN are trying to ask..she's not saying anything..try asking her no?


* * *

SK: OK, life's like that. U'll get over it. I won't. I'll sink. I'll rot. I'll go to hell. I have no strength to carry on and life is coming to an end.

This is not something you hear from a strong person like SK. Now I'm worried. I call her. She cuts the call twice.

SK: can't talk
me:What happened? Ok, can I call after a while?
SK: Don't waste ur time. there are other things to do. Study well. Study on my behalf too. and have fun in life. Enjoy what u r doing. Realize the opportunity u've got. All the best for everything.

me: What's wrong with U? I'm not wasting time talking to my best friend. Why don't you talk to me?? We can sort out things only if u tell me somethin
SK: I don't have anything to tell. Life is empty. But just remember what I said. Enjoy what u'll be doing in few months and make yr life great. let me be an example. Of, what u shudn't do



me: SK, Don't sound so disappointed yaar. whatever the problem is, it'll look hopeless, impossible to get out of only for a while. Things will fall in place after somtime. things beyond your control, just let it be. nothing is more than life.
SK: Death is more than life

me: will u shut up? just shut up. what the hell is this? I'm coming tmrw to meet u.
SK: No u aren't coming. it's already too late, u can't change anything. just remember what I said. Remember. And always keep in touch with the rest of the gang. U'll never get friends like them. Nor will I get friends like u all. Anyway, have a great life. That's all I have to say. C ya. I mean goodbye.

me: Do u even know what u mean to me? to us all? pls tell me what happened?

I freak out. Sweating. Not tomorrow, I must leave now. The clock reads 7:15 pm. If I can get to the KSRTC bus stand at Mysore by 8 O'clock, I should reach Bangalore by 11:30. Should call dad and ask him to pick me up from the bus stop. I must call SK's sister...




* * *
I call AS, " something is terribly wrong. Don't know what. U guys must go over to her place right now"
"sure? so serious?" asks AS. "I'll forward the SMSs SK sent, read them" I mumble


* * *
As I'm forwarding the SMSs SK calls. One ring and I answer. Before I could say anything, she said "April Fool". I'm relieved that everything is all right. Next, I thrash both the monkeys on phone. What an easy target I am!

Nevertheless, they deserve an 'A' grade for this act. And, why don't I remember that certain dates are just not ordinary...

Yesterday was one fool's day I cannot forget till death, huh

The story so far

(I wrote this a couple of months ago)

Whenever someone says “Vow, you work with XYZ! That’s great! So, all set”, I feel like screaming “you do not have a clue what I’m going through. I hate this job. In fact, I do not want to work already. I want to study. What have I put myself into? :( ” Only I am responsible for my current state. I was not compelled to start off with the job. Don’t know what I am holding onto here.


I do not want to write code for banking applications. I really do not care what the web page looks like to the customer. I’m not interested in writing queries to find out who has salary more/less than a certain amount. I’m sick of hearing the words ‘business requirements’ every day. If someone utters these words once more, I will scream. The company’s numerous policies are grating. I do not understand any of those; whenever I get a mail related to a policy, I just hit ‘delete’ key.


You may find this absurd – I still do not know the last three digits of the salary figure. There is no pull to find out either. I have not even seen a salary slip yet. There is no sense of earning at all in me. I felt no different when I got to know that my bank account was credited with the first salary. Well, I have not really been working. I’m undergoing training and the salary is more like a stipend.


My relatives say “Oh, you have LCD in your room! And huge food courts with so many varieties of food; heard the non-veg food is great… super cool recreational facilities... Must be like heaven!” I wanted to reply saying “yeah, right. I spend most of the time in the GEC (training building). I go back to room only to catch few hours of sleep. Screw the LCD. The AC room is suffocating. Coming to food, the vendors do not even know the difference between bisi-bele bath, vagi-bath and pulav; and I’m a veggie”. Food deserves a separate post.

But then, I just let them assume that things are going great for me. Better to be envied than pitied you see :)


The bank guys are eager to update me with their new schemes in investment. I cannot comprehend their language. They frequently call on to let me know of the different kinds of credit cards I’m entitled to ‘based on my position in the company’. Why don’t they understand that working with an MNC does not mean I get the CEO’s salary?

Looks like the world around me thinks I’m in sync with it, which is incorrect.


Guess, after college I was still not grown up to be decisive. I always knew that I wanted to study further. But, was not certain of the subjects I wanted to study. I needed some time on this matter. In the meantime, I naively joined XYZ because I had an offer; and I landed myself in the place I never liked.


When you are still in the sixth semester of engineering, you just want a job offer because everyone in your class will have one, or two. The placement cell is happy to see the bulletin board that proudly displays the details of offers made by the so-called big organizations. Nobody bothers to find out your aptitude and guide you. Well, it’s your own job to find and do what you like…


Speaking about my workplace, it is a venerated organization. They have the best people in their Education and Research department. The standards set by this firm in the IT industry are exceptional. The quality they maintain is paramount.
They earnestly strive to conserve natural resources. They allocate a good proportion of capital toward ergonomics. All their campuses are beautiful. The Mysore campus is a paradise.

But, I do not belong here.
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Current Status: I’m on ‘quit XYZ movement’ since a while now. And I’m all set to study further; on scholarship! :)
Yippee :)
PostScript: I still do not know the last three digits of the salary figure, neither have I seen a salary slip yet. :P :D