I Want Soma

Festivals, Occasions and Celebrations

2011-09-12T13:02:00.000-07:00

Festivals are occasions of social importance and interaction where people meet/greet each other and enjoy themselves. Its a celebration of some aspect of life. In earlier days it used to be linked to harvesting, agriculture, seasons etc., while these days it is that, plus a lot more. The olden festivals like diwali, holi etc. have rituals that we follow, like pujas, putting colors etc. Festivals like these had a lot to do with the farmers crop getting harvested and hence him/her being happy for the produce or for the onset of the season that was a big relief.

However, on each such occasion or festival I find myself awfully out of place. I know its a festival and for some reason I am supposed to be excited about it but truly speaking, on most such days, I feel no different from the day before or the day after. I now think its not because I am a social anomaly but that the whole social context has changed since these festivals were invented. For a farmer it made sense to be happy after a good harvest. In today's context probably we should have festivals revolving around world cup wins or the announcement and disbursement of bonuses. The idea being that there has to be a trigger for a festival, other than the occurrence of a day according to the calendar. Also, prevalence of A/C should eventually make climate linked festivals obsolete. Of course, in both these contexts, I find celebrating a new year hard to justify.

Anyway, once we settle the question of what we celebrate comes the idea of how we celebrate. Now this is the aspect where I think that there's so little creativity. Since the last so many years whenever I am happy about something, all I can think of is going to a good restaurant and having good food. Also, to me the overused (and according to me utterly mundane) way of celebrating by consuming alcohol does not really appeal. Nonetheless, I think that there are very few ways to celebrate anything.

In my experience it is difficult to find a person with whom you can share your sorrows without being pitied or made fun of. However, I think a person would have to be equally lucky to have someone with whom a moment of happiness can be shared without arousing the feeling of jealousy. I think that, ironically, it is the moments of happiness, the moments of celebration where one often finds himself at a loss on how and with whom to express his happiness. Maybe it is time we invent a totally new way of celebrating. Or maybe, given the right set of people, it would not even matter on how a festival/occasion has to be celebrated.

Heroes

2011-04-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

2nd April 2011. That's the day when the gross total happiness in this world would have been at its highest. That's when India won the world cup. I have never seen so many people so happy together. To put it in Ravi Shastri's words, the streets were jam packed and the atmosphere electric. There was a wave of nationalism and the usual chants of "Bharat Mata ki Jai". Of course, being in Hyderabad, I was witness to a couple of bizarre slogans of "Jai Telengana" and "Jai Shri Ram"!

5th April 2011. Anna Hazare went on fast unto death to force the government to commit to civil (non-political) representation in committee drafting the Anti-Corruption bill, a committee which has fair representation for some of the most corrupt politicians of the nation. For once, there is a sense of unity amongst the people on a cause (Of course, Arundhati Roy and her band of social reformers are missing from the scene. And why shouldn't they be, Anna Hazare is not out on an armed rampage to prove his point). In recent times, this kind of unity is surpassed only by the one I described in the above paragraph.

Now, when the country hails our cricket team as heroes, I see them as nothing more than creations of the media/advertisers to encash the elated feelings of the people when the people project the team's success as their own. While on the other hand, today, Anna Hazare to me is the personification of the pain that most people feel and want to act against but just don't know how. More importantly, his actions give us hope that there might yet be things that can be done to prevent the moral fabric of our society from completely disintegrating. I pray, more than I did for the Indian team to win the world cup, that Anna Hazare is successful in his cause. Our cause. Because, for me, he is a real hero. A hero by choice, not by chance.

3D Movies, I Boycott

2010-12-27T07:53:00.001-08:00

Imagine wearing a pair of shoes over another pair of shoes or a hat over your head and another hat over the first hat. Its both irritating and preposterous. That's why it had to take the genius of James Cameroon and an army of designers, technologists and what not to bring out Avatar, a movie that marked the beginning of 3D into mainstream cinema. While there was a technological awe associated with the movie, the reason 3D technology went so well with the producers is that it, supposedly, prevents piracy.

After Avatar there has been a rush of movies being made in 3D. Any Hollywood movie that is worth watching these days is released in 3D. If at all there are 2D versions, they get released in some obscure theaters in some obscure corner of the city.

All this was fine as long as the technology did not require wearing those stupid glasses. I mean they are nothing but a hassle. First you go to the theater and deposit money to get a pair of glasses. Then you are not sure if they are upto the standard. So you wear them and do a cleanliness check. Of course, its only when the movie starts do you realize that the glasses are no good in translating the movie into 3D. But its too late. I also have this feeling that the 3D glasses reduce the brightness and, at least for me, end up giving a headache. I think its a conspiracy against people like me who wear spects. Wearing spects over spects! How ridiculous. I wish all these producers have to wear a pair of hard leather shoes over their other pair of shoes for their whole life.

To get my voice heard, I have decided to make my money talk. From today onwards, I boycott all 3D movies till there is a better technology where those stupid spects are not required as an add-on. Or better still, producers revert to those good old 2D formats. Most movies are not worth the 3D conversion effort anyway.

Feelings

2010-10-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

"A Christmas Carol" is a particularly moving piece of literature. I read the adapted version of the novella for stage enactment during my high school and ever since it has been on the back of my mind for the novella's projection of the ever nagging eventuality that a person might face.

For the uninitiated, A Christmas Carol is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly businessman who detests the world and everyone around him and there is a certain sense of reciprocity to the feelings. Then, on the eve of Christmas he is faced with three ghosts who take him through a journey that changes his (remaining) life forever. A masterpiece by Charles Dickens, read it to believe it (I am no fan of Charles Dickens but this work is really awesome though some might find it a bit childish). Though, Scrooge is a highly successful businessman, in the journey to his 'success' he keeps on loosing those near him. The result is a person with a lot of potential sources of happiness (read money :P) but no one really to share it with. (Another piece of work that conveys this message very well is "Into the Wild" but in a different light).

Now, for me, what's so creepy about this book is that in real life I so often meet people like Scrooge that I am afraid that given enough time I might also become one. I like to think of myself as an optimist but truth be told, the number of grumpy old (though many of these are not exactly old) people around at times sucks out all the optimism. I understand that people have their experiences and points of view but it is difficult for me to grasp when money is given precedence over feelings. I feel really sad for people who are not able to sympathize with other people and their situations. People who, either by their innate nature or conscious thoughts, decide to exploit someone or put someone in misery. I pity them because they are eventually doomed to a 'Scroogian' life and am afraid of them because their attitudes might rub off on me. And hence I read and re-read "A Christmas Carol" to remind me of what I must never be.

Places I Want To Visit

2010-10-12T06:22:00.000-07:00

So many wishes, so little time. But while I can I'll at least make a list, just in case I get lucky with enough money, time and companionship. Here's my list of places I want to visit:

Bhutan : Long overdue. The place somehow mystifies me, especially those on the cliff monasteries.
Easter Islands : Boy, aint these structures amazing. I want to believe \m/.
Rio De Janerio : Ok, its in Brazil and has amazing beaches but Christ the Redeemer is why I want to visit this place.
Varanasi : The oldest city in the world. Must be something about this place that has enabled it to survive this long. Pity that we have managed to destroy the beauty of "Ganga Ghats" at most places, both in an environmental and a moralistic sense. But nonetheless, I long to visit Kashi.
Angkor Wat : Is it beautiful or is it beautiful. I don't like to visit temples because there are so many people there and the long queues irritate me. Sure would be pleasant to visit a temple where there is no dhakka-mukki. Sheer peace. But that cannot happen in India.
The Grand Canyon : No words for this, really.

Surely not a complete list but at least a start.

Things I Want To Do

2010-03-23T01:38:00.000-07:00

Its been 6 months since my last post on this issue and here is the progress review, as promised:

Visit Bhutan - Remains elusive :(
Play Mafia with some of my old friends : Check - Thanks to an alumni trip organized by Thrillophilia to Coorg.
Do something with as much passion as those people at TED
Get a real job: Hopefully soon
Do pull ups: Have started to train specifically for this at the Gym now
Run 4 kms. in 20 mins.: I guess I should get over this now. Its becoming sort of a drag.
Visit to the tall crane cabins
Learn to dance
Learn to play guitar: In progress

At this juncture in my life, a lot of things seem to be linked to pt. 4. Lately, I have been trying to decouple my life with this important aspect of life. Not sure how successful I will be. In that context, I plan to review my progress of these things one month after I succeed (even partially) in pt. 4.

Friends

2010-03-09T07:40:00.000-08:00

A man is what the society makes of him. In that context I have been very fortunate to have had some of the most amazing people around me. This blog is a dedication to each one of them and what qualities they inspired me to instill in myself.

Akhil - Humility
The Gola (Aneesh, Shashank, Vinod, Sonik, Sandy...) - Perseverance
Ujj – The art of giving
Amit – How not to be jealous and move ahead in life by helping others
Avi – How the contrarian view of life is always so positive
Ady – How to just chill out at times, no matter how critical the situation
Dhadda - Persistence
Kanishk – The power of passion
Rohit Prasad – Panicking never solves anything
Aakash – Do what you are supposed to do, anyway
Gunjan – He introduced me to “Sunscreen” – the song
Karthik – Give notes, without any grudges
The VLSI group – Persistence, hard work and humility
Prof. RNB – Perfection and how to always be a child. Enjoying – the most important thing
Prof. DNC – Shit happens, what’s important is how you take it and come out of it
Dr. Mahant-Shetti – Humility; power of combination of an educationist and an entreprenuer
Jain (Vivek)– Being what you are
Sharma (Vikas)– Perception is reality
Nipun – Do something, things are not going to change by themselves
Sapre – A friend in need
Kaushal – Don’t ask what you deserve; ask what you want

I would like to put in a story around each of these to tell why I think the way I think but I guess that's for another time.

Writer's Block - Paradox

2010-02-04T10:27:00.000-08:00

Its funny. I know hardly anyone reads this blog and yet while writing a post, I am stuck, afraid of what conclusions these phantom readers of mine might draw. Now, its not that I plan on writing something out of the world or anything. Its just that each post of yours discloses so much about you that you are afraid. A fear that is peculiar and paradoxical. I mean you write to express yourself, an act that inevitably is a mirror into your feelings/thoughts and what not. However, the idea of someone knowing you simply through this mode of expression is amazingly scary. At least to me it is.

How to Buy a Saree

2009-10-13T07:12:00.000-07:00

Its not as difficult as its made out to be though that might be because I went alone and did some very objective decision-making. So here are the steps I followed:

Inquire about some famous showrooms in town: This is especially required when shopping the first time so that one does not get cheated. Sure you'll end up spending a bit more but at least you'll be sure of what you have brought.
Think about the type of cloth you are looking for. Now for gifting, its silk or some other exotic local fabric you should look to buy. This will reduce the pain of selection by ensuring that the saree wala cannot dump a whole heap for you to select from
Have a range in mind: Now this won't help in terms of you selecting sarees from that range but it will surely help in knowing when the prices are getting 'obscene'. Trust me, there's no limit on how expensive sarees can get!
See the amount of design and 'work' on the pallu. Higher this is, better is the saree and subsequently, more expensive.
Make sure to see the saree in daylight. Showrooms have a knack of making even ordinary sarees look amazing due to their lightning.
Color and color combination are important. I am not sure how to decide on this but best is to follow the gut feeling.

Amar Akbar Antony

2009-10-03T03:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a lesson for today's filmmakers. Amar Akbar Antony. I have watched this movie a zillion times and I watched it again today. It is no surprise that yesterday's hindi movies were considered complete masala and entertainment for the whole family. They had mass following not just in India but across the world, especially south east asia and africa. Compared to today's movies, these movies were popular even amongst the non Indian population.

Now why would I consider Amar Akbar Antony, an utterly illogical movie at times (imagine the three heroes singing out their names in front of the villain and the fool is fooled by fake mustaches. How dumb), a landmark?

AAA appeals across age groups : With the story of three kids getting lost, maturing into a love story (without getting too sensual like today's movies) full of comical moments appeals to the younger generation. For the elderly the whole aspect of single existence in old age, burdened with physical and emotional problems (eg. of the 'Mai') would be a point of connection. I don't say that AAA would appeal equally to everyone but it does not pitch to anyone with a half heart, by having utterly useless side-actors (which has become so very common these days)
AAA shows the whole spectrum of social strata: From poverty to richness and from Hindus to Muslims to Isiais to Sai Baba, the film has it all. And what amazes me is the sensitivity and secularity with which all this is handled. Eg. is when 'Mai' gets her eyes following the wonderful Sai Baba song. Its so amazing. A muslim person singing in praise of Sai Baba and a hindu heroine getting back her eyesight. Isn't this secularism at its extreme and hats off to the director for avoiding any religious statements by mixing the diversity of India so well.
AAA comes with a message, without lectures: One of today's popular directors, Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, ends up giving lectures in his movies. I wish he gets lectures on what's good and what's bad by a kala bandar for the rest of his life. Anyway, AAA has its own learnings for the audience, but delivered in a subtle way. Remember how Akbar denies to forcefully marry his dream girls. Or how even the evil Pran beats up his man because he did not pay the wife and kids of his employees on time.
Songs are amazing and they are part of the movie, not the movie itself: These days there are so many movies where after seeing the songs you'd think its so awesome. And you go to watch the movie and it turns out the songs were all that were to it. AAA and other movies of the era has songs that were a logical extension of the movie and gelled well, and more importantly the movie had more to it than just songs. I am not a great fan of Laxmikant Pyarelal (they used almost the same tunes in all movies :X) but they did give some appropriate music for movies.
There's happy endings: Now this may just be my personal bias but I like movies that end happily and make you feel good. I mean either you make a movie that's a piece of art, so much so that people don't care how it ends, only how its made. Or you make a movie that ends happily. The folly today's directors do is they make totally sloppy movies and end them abruptly with no head or tail. Its almost as if the producer ran out of money.
The acting's so effortless, it almost feels real: OK this one's a problem of an industry flooded with actors and actresses made out of lineage not talent. But still, its appalling, the difference in acting out roles of a normal person (I'll admit these days actors are much better in acting stylish).

Things I Want to Do

2009-09-17T12:50:00.000-07:00

I had some things in my mind that I wanted to do out of the routine and had posted them on my earlier blog here. Well I passed out of XLRI and still have most of things unchecked. But then that does not stop me from having my own set of fanciful wishes. So here's my updated "Bucket List":

Visit Bhutan
Learn Salsa - Check
Read Old Man and the Sea - Check
Play Mafia with some of my old Friends
Give a presentation as impressive as at TED - (Update) - Do something with as much passion as those people at TED
Get a real job
Do pull ups
Run 4kms. in 18 mins. - (Update) - Ok 18 mins. is overshooting, I'll settle for 20 mins. Hey come on, I have only grown older since last time.
Climb up those 10 storey high cranes and see the world from the controller's cabin.
Learn to dance - Salsa was good but I'm still in the two left foot syndrome.
Learn to play guitar - Yeah man, that's a really old one but this is one thing I'd really want to do. Just for the fun of it. Actually I want to learn to play piano but that does not seem to feasible so guitar is the next best instrument.

Let's see where I reach in 6 months time.

I'm Impressed

2009-09-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

Now this is a perfect case of getting impressed simply because you do not expect it, not because you think its impossible. Here's my salute to the PAN issuing authority of India:

August 13 : I apply for PAN, pay online and get an immediate acknowledgement and directions on what to do next
August 20 : I send the documents (lazy me, delay by a week)
August 24 : They receive the courier (info. from my courier service)
August 26 : PAN authorities tell me they have scanned my documents and have forwarded the application to IT department
August 28 : IT department dispatches my PAN card, sends me an email to that effect with the courier service (Blue Dart, OMG they must be spending everything on postage!) and the tracking no. details.
September 1 : I get my PAN

The total cost for this for me was Rs. 179 (Rs. 94 for the PAN and Rs. 85 for postage of documents by courier). Awesome, really awesome. Here's the link for applying online:

https://tin.tin.nsdl.com/pan/index.html

Would be glad to be of help to anyone in the process. (That's because a highly inefficient financial service provider kept delaying my application for more than a month here in Bangalore and as vendetta, I want to destroy this market for the "agents". Hehe, evil me.)

Inconsequential, Am I?

2009-06-15T05:48:00.000-07:00

I just joined my first job and got my first salary. While I managed to splurge most of it away, there was still some left and it had a destined purpose. This portion of my salary was supposed to go towards some good work, as in donating to charity etc. In our company, which boasts of being highly CSRish, there are various programmes through which you can fulfil this need but just when I was figuring out the tax benefits this noble deed of mine would bring about, I thought.

Everything seemed so absurd. Here I was being this godly character, trying to help someone when the truth was, I was not sure my actions would have any effect at all. I mean they would, but I was sure that they would not affect even an iota of what was around me. Is this what real charity is? Cribbing about the smelly and dirty drains around, ridiculing the foreign policy of our country or mourning about the environmental degradation but doing something that changes none of that but something else all-together. I risk sounding eccentric but isn't it hypocrisy if we think that by giving some money we'll tidy up affairs for someone but, truly, we know of no way to improve our surroundings?

I think that there are very good ways of spending the money that you wish to otherwise donate. How about planting a tree every month on the roadside of the lane you walk by everyday? I am sure by the time one switches the job, the person would leave behind an indelible mark on her surroundings. By donating, aren't we just trying to outsource our good deeds because we just don't have the time or the drive for it? Aren't we admitting that we are inconsequential to ourselves but probably someone else will disagree?

Shifting To Wordpress

2007-07-11T05:53:00.000-07:00

I thought of trying out wordpress for some time for blogging. So I'll be posting on http://iwantsoma.wordpress.com.

315 to 216

2007-06-17T09:30:00.001-07:00

Only an engineer can understand the happiness of completing the B.Tech. project peacefully. I did mine too, that too without any issues. The panel seemed reasonably satisfied and my mentor was considerate enough and hence I got an A. But trust me I had never done such sloppy work ever before in my life. The reason was that I knew that at the end of it all, it all depended on how I would present my work(no-work in my case). So all I did was prepare well for the presentation and crap so much in the presentation to the panel that they would be compelled to believe that I did a lot of work.
In retrospect, when I think of all this, I cannot help but smile and feel that strong nostalgic feeling that I guess all the students have towards their Alma-mater. It was this feeling that propelled me to continue my education in the hope of reliving some of those days again. So now I am in XLRI pursuing a diploma in business management. What I did not know when I joined this place is that the things that I did in my BTP presentation would become my core work(that includes crapping a lot too)! The importance of presentations is of utmost importance in a B-School(ya, we do have a prof. that insists on wearing suit, yes a complete suit with tie, to all his classes. How much I hated wearing formals :( and how much they have become part of my life). These are still the initial days in this new life and am enjoying some parts of it and missing a lot of DA-IICT, especially that totally unpretentious life that one could live there. And of course that room, C-315 where I probably spent the most time per unit area ever in my life. For the next two years, room 216 of The Father Enright Men's Residence is my abode. Let's see where this journey of mine from 315 to 216 takes me.

Ubuntu Fiesty Fawn

2007-05-08T02:06:00.000-07:00

The coolest Linux that I have had on my box as yet. Cool enough for a 512 MB ram comp. I guess! Here are the snapshots, with Beryl running.
The first image is when of the desktop when I was rotating it to shift from one workspace to another. The second one is of all the tasks that I was doing. This comes when taking your mouse to the top-right corner of the screen. I find this functionality very useful.
Apart from these cool looks, there a some very good animations during minimization and maximization of windows. But unfortunately, I cannot take a screenshot of them!
Besides, thanks to Bokaro for his help in setting up this.

BTP, Mafia and an Utterly Confused, Senti Guy

2007-04-03T13:44:00.000-07:00

I never imagined that being in the fourth year could be such a testing experience. In fact, I thought just the reverse. After all, there is just the BTP to do, I thought. Well, as it turns out, the freedom offered by the final semester is deceptive. One believes in his/her abilities and relies on completing the project sometime. The problem is that this elusive "time" never comes. Towards the end, all you have is an utterly anxious student. Add to this anxiety the pain of leaving a very blissful life. Life without any cares, the protection of parents and most importantly, all the time in the world to do anything one wishes. The result is a person who is on the verge of an emotional breakdown(By the way, that's me).
So when a few days back my roommate suggested that we play mafia at 1:00 in the night, I thought he had gone mad. But then, I had nothing better to do(my computer had crashed so I could not watch movies. The BTP does not count.) so I agreed. Somehow(With some help from the almighty), we were able to gather enough people, and more importantly, explain the rules of the game to them. The next four hours were some of the most relaxed ones I had spent in a long time. For once, I did not have BTP on my mind or the apprehensions about my future or this whole question about weather I was going to die of some fatal disease before the girl of my dream finds out that I love her.
I don't know why but it was after a long time that I felt alive again. I wanted to take on this world, just like a few months ago when I believed in certian principles, when I had certain heroes and that infinite amount of energy to rise after every fall. I don't know what the game did to me but even with those fallen heroes, those unclear principles and the realisation of the fact that I am a mere mortal, I want to rejuvinate myself. I want to live with hope and not hoplessness. I want to enjoy both victories and failures. I want to live every moment that I have, even if it is one of the last that I spend as an undergaduate. I think that its all about hope. And none captures the virtues of hope better than "Shawshank Redemption" which says that "Hope is a good thing and no good thing ever dies".

हिन्दी

2007-03-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

यार, गूगल मस्त है ! अब हिन्दी में लिखना कितना आसान हो गया है । लेकिन अफ़सोस मेरे कंप्यूटर पर हिन्दी फोंट्स अच्छे से नही दिखते :-(.

Altruistic Thoughts

2007-03-13T06:58:00.000-07:00

Since the last few days, I have been bugged by thoughts of changing the things around me. Everything ranging from my room to the world. As a citizen of an information age, I feel empowered by the amount of freedom and visibility Internet(especially blogs) have given. It might seem childish but its true that I want to voice my opinions on anything that I do not like and I expect to be heard and followed. I want to use the tool of technology that I have been taught to operate. But alas, my thoughts remain with me and there is no effect.
This has put me into an introspective mode. I mean why would one wish to change things and how should one go about it(given that my day-dreams have resulted into nothing for so long)?
The answer to the why part is that change is required for the betterment of the things around. I guess everybody would accept this. Then, I wonder, why is there so much friction when change takes place? I think that it is in large part due to the fact that while striving for some change, we presume that the makers of the present orders were incompetent. The folly here lies in ignoring that our perception of a "better" order might have been the result of some new perspective gained over time.
However, it is not the why that is so disturbing. It is the how? How must one go about changing things? In my endeavor to revolutionize the world I guess I lost the picture close to home. I have started lagging in my project and have become lazy, not doing anything but just thinking(blessed are those who are paid just to think! Oh ya, I'd like to become a prof.). Only recently did it strike me that all that I had to change was me. Only if I could do the things I could perfectly, I would make hell lot of difference. Believe me, I hated when oldies talked like this but somehow now I feel that they were right! I then wonder if extreme egotism is the real form of altruism.

Nation of Rebels

2007-02-20T15:10:00.000-08:00

iPod's are cool. So is hanging out at CCD and Barista. Watching F1 is for the knowledgeable and different and if you watch cricket, you are just a conformist, being manipulated by the media and the sponsors of the game.
It is this kind of "counter-culture" thinking that Heath and Potter question in their book titled "Nation of Rebels". They take you though the arguments given by the counter-culture activists(like hippies etc.) for using organic food, environmentally friendly cars etc. Then they very lucidly explain how these arguments are not what they are put out to be. That is to say that the very desire of humans to be different is the cause of consumerism.
Let's take F1 and cricket, for instance. People watch F1 because they think that cricket is too much sponsors and too little fun. So, to be different, let's watch F1. Whereas the matter of fact is that F1 is so highly dependent of sponsors that the chances of that being manipulated is much higher. However, such arguments are never put against F1 purely because it is different.
Nation of Rebels is like the blue pill in this matrix of too many ideas. For once, one is put face to face with plausible explanations for the way things are. Why people watch totally non-sensical soap operas and why fashion comes and goes? How are we being manipulated not just by the big corporations but also by activist organisations(and probably more so)? These are some questions that we all probably never think of but when faced with the explanations, the answers seem so glaring and the questions so important that none of them can be ignored. So I suggest to anyone who has the will to learn about the bitter realities of this world to read this book.

Corridor Cricket

2007-02-15T13:39:00.000-08:00

The exact date of the conceptualization of Corridor Cricket is hazy but it happened sometime in January 2007. Ujjwal and Ady(Uncle) are the pioneers of this game.

The Setting

A "Nilkamal" plastic chair is used as the wicket. The chair is placed in the center of the corridor. Just a few paces from it must be a perpendicular aisle where an optional fielder(sometimes two) stands. Here the audiences may also sit and watch the exciting game.

The Rules

Gully cricket players might find the rules familiar but there are certain differences.

A batsman is out only by the following ways:-

Bold
Catch Out
One-Tip-One-Hand: Note here that any fumbling of ball whereby the catch is not caught directly after the tip without the use of any other thing than a hand is counted as not out.
If the ball hits the wall directly
If the ball hits the player below the waist three times(not necessarily in succession).

For every successful hit, the batsman gets a run.
The team making higher number of runs wins the game.
The game must be played under corridor lights only. Any game during the day is strictly prohibited.

I'll post some pictures to make things clear, but I hope you get the general idea(oops, I hope Aakash does not read this ;).

Winning is Not an Option out Here!

2007-02-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

It is a necessity. India is not a country where one can say that "at least I tried" or "I have found 10000 ways of not making a bulb". Nope! The kind of stigma associated with defeat and the desperate necessity of success in everything that one does ensures that the only those who tread the beaten path are rewarded. The world is so ruthless for the one who makes his own way that sometimes I wonder if its worth at all. I am sure that this question nags many other people. And the most apparent solution is to go somewhere where such an attitude(that of doing something new and innovative) is praised. I think that this is the main reason for the exodus of talented people from India. They say that nowadays things are changing. With booming economy, there are a lot of opportunities. I ask is there any room for innovation anywhere? The answer is a simple no. For all the big corporates that exist in India, none really is involved in any form of innovation. The reason? Well pursuing innovation is a risky business. And in this land of the conventional, such a thing is totally taboo.
I sometimes wonder what would have happened if Thomas Edison was born in India. Would he have emigrated and become a great scientist or would he have remained here and become a trader in lanterns?(Oh, I am sure he would not have invented the bulb because that required 10,000 failures!)

Sunscreen

2007-02-04T10:08:00.000-08:00

Sunscreen by Baz Luhrmann is probably one of the best songs that I have heard. It is more of a lecture on what one should and should not do, but don't get deviated by my language to describe the song. It is a wonderful song to listen to and more so if one has the opportunity of hearing it with video. The song has a very somaish effect on the person who is listening. Hear it to believe it! Besides my thanks to Gunjan for making me hear this song for the first time.

Have Fun!

2007-02-03T13:08:00.000-08:00

Now that's a message! Especially so if it comes from one of the most respected(and feared) professors around. The idea is simple, one cannot be best in something until he enjoys what he is doing. But when such a message comes from an experienced professor at his farewell, it makes one think. At least it did that to me after the farewell of Prof. R.N. Biswas, who I would call a perfectionist(how many 70 year old profs. have gutsto ask students for mistakes they make so that they can improve upon them?). I mean, for the first time I understood the importance of enjoying things that you do and doing things that you enjoy. I realised the amount of perfection it can bring and the amount of energy it can make one have. And after all, isn't life about being happy?

My Letter to HR & Dean Against Signatures of TA for Salary

2007-01-23T23:53:00.000-08:00

Dear Sirs,
This is with reference to the your mail regarding "no signature no stipend". I would like to request you to reconsider and abolish this demeaning practice. Allow me to put forth my argument against it.

1)We, as TA's, are not full time employees of DA-IICT. In this respect, it is illogical to ask each TA to sign everyday. It would be better to penalize the TA's in case they are not present for their duties.
2)The TA's are chosen on the basis of merit and the reason for that is sincerity. By asking the TA's to sign, you are questioning their sincerity thereby questioning your selection procedure itself.
3)This practice does not give the right message to the TA's. In this system, one can get away with performing below par and putting proxy each day. Not only that, the TA's who are honest find it demeaning.
4)The practice of signing not only wastes the time of the TA's, it eats up valuable human resource of DA-IICT whereby one person has to take care of entering the attendance of the TA's everyday.

Hence, I just do not understand the rationale behind the practice. It is not just socially undesirable but also economically useless(unless you consider the amount of money saved by not paying for the absentees a profit).
In the light of this, I would request you to abolish this practice and send a healthy message to the TA's.
Thanks.

-Chintan Agarwal
(200301066)

The Rational Behind Reservation

2007-01-23T02:58:00.000-08:00

The intelligentsia commonly opposes the politicians of today questioning their ability to manage the affairs of a country, and in a country like India it is more so. The reservation bill and its effect thereon has been a classic example of this. The reservation bill was passed by the government almost unanimously. Public questioned the motives behind passing such a bill and labelled the move as one for getting votes. I wonder if it is just that.
Surely the politicians need votes and the reservation bill did them no harm in that terms. To think of it, I think that the reservation bill is an act of genius. The idea is that government has established institutes of national and international repute. Now how do you use them to aid in equal development, given that these institutes have not contributed to the extent one would have thought they would given their potential? Well, the idea is simple, let there be some seats allocated for people who have traditionally been backward. Amazing, isn't it. These people would, no matter what, reach somewhere riding on the brand name developed by the institutes and their next generation would be no longer backward! In this term, I think that reservation has been an amazing enabler. However, there are certain repercussions of the bill which I think need to be analyzed before it can be called a success.

Right to Equality

2007-01-17T22:37:00.000-08:00

A recent article carried news about a renowned author, Shiv Khera, going to court challenging the recently passes bill of reservation for OBC in all government funded institutions. This comes as a ray of hope for many across the country. The ease with which the reservation bill was passed is something that is amazing. Rarely do you get all political parties agreeing to something, and that too so fast!
However, this incident brings a lot of issues that I think are important and need to be looked into in detail. First is that what is the rational behind reservation and is it justified to such a large extent? Secondly, what are its implications to the social and economical situation of India? I think that the implication of reservation bill in terms of societal effects is very important and has conveniently been ignored in front of the adverse economic effects that it might have in the future. In subsequent posts I will write my opinions on the matter.

Amarok, I just love it!

2006-12-13T08:42:00.000-08:00

My search for the perfect music player came to an end with amarok. I started off with Rythmbox which was pretty cool but did not have features like lyrics and wiki fetching. Now, with Amarok, I have them both and built in tag editor. The only flip side is that to run amarok, I had to install KDE libraries on my GNOME ubuntu making it a bit slow. But then its not really noticable normally and with the kind of player amarok is, who cares!

The Fourth Estate

2006-11-25T08:55:00.000-08:00

Absolute power over everyhing is the driving force behind any human. Nothing comes closer to this, in modern times, than the fourth estate, i.e. the press. With our dependence on newspapers, television and internet for information, these oasis of information have become very important. Not only do they shape our opinions but in almost absolute sense they control them.
How else does one account for a nation celebrating when a child was rescued from a deep well? Or people vehemently discussing why a particular singer from their region, slated to appear on a television show, is the best? Or a common lady, with her life full of problems, worried about a fictitious character's fate who incidentally has more than one extra-marital affair and a lot of money. All this is the reality of India as it is today. It seems very absurd to me, especially as a technology student. I mean aren't there better things to be happy or sad or emotional about?
I am sure there are. With a country the size of India, I am sure there are things that are of some consequence happening somewhere in some part of the country. But the fourth estate of my country is too busy gathering news about the easily accessible and sellable things. I really doubt if that is the motivation behind the existence of press in a society.
The reason I wrote this blog is that I feel very awkward when I go home, from my college. Everybody's discussing such obscure things that it makes no sense to me. I often, then, wonder if the minds of these people are being controlled by some external force!

The Window at my Workspace

2006-11-18T00:29:00.000-08:00

The last few months have been really hectic for me. I spent a lot of time doing layouts and simulations, so much so that now I have started to hate them. In these times of misery, my only solace was the view from the window at my workspace. I do not know what it offered but the variety of colors, through a tinted glass was a scene worth it. The view still captivates me. As a person new to photography, I do not think that I do enough justice to what I actually saw, but anyway here is a low resolution glimpse of what my driving force was in the last few months.

Soma Seller

2006-11-09T08:28:00.000-08:00

What do you plan to do in the future? What will you do when you grow up? Questions like these are very often asked and whenever asked, perplexed me. I really did not know what I'll do when I "grow up". But now that I am on the verge of "growing up", these questions are not only serious but also daunting. As an undergraduate, there lies a world of immense possibilities for me. It seems like I can do anything I want. You know, join a job, go for further studies, open my own firm and what not. But experience prevents me from taking hasty decisions. I could do any of those things and I certainly have a bright future, but are those things worth the effort? I mean, toiling day and night to get the projects/thesis done. In the last few days I have found out that all these are very thankless jobs. Why? Simply because they don't depend on you, you depend on them!
Here is where I argue with myself that, if ever I do something I really want to, it will be something that only I can do. I mean I am not just doing something to earn money. I am doing something because I am required there and there is no solution for the problem except me. Its only in places/jobs like these that I think that I can find satisfaction and more importantly happiness. One then wonders if such jobs exist. Well, one is that of Soma Seller(one who sells happiness, even if artificial) and I would love to be one if I get a chance!

Chilli Coriander

2006-10-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

By yesterday evening, I was up to my neck with VLSI(how? Well, that's another story!). I came from the stupid BEC lab and when duty reckoned me to the Labs in VLSI course, my instinct did not. My friend incidentally asked me if I would like to attend a lecture on something. I was not too sure, but then I thought that maybe it would be worth trying. So we went and before I entered the lecture, I realized that I would be more or less wasting my time listening to the "intellectuals". I asked my friend if he wanted to go out and eat food. He said yes and suggested we go to Chilli Coriander. So that's how I ended up with a seemingly lavish plan for a Tuesday when I was supposed to be busy like hell. We had some tasty soup and better than brajwasi food and believe me this was one of the best times I had in days!
In retrospect, I think that it makes no real sense to worry about a lot of things if one has to survive in this stupid world. You know(I think, or rather have come to conclude), most of the problems in this world are actually the proof of its existence. So just say, To Hell With...and enjoy life as and when you get the chance!

The hypocrisy of my Generation

2006-09-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

You know people of my generation are masters of criticism. We find this whole world to be conspiring against us. There is this administration who takes arbitrary decisions about academics(without consulting the students and even faculty), there are these very inefficient people who are the heads of organizations(like directors) who apparently do no work. We all just love bashing them and spent hours criticizing them. But then inevitably a question comes to my mind. Could everybody be so stupid? I mean these people are highly paid, couldn't be for nothing, right? Right!
The best way to come to this conclusion is to see what those people who criticize them are doing. Arbitrary decisions are very emphatically criticized by many students. But when it comes to managing their clubs, the decisions are equally arbitrary.
I will tell you about a case where I happened to be a party involved. There was this club that was started by our seniors and we were pretty excited by it. We got involved in managing it and all. Somewhere down the line, I realized that the decisions of the club were becoming totally arbitrary. You know everybody was supposed to be paying up for the services they got but nobody was consulted about the kind of things they wanted. The very knowledgeable leader and his friends decided everything and rejected any suggestions on the pretext that "we can't satisfy all". Fair enough! But then I wonder is this not also the case with probably all the leaders of our country. In fact I think that they are much more rational in their decision making. I really hope that none of my generation people get into decision making, it would be a mess. And(forgive me lord for thinking this way) I wish from the bottom of my heart that those people who make arbitrary decisions, based on the false assumpsion that they are right and the world is wrong, face the same sometime in life. Let it happen that they are very involved in something and are excited about it and let the leader cheat on them with arbitrary decisions, let it happen that for once they feel helpless, let it happen that all those people who think they are the people who know everything submit to a much more ignorant person, let it happen that all such people rest in peace! To their soul Amen.

The Importance of being Earnest

2006-09-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

Is there any?

Being a Teacher!

2006-09-15T23:20:00.000-07:00

Sir, what is this CRO? How do we operate it? How to write nodal equations? Hell, how do I know, I think. But then it is my responsibility as a Teaching Assistant(TA in short) to clarify the students doubts. Life seems to change in many ways when you are on the other side of the classroom. As a student, I always liked to pester my teachers with stupid questions. Of course, there were many things that I took for granted or left un-understood(I guess that's what's engineering is all about). As a teacher, its not the same. Rest assured that if you are unclear with some concept, the students are going to chew you raw. And the amazing part is that one enjoys these situations, or at least I do. Why? Well for one, this condition is a sure indication that by the next class I would be rock solid in that particular concept. Secondly, I am proud, as a teacher, that my student think more than me and give me hope that they would reach greater heights. Now that is something that is very counter-intuitive. As part of the process of evolution, one always wants to be the best and is happy only on attaining that condition. But as a teacher things are different. There is a sense of satisfaction in seeing your students being on top of the world(that of course means that they surpass you in some sense).
The last few months, as a teacher, has changed my worldview tremendously. I thought that teaching was a very boring job. Well, now I think that it is one of the most interesting ones. I know that I am not yet upto the mark in terms of teaching, but I am sure that a bit of experience will change that(I'm still a bit nervous facing students ;)). Another reason for my change in thinking is probably due to the kind of professor that I have as my boss. The joy that he derives from teaching and the energy with which he teaches is contagious. I wonder if he is plotting to make a geeky professor out of me!

Its a Wonderful Life

2006-08-25T10:29:00.000-07:00

What is life? Some say it is just a journey to death, which is the final destiny and destination of us all. Very true, but I think life is more than just a journey towards death. It is about being someone, affecting lives of people and influencing the world in a way which leaves the world different from what it would have been without you. A person who lives in isolation(and hence probably in blissful ignorance), I think, is as good as dead. I think this is the message that the movie "It's a wonderful life" wants to give us. I found it a particularly touching movie and it changed my outlook towards life. But I watched it long ago, so why the sudden surge now to write a blog on it? Well, that movie just changed my perspective, not my actions. I continued to live life in the same way as before. However, In the last few months, after having lost my cousin brother in a car accident, I feel that I am a changed person in terms of my actions too. The loss of my brother , for the first time, made me realize how precarious and important life is, not just of oneself but also of people who one knows. All of us spend so much time worrying about small things and in the process miss enjoying the precious gift of life given to us. I think that Its a Wonderful Life and deserves more than our one dimensional outlook towards life and people.

The India of My Dreams

2006-07-25T10:39:00.000-07:00

Call it childish but I have a dream for India, a dream that I want to realize more than anything else. Now let's see what I want in the India of my dreams. Eradication of poverty, equality, universal education, opportunities for all....No! That's what the communists wanted and they failed miserably. Volumes of literature has been written on the reasons but the one thing I think was instrumental in its failure was that communism de-emphasized the importance of labor, the need to work hard. There is a stream of thought that says that working hard(or working at all for that matter) is of no use. And believe me this stream of thought is nowhere more dominant than in the country of my birth, India. I think that we, as Indians, have become slaves to the "babuism" that the British left. I have no problem with people assimilating English, but assimilating the babu mentality, that of not working, is something that I just cannot understand. Now what's my basis for saying that? Ok, I'll explain. There is this statistic that says that more than 70% of India is agrarian. In this context, I question the use of education given in the schools of India. They start off by teaching basic languages and then progress on to teach mathematics, sciences, sociology etc. In a country with more than 70% people living in the rural belt, depending on agriculture for their existence, I think that an education system without the basics of agriculture, is pathetic. And ironically nobody questions this. Why? Because education is considered, unconsciously, by us as a way to escape doing hard work. All we, as Indians, want is to escape the tough conditions of our country and probably land up in Europe or USA. What we fail to realize is that all that the Indian education system prepares its subjects for, just like in the British age, is to become clerks. Of course, now we are much more efficient clerks and the word officially recognizes us by outsourcing a lot of their work to our country. But then who feeds the clerks, who keeps their cities clean...? What we, as an independent nation, have not been able to do is to make our citizens appreciate the importance and the dignity of labor. As a developing nation, we have a lot of people who would do these supposedly menial jobs. But what of the time when we become a developed nation(as our president foresees in 2020)? With the kind of disrespect we have for work, I doubt that we would ever become developed. The chances are that we would starve ourselves to death before becoming developed. This is certainly not the India of my dreams. I do not want my countrymen to die of hunger. I'd rather they lived in a more primitive way, but with dignity and respect, even with the most "disgusting" of the jobs. That is the India of my dreams. I dream of an India where, we would, as Indira Gandhi said " work more and talk less". This is not to undermine the rich tradition of Indian debating, which I very much respect and am proud of, especially after reading "The Argumentative Indian" by Amartya Sen, but I think that a time in history will come when we would have to choose to come out of our reverie and start pure and simple hard work. Only then, I think would we be able to live in a world as Rabindranath Tagore describes as :"..where the head is held high...".
PS: This stream of my thought was triggered after I read the autobiography of Booker T. Washington(Up from Slavery).

Clockwork Orange

2006-07-09T16:12:00.000-07:00

Today two of my friends went home. It feels pretty lonely here at college with most of the friends at home, the remaining few of us just pass our time lazily. Of course, I am to blame for it as I doomed myself to the toughest and the most hectic three months of my life with a workshop and a really grilling internship. But then I wonder if it is worth it. The "rational" mind that I have been destined to develop through my 18 years of education says that that's the best I could do. After all I need recommendations and papers in order to get through to good universities abroad, don't I? But then I really wonder if its worth it. You know, working so hard, living away from parents and all. I guess I am doing all this because I enjoy putting myself into trouble, that's the only way to make one's life a bit interesting(and challenging), otherwise its all the same. Its just like being a clockwork orange. And believe me, that's something I really dread.

I Dare to Dream Big

2006-07-04T13:47:00.000-07:00

Today, 6th July, is the death anniversary of one of the greatest visionaries of India, Dhirubhai Ambani. I am really proud to study in the only institute of higher learning named after him. Probably it is this relationship between us that makes me dream big for my country. Just imagine, a petrol pump boy taking over the reigns of the complete market of India within a span of few years. Converting the country into a net exporter of petroleum and running an organization with discipline in a country famous for just the opposite. Sam Pitroda might have created the PCO revolution but it was the vision(and a Gujarati businessman's drive) that propelled India to the next level, that of mobile telephony. This person had the guts to think big and not be weary of making profits wherever possible(I don't think he believed that business was for charity). Hats off to Dhirubhai.

Catcher in the Rye

2006-04-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

Ever felt lousy, really really lousy. I do feel that way most of the time. Everything seems so imperfect, so fake that you could puke. This world really does not make sense, more so is true about people's actions. Watching football, for instance. Now what's so interesting in that(given that no one from your country is playing, and the country has such pathetic scoccer future that there is no chance of it figuring anywhere in the game for the next 20 years), and why is it considered so fun. It could as well be some obscure game played by some stupid aliens in some unknown location. The only reason it is not is that we have the idiot box and some stupid cola companies ready to promote anything, no matter how useless, for the sake of increasing sales. But, of course, nobody realises this, or maybe they do, I do not know. How could everyone, and I mean everyone, be so stupid. Don't these people have something better to do? They could read 'Catcher in the Rye' for instance, which somehow(and I really don't know) propelled me to write this.

Shifgrethor

2006-04-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

Time is the best teacher and it is true. As a child I was taught, both by my parents and teachers, to be truthful and ethical in all situations. As a child the ideas seemed perfect and following them was pretty easy, just be an open book. As a child, in fact, I was proud of it and sometimes there was recognition from my peers and elders that encouraged me.
As I grew, these teachings got modified, and I do not know why and how. They said that it is not bad to do some "wrong" action unless you are caught. It seemed a fair enough suggestion. After all if your actions do no harm to anyone, it os okay.
I grew more, or did I? I came to understand that to survive in this world, full of lies, one has to behave very differently. It did not matter if you did your work in its spirit and learned. Emphasis was on proving(and that's what they proudly emphasise at my college) that you worked and you know. I thought that assesing was part of professors job and not ours. Anyway, it would have been fine if things went that way. The world went a step forward. They said we will compare you with respect to your peers(implying in other words that if the peers are making a fool of somebody to acheive something more, you had to do it, else you will be eliminated). So eventually it becomes a rat race of making fools of each other, amongst which the real aims generally get lost.
Ursula K. Le Guin once wrote a science fiction book called "The Left Hand of Darkness". The word shifgrethor is coined by her which is the term for subtle games/politics one plays to attain position of power or prominence. The importance of such games in Gethen society and their implicitness made me poder if all of it was just imagination.

Evolution to Linux

2006-04-22T10:27:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, there lived a sincere and hardworking child. He was, in his adolescence, introduced to this thing called windows95. A wonderful thing he thought of it. He grew up with it, upgrading to the latest version released, he grew up with it oblivious of the alternatives available, he grew up with it unaware of the fact that there is possibility of a choice and probably he did not grow at all. Not to mention he was involuntarily involved in the multi-trillion dollar industry of pirated software. Then few years down the line, his windows machine started to crash at regular intervals. Frustrated, he set out to look for another alternative and found this extremely difficult to use software called Linux. But by then the windows machine had irritated him enough to force him to use this obscure looking penguin software.
And then started the journey of the boy, a journey full of discoveries, a journey that made him grow, a journey that was true, a journey to which he had a right to. At every step, though with lot of difficulties, he discovered new things, new applications, the power of his box and above all the possibilities that existed in the world. These things motivated him to explore more, create his own applications and modify the existing ones according to his needs, the power of open source. He found out that he was not alone in this endeavour, there were a lot of people like him. He started networking and started to learn, and now in true sense he was more than just a technology user, or at least he felt so.
Evolution is the truth of life. If we do not evolve, Darwin says we will become extinct. Then why do we look for convenient things(like windows) in our lifes, things that will in their convenience disable our desire and ability to learn and develop/evolve. Just because open source software's like Linux throw up technological challenges, why do we(as producers of technology) shy away from them. Is this a sign of our incompetence, a sign of our decay? I wonder.

Down PC drain

2006-04-21T11:23:00.001-07:00

1000 undergraduate students, with access to equal number of personal computers and round the clock internet connectivity! A dream, no it is a reality of the place I live in but there's something ironic about it. Rather than being the producers of technology(&related stuff), we are just consumers of it. Orkut, Movies, TV serials, cartoons, Rated stuff, Games. You name it and we have it. What we don't have is the environment to use the facilities available for some more productive work. What we don't have is a motivated group of people to think in this direction. What we don't have is the desire to be the leaders and the desire to work hard. If that is the situation of one of the premier institute of higher learning in India, I wonder what the situation is at other places? Unimaginable, somebody give me a few grams of SOMA. I want soma!

Soma! What's That?

2006-04-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

For starters, Soma is the happiness giving drug thought of by Aldus Huxley in "A Brave New World" though the word seems to have Indian origins. However, Soma is not just a drug. It represents the eternal desire of humans to be happy forever, or rather have their emotions in their control. Isn't that what the sages of hinduism set out to acheive? Ironically using this very drug of a utopian society and its effects does Huxley convey to us how disastrous it would be if such a feat is acheived. Nonetheless, it is the desire of things like Soma that keeps us alive and gives meaning to our lives. Hence I wonder if there are some goals in life that should be left unacheived. In fact I wonder if that's what life's all about? Fighting and struggling all life and in the end submitting to something as inevitable as death. So what's the point? To be true, I don't know! I wrote this only because everything seems so absurd from this angle, i.e. do we live only to die in the end? Then why do we worry about so many petty things(grades in my case and salary in the case of my friend) in life? I don't know, but a few grams of Soma at this point won't harm!

Let's see if it works

2006-02-15T08:33:00.000-08:00

Funny, I know that this will work still I persist to test it.