Everything Under the Stars!

Why yesterday was not the best day of my life

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:36:00 +0000

Gosh!!! Since I'm finally blogging after such a long time I wanted to blog about something really interesting and amazing like the Tower project my father is working on. I evaded blogging unless and until I get the project related data. However, since writing is therapy for me, here I go again making I-really-didn't-want-to-rant-but-I-couldn't-help-it post! Here we go!

Didn't sleep since Sunday afternoon
Horribly nauseated enroute to Nitte ( Was almost going to puke ! and it is not pleasant when one's fasting)
Failed to achieve the purpose of Nitte visit completely.
Flitted between 2 banks for some transaction and queries to be made! (I hate going to banks and hospitals! Don't know why…)
Failed to carry a critical online transaction using my visa debit card.
Afternoon napping plans nipped in the bud by trying to call 2 banks and find out what's happening! (Apparently, due to some RBI guidelines, one cannot carry out any transaction in foreign currency using a debit card!)
My favorite sabudana khichdi (I dreamed of savoring at the fast breaking time whilst dozing in the bus) got spoiled because I forgot to refrigerate it!
Credit card used to do the payment but an error occurred.
But my father got charged on his credit card!
Frequent calls to the establishment couldn't confirm the status of the payment! ( They will confirm today, they said)
Discovered that Mangalore- Bangalore trains are cancelled and that we will have to take the bus to Bangalore to attend the IEEE symposium! (NO! NO! NO! )
Crashed on the bed even before 9 (A rarity for me!) and was interrupted by an urgent overseas call at 10:30! ( sob! my beauty sleep )
Finally! I'm yet to come up with something concrete to submit a paper to another conference.
Oh no! I totally forgot my sister's programming project! I still have that one to do! My sleep pattern is so messed up right now!!

Here I'm signing off then. Next post will be either outlining how good my day was where everything that went wrong yesterday was fixed or on the tower project I mentioned above! Ciao.

ShopWiki is the place to be!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:44:00 +0000

I just happened to stumble upon ShopWiki and it did catch my attention for a lot of reasons. Unlike traditional shopping sites where only the stores that have paid to be there are shown, ShopWiki crawls stores on web just like Google and gives the online users a vast number of choices of store whilst online shopping.
I decided to give this a try by searching for some Barbie dolls to buy as my youngest sister is practically gaga over them and I’d been planning to get her another one anyway. Here's a screenshot below of the search results below,

On the right hand side pane, there are several filters where you can set the price range,brand and also view the dolls based on your color preferences ( I chose pink! ). Further, the ShopWiki Gift Guides gives gifts ideas classified on the basis of either recipients or occasions . So, for those of you who are forever clueless when it comes to buying gifts, make use of this and avoid all the thinking trauma you generally face!

Finally, this looks like an excellent stop to shop and to window shop where one can have a peek at the exciting merchandise available at all stores at the same time. So check it out today and find out for yourself while I get back to shopping for the Barbie dolls and surprise my sister !!!

del.icio.us Tags: Shop wiki,barbie dolls,shopping,online,gift guides,filters

Why the Indian Way of Running a System Should Go to Hell!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:51:00 +0000

Then past few weeks have been really hectic, working overtime on the project. Past Wednesday, was our hostel farewell theme party which was the most awaited and amazing event for all of us. However, the beautiful hangover of it was neatly shattered yesterday and today it has manifested into an uncontrollable rage where am raring to clobber, thrash or pulverize some damned nerves!!!!

I’m just back home after attending the College Day/Farewell Function….Needless to say it didn’t match the aforementioned farewell’s standard at all. Couple of seniors and juniors spoke from different branches. Folks from Electronics and Communications, Mechanical, Computer Science and Biotechnology spoke really well and actually seemed to relate and build a bond with the audience. The rest just droned on in a soporific state leaving one wondering why the hell they just speak for the heck of it!!! I hate rehearsed and artificial toned speeches where one is not spontaneous and fails to connect with the people.

Anyways coming back to the thing that robbed my peace, my sisters cell phone got stolen in a very very very crowded bus. She immediately went to police station with a friend, the one in Pandeshwar, to lodge an FIR for the lost cell phone and SIM card. However, much to none of our surprise the damned ***********************(feel free to interpret as any horrible bad word…As a personal rule, i don’t really believe in swearing a lot!) police refused to lodge a complain as the both the things are in my mom’s name who is out of country right now. Next, called Vodafone where they said they cannot block the SIM unless and until we get a copy of the filed FIR. On hearing the problem, they said that we can provide my mom’s identity proof and get the FIR filed and in case of any problem, we could just ring them up. However, the police, as usual didn’t cooperated instead those ************* were really really rude and finally sat on his desk with his legs on it. That bloody ************* actually had the nerve to tell my sister and her friend to tell my mom to file a complaint in the country where she is right now!!!!!!! My parents then said not to make any more trips to the police station (2 trips were already made).

Today on the way back from Nitte, I stopped by at Nokia Care to have the cell phone barred and blacklisted. Previously, I had spoken to a Vodafone care center executive who said that blacklisting has to be done by the cell phone provider. The lady at Nokia Care bluntly told me that they can’t do it! What the hell! I’m studying Mobile Communications this semester and I know this can be done and that there are several services on internet which do this. When I mentioned this to her, she added that such a system is not existing in India. Damn!!!I totally lost it then I gave her the yelling of her life, screaming that a global brand like Nokia provides such poor support and so on. She even heard the nerve to retort back which I nipped in the bud by fresh, highly required insults…..then banged the desk…screamed some more and made a loud exit!!!!! I knew that am not going to be able to get them blacklist the phone so screamed thoroughly and left.

Seriously, no matter how seriously we vote or what we do and no matter who comes to power, the fact remains unchanged that the country has gone to the dogs. I watch shows like Call 911 on Discovery Channel and it really saddens me. The difference between a developed and developing country is disheartening. Unlike America, none of our systems work right when we need them. Even if one feels proud to be an Indian, at times like this it melts faster than an ice cream inside a running microwave. To get justice in our country is like kissing your own eye. God damn them all!!!!!

P.S: I’m not giving up so soon. Going to check out some online services now which will blacklist the cell phone. As for that damned thief, I hope our curses don’t spare him till the day he dies! and the Vodafone executives were really polite, considerate and very helpful. They will block the SIM following my mom’s email and identity proof.

Moral of the story: Even if you do dial one of those numbers and get your IMEI number, incase your cell phone is lost, no one will help you out….atleast not Nokia in India. And it’s better to elicit help from the police using some “contacts” as the damned Indian Police Force doesn’t believe in providing service to the common, unimportant people like us!

del.icio.us Tags: India,police,station,force,stolen,lost,cell phone,nokia,blaclist,IMEI,pandeshwar,call,911,SIM,Vodafone,FIR

Speech Recognition in C#.Net

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 08:28:00 +0000

I’ve now started playing around with speech recognition using C# in Visual Studio 2008. The last time I demonstrated Speech Synthesis to read the contents out loud from a text file. However this implementation is command based and not dictation based. This is very very basic and it recognizes only one word and then displays the results from database containing that word. For basics on getting started with speech utilities in C#, refer to my last post here.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Speech;
using System.Speech.Recognition;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.SqlClient;
using System.Data.SqlTypes;
namespace speechrecog
{
    class Program
    {
        //connection initialization to the database
        static string connectionString = "Data Source=MEOW-PC;Initial Catalog=Shopping_eye;Integrated Security=SSPI";
        static SqlConnection cn = new SqlConnection(connectionString);        
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            new Program();            
        }
        private Program()
        {
            //access to the default shared speech recognition engine used by the desktop
            SpeechRecognizer rec = new SpeechRecognizer();            
            rec.SpeechRecognized += rec_SpeechRecognized;                        
            //add the words in choices that you want to be recognized     
            Choices c = new Choices();            
            c.Add("cheese");
            c.Add("pizza");
            c.Add("olives");
            c.Add("exit");
            //Populate the grammar builder with the choices and load it as a new grammar
            GrammarBuilder pizzadetails = new GrammarBuilder(c);            
            Grammar g = new Grammar(pizzadetails);
            rec.LoadGrammar(g);
            rec.Enabled = true;           
            Console.Read();            
        }
        void rec_SpeechRecognized(object sender, SpeechRecognizedEventArgs e)
        {
            if (e.Result.Text == "exit")
                System.Environment.Exit(0);//Closes the console when you say exit
            string cassy =e.Result.Text;
            Console.Write(cassy);       
            //This query will display the results containing the word that was recognized                 
            string squery = "select * from speechrecogtest where name like '%"+cassy+"%'";
            SqlDataAdapter da = new SqlDataAdapter(squery, cn);
            DataTable dt = new DataTable();
            cn.Open();
            // Fill the data table with select statement's query results:
            int recordsAffected = da.Fill(dt);            
            System.Console.WriteLine();
            if (recordsAffected > 0)
            {             
                foreach (DataRow dr in dt.Rows)
                {
                    System.Console.Write(dr[0]);
                    System.Console.Write(" ");
                    System.Console.Write(dr[1]);
                    System.Console.Write(" ");
                    System.Console.Write(dr[2]);
                    System.Console.WriteLine("");
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

So, when I say “cheese”, the following entries containing the word are retrieved from the database and displayed on the console. I am still figuring how to loop the program to recognize my commands back to back, as per the choices mentioned in the code. Until then, keep trying and experimenting…Au Revoire!

del.icio.us Tags: speech,recognition,.net,visual,studio,2008,microsoft,windows,vista,service pack,commands,grammar,builder,database

VTU Question of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:47:00 +0000

I was trying to cram and make sense out of the stuff I’m supposed to study for the sessionals tomorrow when I received this really funny message from my friend. Anyone who is studying under a university earlier affiliated to VTU which is now autonomous will definitely find this one good. Here goes…

VTU Question of the Year

1)2/10=0.2 but prove that 2/10=2.

Answers:

The autonomous students wrote “Out of Syllabus”.Some of them probably cried whereas some went to whine and influence the lecturer who will correct the paper!

But… the VTU students answered…

2=TWO 10=TEN

Therefore, TWO/TEN=WO/EN

But according to the order of English alphabets order, W=23|O=15|E=5|N=14

Hence, W+O=38 and E+N=19

So, 38/19=2!!!!!! Hence Proved!

Proud and relieved to be studying under VTU and not under the institution’s autonomy. If you have more time to waste you can also read on how easily autonomy can make you a 9 point someone here.

Ok got go now and break my head again!!Au revoire..until we meet again…

del.icio.us Tags: vtu,autonomy,funny stuff,humor,question,year

The final year trip…yawn…

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:45:00 +0000

I’ve been really busy and been feeling lazy additionally, hence the late post. We are finally through with our final year 3 day trip to Munnar, Veegaland and Fort Cochin. Before I begin my tirade, let me quote that am not a cynic but only someone who would prefer atleast moderate organization of stuff before leaving for a trip. I would be completely wrong if I said I didn’t enjoy at all. I mighty enjoyed it mainly because of the company but the trip was ok.

The train journey was amazing.None of us slept on our journey to Ernakulam and we hung around the train doors, standing and talking with lots of interesting stuff happening in the background, which I’m not at liberty to mention :)! We reached in the wee hours of morning, crashed at a pretty ok hotel for few hours and left for Veegaland in the late morning.

Tip#1: We paid INR 110 (with discount) for the hotel/travel home we stayed in. It was not very good and quite dusty. I’m very particular about the bathrooms which were really sad in the room we got plus no hot water facility too. It was manageable since we barely stayed in the rooms but if you do go there for a longer time, be sure to take a nice hotel since hotel rates are quite cheap compared to Bangalore and Mangalore. A good classy business hotel with AC, standard mini bar and the works would cost around INR 1950 (same thing would cost INR 4000 upwards in Bangalore) and a basic hotel with good rooms and nice clean bathrooms can be easily gotten for around INR 300.

Tea estates on the way to Munnar

We then made our way back to the hotel where few rested and few partied the remaining night. The next morning we left for Munnar where we stayed at S.N Tourist Home which was very comfortable . The journey was breathtaking and beautiful with so many tea estates spread over! It was a nice change from the heat. The temperature was around 17 degrees Celsius in the evening and dropped as low as 4 degrees in the wee hours of morning.

Tip#2: Carry lots of warm clothes, inner thermal wear, mufflers, gloves and anything that can keep you warm!!It’s really really cold. Even Ooty or Kodaikanal was not so cold when I’d gone there in winter. Infact I even lasted the rainy, chilly evening in Ooty after taking bath in ice cold water. But Munnar is soooo cold that I can’t even imagine what it’s like right now!

Kundala dam pictures above and supposed echo point pictures below.

Next, we visited the Kundala dam the same day we reached and did some boating there. That was the first time anyone of us rowed and it was fantastically enjoyable! We halted at some more places (one of which was a supposed echo point that doesn’t echo properly) to admire the view, grab a bite and click photos. And then, some of the brighter ones decided to go to some sunset point like thing after half the sun had already set catching some jeeps and the saner ones went to the tourist home hoping to start the bonfire at 7. The bonfire got crapped out since the sunset-seeing folks reached back between 7:45 plus by the time everyone gets ready it would’ve been atleast 8:15 and deadline was 9 so paying 3000 bucks for such a short time was not worth it! I’m extremely sad to tell that this is all we did in Munnar. Here comes the next tip

Tip#3: Munnar is truly beautiful, picturesque place. You can go trekking, paragliding, cycling , visit tea estates and sample some tea. There’s even some waterfalls called Valara nearby and I saw some National Park signs too ( Was hoping to go there and see tigers!). There are a lot of places in and around Munnar which can be thoroughly explored. So plan well and in advance.

On the way from Munnar to Fort Cochin (above)

Fort Cochin

Ok…from here everything went in a haze. We left from Munnar on the third day where the organizers were divided over going to Kerala backwaters or Charai Beach. We ended up going to Fort Cochin and explored several islands….The church was closed there since we reached after 5 so didn’t see the burial place of Vasco Da Gama. We then travelled over 2 hours to reach the beach at night! The third day was basically a mess. For those who didn’t get into the water at Veegaland or did any boating, it was pretty disappointing for them.

We really never explored the place or anything just travelled majorly from place to place. Fortunately, the air bus was excellent and I managed to sleep through the low-high altitude transition and that took care of my travelling woes!

Tip#4: Know what you’re getting into before you set out for any trip. Think twice if plans are being made dynamically and on the spot. To really enjoy Kerala and see what the place actually has, it is very essential to make a detailed itinerary and stick to it zealously thereby saving time and trouble!

Why Water Kingdom is the reigning king of most water parks!

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 09:44:00 +0000

I’ve been to Essel group’s Water Kingdom in Mumbai, Black Thunder and more recently GRS in Mysore and Veegaland in Cochin. Closer to home, I’ve been to Manasa in Pilikula few kilometers from Mangalore but that is nowhere in the race for a truly fantastic water park.

Unlike GRS and Veegaland,Water Kingdom has only wet rides and is completely separated from Essel World which has only dry rides. Both, Essel World and Water Kingdom, together are impossible to cover in one day.
Water Kingdom and Essel World together span across 64 acres as against 28 acres of Veegaland and 30 acres of GRS.
The former is very concerned about cleanliness and hygiene. Taking a shower is compulsory before beginning your escapade into the realms of Water Kingdom unlike the other 2 water parks.
At any point of time in Essel world, you can enter Water Kingdom through entrances in the middle and vice versa.
Only nylon clothes are allowed and anybody dressed in anything else is barred from entering the water. So you’ll never see kids bobbing in the water in their school uniforms(eww!) as in Veegaland and GRS!
Essel World is any day, trillion times better than what Veegaland and GRS have to offer in terms of dry rides. GRS scores the worst here as it doesn’t have any thrilling rides for adults, dry or wet! Simulation rides are extremely disappointing and rollercoasters leave you yawning in both GRS and Veegaland.
Water Kingdom has a fantastic loooong Drifting River for lazing about and floating in bliss. I was disappointed that Veegaland didn’t have anything like that. GRS has a fraction of Drifting River, called the Lazy River, which flows past the lawn of a vegetarian restaurant and I swear I saw some of those small kids washing their hands in that!(yuck!!!)
I rate both GRS and Veegaland very poorly when it comes to food. Most South Indian water parks think that providing meals is the ultimate favor they can bestow upon people! Well..it’s not…I eat meals at home, I like to have some other stuff when I eat outside. In Veegaland, even the fried snacks at some other place was sad and cold! Water Kingdom has McDonalds…Beat that!!And Essel World has Dominoes pizza outlet amongst several food kiosks!
Water Kingdom has excellent merchandise and some real quality stuff.
Lockers and changing rooms are quite good in Veegaland and GRS but Water kingdom still scores here too. It’s clean and looks better.
You cannot rent nylon outfits in Veegaland unlike the other two. Not that it matters much, you can wear your jeans and jump into the pool there. No one cares!
The wave pool at Water Kingdom is really huge and beautifully designed and is best left without comparing it with the other 2. (I’m tired of trashing the other parks!)
Aesthetically, Veegaland and GRS cannot ever match up to Water Kingdom’s stature.

Water Kingdom is truly the finest and best I’ve seen so far. It’s a world class park. You can enjoy even if you go alone!!! If there’s one must-visit water park, Water Kingdom should top your list any day! It has spoiled me enough not to appreciate the other parks I’ve visited henceforth! I rate them in the following order

Water Kingdom
Veegaland
GRS
Black Thunder
~~Manasa.~~ Sorry! not on the list.

The first 2 maps are that of Essel World and Water Kingdom. Compare them with that of GRS (third map) and Veegaland and see the difference!

P. S : Now I’ve also been hearing lots about Wonderla in Bangalore, obviously from the ones who have never visited the Essel Group’s park. Looking at its map below, I don’t have any expectations.

del.icio.us Tags: Essel World,Water Kingdom,Wonderla,GRS,Veegaland,water parks,attraction,rides,Mumbai attacks,cochin,Bangalore,Mysore,McDonalds,Dominoes,comparison,best

Text-Speech from a file in C#.Net

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:46:00 +0000

I’ve just started doing some programming in C# using the .NET framework since it’s a requirement for my final year project. In this post, I shall show how to read out loud the contents of a file stored in any drive. I’m doing this on Microsoft Vista SP1 so it already has all the speech APIs as the speech SDK 5.3 is already inbuilt in Vista. In case you’re doing it on Windows XP, you’ll probably need to download the speech SDK from Microsoft Downloads site. However, the latest version for download is 5.1 I think, definitely not 5.3.

So, open a C# console application in Visual Studio 2008. I’ve already created a file called text.txt in the drive named X. This can read a text file stored in a pen drive also.

In the Solution Explorer on right hand side, right click References. In the Add Reference, select System.Speech from .NET tab and click ok. Add namespace System.Speech and System.Speech.Synthesis as shown below.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
using System.Speech; // required for speech utilities
using System.Speech.Synthesis; // required for speech utilities
namespace ConsoleApplication1
{ 
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
           //Create an instance of class SpeechSynthesizer 
           SpeechSynthesizer cerra = new SpeechSynthesizer();           
          //ReadAllText opens the file, reads all content and closes it. The output of this needs to be converted to string and given to cerra
           cerra.Speak(File.ReadAllText"X:/text.txt").ToString());            
        }       
    }
}

The above can read only text files as of now. It does not work with DOC files and encoding comes into picture here, so trying to figure that out yet. However, in the next post let us make cerra read out the results of a query from a SQL server database. Till then signing off… Au Revoire.

del.icio.us Tags: visual,studio,2008,vista,service pack,speech,synthesis,sdk,C#,console,application,reading,file,pen,.NET

25 Random Things About Me…

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 10:20:00 +0000

I’ve been tagged by Praveen and pertaining to his tag, have to tell 25 random things (Note: This will be in a random order too).

As a child, I was very possessive about my parent’s stuff. I would bawl all over the place if anyone drove my Dad’s car or wore my Mom’s shoes and stuff like that.
I also used to be in everyone’s arms. If I ever walked, every few centimeters I’d start cleaning the bottom of my shoes with tissues. My Dad would eventually get bugged and just carry me after that. I barely walked even till the age of 5!
I used to cry a lot to go school. On the first day, the beginning of my school life, I cried all the way from home to the school banging on the car windows with my fists. I clung to my mom while leaving from home, then my dad’s watch at school. The servicemen at school ( 3 of them) finally freed my grasp on Dad’s watch and dragged me inside! Phew..
I am a total foodie and I love eating junk food such as burgers, pizza, French fries. I also savor several exquisite dishes from the continental, south Indian and north Indian cuisine.

Muli ke Paranthe with Curds (yummy!) is my hot favorite and the fact that not one place in Mangalore has authentic paranthas to serve makes me really furious. Especially at the Empire Mall, the paranthas there is an insult to the authentic ones. Even Punjabi Dhaba is disappointing.

I suffer from road rage. Most people who drive here have no road sense or driving ethics. Sometimes, I feel like driving with a crate of eggs so that I can throw it at someone who is an utter nuisance on road.

Books are my passion. I can read everything that can be read. I can’t do without them…excellent stress buster.

I love playing ALL word games. Words add a dimension and depth to anything around or within us.

When I was small, my English was so sad that when anyone asked me if I ‘know’ English, I’d say I ‘yes’ English.

I also used to create my own weird words to suit my convenience and the situation. For example, whoever or whatever used to bug/irritate me was called ‘pakaatali’.

I’m not at all a morning person ( By morning, I mean the period between 7 AM and 11 AM). No matter what I do, I always feel sleepy in the first class of the day.

During my grade 9 summer vacations, I used to work part-time in the supermarkets trying to sell curry pastes every weekend and used to be paid Rs 200 for 4 hours.

My mother is the best person to go (window)shopping with as I won’t trust anyone else’s judgment. She gives great advice and has a pretty good taste (though sometimes there are clashes..but negligible!).

I can be very determined when I want to do something. If I can’t do justice to anything, I’d probably not bother about it. If I want to do anything, I want to make it really good.

Adventures gets my adrenalin pumping and thrills me (Mom thinks otherwise). I want to do a lot of things like sky diving, paragliding, space walking, mountaineering, white river rafting and many such things at some point in life.

I love dark chocolate. The bitter it is, the better. What a divine taste it has! Ferrero Rocher, Hershey’s Kisses and Snickers are my other favorite chocolates.

I hate travelling! Whenever I’ve got lots of travelling to do, I stay awake the full 24 hours so that as soon as we start travelling, I can just sleep it off.

The first drops of rain on soil tantalizes me…what a heavenly smell it is of the wet soil!! I love running early morning and the feel of the pleasant breeze on my face.

I love most Disney movies and all Disney Princesses. My favorite princess is Ariel, the little mermaid!

I have this real bad habit of involuntarily associating the subject with teacher. If the teacher is sad, then my subject suffers. I find it particularly hard to get over this but things are better now.

I wish I was Garfield… Then I could eat, sleep, watch TV without feeling like utterly wasted.

I can’t stand hypocrites, whiners, liars and those who want to be spoon fed and get on with life without a day’s work!

I usually don’t bother with anything anyone does, but if someone intentionally crosses my path and intends to harm then I know how to get back and what to do. When I really really get angry, I’m cold and ruthless.

I’m quite accomplished at playing agony aunt to all my close friends.

I wish I had some more interesting random things to write but anyway I think this should suffice!

del.icio.us Tags: 25,random,things,tagged,fun

Home Sweet Home :)

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:19:00 +0000

Another hectic week at college passes away. I can’t express how delighted I feel using the internet at home!!! I really love our college project labs but it wouldn’t kill to update Windows, considering the fact that we’re having a lot of trouble installing stuff which I did with ease on my laptop. And the system administrator acts as if he pays from his pocket for every internet connection granted in the project lab. Despite getting a signed approval from the HOD, we had to make 5 trips to his cabin and he finally granted internet access. However, the others are yet to get it. I’ve no Wi-Fi access as yet ‘cause I guess he’s too lazy register my MAC address and it’s been three days of waiting! So after all this internet fiasco, it feels great to be at home finally! I can literally sleep and wake up to internet… download to my heart’s content and eat whatever delicacies I want at any time at home ( Food at College doesn’t exactly cater to your taste buds and if it does, it’s either measly on quantity or heavy on the wallet)!!

del.icio.us Tags: home,sweet,college,wireless,internet,system

GNU/Linux Habba 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:27:00 +0000

Past Saturday, February 7, I attended an excellent event , namely GNU/Linux Habba 2009. This was the third version of this event which was sponsored by and conducted at our University. Since I’d resolved to try Linux, this was a great way to begin with. The tech team from Sampada were really good. They are a group of Linux hackers who are very passionate about their work and make a contribution to the world of free and open source systems. The day began with installation of the Debian distro of Linux they had been working on. The pace and interest of the participants were maintained with real good rapport the team had built with them via a lot of interactions, discussions and yes… 2 animated movies. Everyone loves a nice animation movie! The main agenda of this event was the emphasis on free, open source software and localization of technology so that it can reach the common man. We were also made aware of several tools that we can use for educational purposes and development among a few other things.

All in all, I really admire Linux but it’s difficult to make a complete switch to Linux at this point of time. However, I guess I’m soon going to finally join the bandwagon by installing Ubuntu on one of the partitions and seeing how it works out. The most important thing to keep in mind is not expect Linux to behave like Windows because they are quite different actually. And I also want to tell a mighty thank you to our Asst. Prof. Ashok Kumar for organizing and coordinating the entire thing really well. We all hope to participate in more of such events in future!

del.icio.us Tags: gnu,linux,habba,version,3,2009,debian,ubuntu,sampada

The Chronicle of Escapades: Bunking Classes

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Just the other day was chatting with two of my close friends on Google Talk who are now studying in US and Canada. It brought up some very fond memories of our pre university days. One of them was the official bunker of our class! How many classes he bunked yet never got shortage. Whereas we would plot and plan and sometimes miserably fail to bunk.

For instance, there was this guy in our Hindi class who once tried to bunk through the back door as soon as our teacher entered. Unfortunately for him, he was so busy looking out for her, that he banged right into, none other than, the Head of Department of Hindi. LOL! It was certainly the most hilarious thing.

Another time, Sanam and I finally decided to skip the Physics class. Those classes were unbearable to me after I was condemned to the first bench and the lecturer was super weird( after 2 years of being our class guide, he asked us if we were the PCMC or PCMB batch!)… he used to freak me out as always. After a lot of debating we thought lets just skip it and grab a sugarcane juice and go home. Sadly, too late, because he was already waiting outside for the bell to ring and enter our class. However, the daredevils we were, we decided to sneak out through the back door and ran straight towards the pillar and hid behind it. We thought we would slowly slink away after he enters. Too bad, it didn’t work out that way. He saw us hiding behind the pillar and we didn’t know whether he saw or not. After a short game of peek-a-boo hiding behind the pillars, we ended up attending the class. This was a better option instead of going with a leave note next day and explaining the peek-a-boo game! And yeah… I got a lot of amused looks from him in class! Drat!

Golden rule of bunking was to last the entire day without being seen by that particular teacher whose class we bunked else we would be dead meat while handing in our leave notes the next day. On yet another occasion,when Sanam and I bunked Hindi and were off with our French class friends ( they were always free! I was so envious), the entire day was an harrowing experience of dodging the teacher as we nearly seemed to run into her the whole time. Our luck lasted till evening until we spotted her coming up the slope where we were standing in the middle of a crossroad and all four of us, who were leisurely conferring about yet another function, ran for our lives in four different directions within a fraction of second!

Comparatively, in engineering, the scenario is much better, you don’t need to worry about leave notes. Nevertheless, I’m not a chronic class skipper. I’ve known to have 96-100% attendance in a lot of my classes, just as long as it is worth sitting. In fact I attend all classes even if the attendance is not an issue because of some real good teachers who “actually” and “really” teach! I only feel like bunking when I feel that I’m just pointlessly attending class or I’m feeling sleepy or hungry or if I want to run home soon. Last semester, I attended most classes purely for the sake of attendance save for 1 or 2 classes. Hopefully, this semester should be different since we are having some new teachers (fingers crossed). Aargh!!! College begins tomorrow! I hate getting back and dealing with a lot of nutters on a daily basis! So long then bunk safely and most importantly, reasonably… If the teacher is sad, try to get a change instead of going on a bunking spree.

del.icio.us Tags: college,life,bunking,attendance,shortage,hindi,class,teachers,chronicles,escapades

Hooliganism at its best: Attack on Mangalore Pub

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 21:56:00 +0000

Sri Rama Sena and Bajrang Dal have done it again and now fighting to take credit for the attack on girls at the pub Amnesia in Mangalore at around 4 on a Saturday evening, in the name of punishing those going against “traditional Indian norms”. Don’t even get me started on the definition of traditional Indian norms, keeping in mind the fact that India is the land of Kama sutra. Coming to the Indian culture, doesn’t it also preach brotherhood, peaceful coexistence and all the usual works we keep bragging about, every second chance we get? So how come these culturally-morally-traditional-concerned folks don’t bat an eyelid when so many Dalits are treated inhumanly, paraded naked on roads. Where does the sense of decency go then?

Misguided youth is the biggest threat to our peace and society. Nothing, nothing at all can give these bunch of morons the right to handle any one that way. If you hate it, stop your own family members or dear ones. Don’t go about poking your nose in someone else’s affairs. If the desire to change society is killing you and the immorality is making you go mad, then do something constructive to destruct flesh trade which is still prevalent in our society, which has destroyed so many innocent people at large! Get a life! Live and let live.

The Sena activists accused the women of ``involving themselves in immoral activities, including consuming alcohol, dressing indecently, and mixing with youths of other faith''.

This statement proves that all the the Indian-cultural-secular talk is nothing but a big farce. Clearly, the city has gone to dogs. So fearlessly these hooligans went on a rampage, obviously having a strong political nexus. This clearly reflects on how democratic and secular the government is and how wrong was the choice made by the voters for its election. The government will back them up completely in discreet ways while again starting all over with their false reassurances and glib talk about taking strict action against offenders, the media coverage will soon die down and the rest of us will wait in horror to see the next savage rampage on February 14. Thus the unbreakable cycle continues!

Watch the video, a fine example of how our exemplary government protects its citizens.

del.icio.us Tags: sri rama sena,bajrang dal,mangalore,amnesia,attack,women,hooliganism,government,culture,society,immoral,pubs,moral policing

Nokia XpressMusic 5800 is at home!!!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:18:00 +0000

The new Nokia XpressMusic 5800 is finally at home. Nokia’s first touch phone has arrived. Priced at INR 21800 (offer price is INR 20000), this phone gives real value for money.

It comes with 81 MB internal memory, 8 GB microSD memory card, expandable up to 16 GB, preloaded with 150 popular tracks in Hindi and English. For text input it offers options such as handwriting recognition, mini QWERTY keyboard, full screen QWERTY and alphanumeric keypad. If you hate using the onscreen keyboard to touch and type messages…don’t worry…5800 XpressMusic makes it easy via use of stylus and also an attached heart shaped thing which can be used instead of your bare fingers. The handwriting recognition was something unexpected but good that it’s there, unlike iphone.

Apart from that it’s got all the utilities of modern day life such as bluetooth, Wi-Fi and you can can also synchronize it with the stereo set and the television! It further boasts of a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens, 3x digital zoom, auto focus and a dual-LED flash. It also has a second backward facing camera. It offers video recording option at up to 640 x 480 pixels and 4x digital video zoom. The phone's front camera supports video calling feature. Battery life is excellent too. My sister charges it once in 3 days and uses it heavily, either text messaging or listening to music.

All in all, it’s a great deal. Area, where it truly and thoroughly scores over iphone is that it is open to all service providers. Without a doubt, if you compare the features Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, most of them will definitely give iphone a run for it’s money. The only areas where I find iphone better, is the look of the user interface and the way you can resize pictures using your hands.

I think Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is going to be the rage in India. If you’re looking for a new phone which is a real winner, here’s one looking at you!

Technorati Tags: nokia,XpressMusic,5800,iphone,reasonable,price,touch,phone

Typecasting: What type am I???

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:28:00 +0000

Times Life dated 18 January 2009 had this article about typecasting. According to psychologists, we all belong to one of the following types:

Obsessive compulsive
Dependent
Histrionic
Narcissistic
Borderline Personality
Avoidant personality

These set of questions among the 6 set of questions, each for one personality type, sealed my personality type,

Do you find it difficult to delegate work to others?- Yes, big time. My biggest cause for worry is that what if it gets messed up? I’m very very particular.
Are you a workaholic?- Umm..I guess I am. I can’t rest until the work is done with. Until then I’ll be restless and busy with it.
Are you a perfectionist?- Yes.Totally! And unbearably when it comes to writing formal letters or dealing with some project or presentation especially. I also take a very long time to slice vegetables ‘cause I want them to be perfectly and equally cut! My fate is sealed!!!
Do you feel recreational activities are a waste of time?- No way! This kind of stuff keeps me going. I love recreation! In fact I wish I was Garfield…then I could eat, sleep and watch TV all the time without feeling like a waste!
Are you rigid about morals and values?- I stick to what I believe. I don’t enforce stuff on others. Debatable topics like live-in relationships, one night stands et all are not for me but for whom it is, I don’t judge them. Live and let live. Peace. So the answer to this one is- Not really!

Yes! So I have a 3/5 so I’m confirmed obsessive compulsive personality type! So this is what it had to say about positives and negatives…

POSITIVE I : Over achievers
NEGATIVE I : Disturbed family life, prone to physical ailments, easily stressed

But, the types mentioned are too stringent, too classifying I felt. I personally feel that human behavior is very diverse to typecast this way actually. Everything in life is not black and white, they are countless, incredible shades of grey too. What if someone gets 2 questions right from each set? At any rate, if you haven’t had a look at that article, go for it and determine your type. If not for anything, atleast for a good laugh! And for those who did, what type were you? Do you think it matched you correctly?

Technorati Tags: typecasting,personality,obsessive compulsive,humans,type

Windows Live SkyDrive

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:22:00 +0000

Today, I decided to upload all project related files on Windows Live SkyDrive instead of mailing it to all my team members. I could’ve set up a Google group, I know. But I use my live id primarily. I hardly ever use my Gmail id. There is life beyond Gmail and very good one at that. Lets talk about SkyDrive in this post.

SkyDrive is an excellent storage media integrated into Windows Live. From your Mail page you can choose More at the top and choose SkyDrive from the drop down to use it. It offers a storage space of 25 GB. The interface looks like this:

Files or photos can be uploaded and shared. You can either select the existing folders or create a new folder by choosing Create Folder on top, enter the name and set the permissions.

To upload files, navigate to required folder, Click on Add files, choose a file and upload it! Maximum size of each file that can be uploaded is 50 MB.

Ok, so all my team members are Gmail users and they mightn’t be willing to sign up for Windows Live to view my files, so, here’s what I did. Chose Send a link from my specified folder as shown below (right). Added whoever I wanted and essentially checked the Don’t require recipients to sign in with Windows Live ID option and sent. You can revoke these permissions whenever you choose to.

Windows Live SkyDrive has a very appealing and easy to use interface. You literally carry whatever you want with your mails et al. You should definitely try this one out!

Technorati Tags: windows live writer,skydrive,gmail,storage,share

Ramblings of an overflowing mind-part 1.

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 08:11:00 +0000

Another couple of months and I'll finally be well on my way to become an engineer. The past four years have been so amazing and I can hardly believe that time flies so fast. When I joined engineering, I just knew get a B.E degree then do MBA at country's finest business school and then life is set. But...something unpredictable happened.

Somewhere down the line, amidst the tryst with computers and technology, I fell in love with it. Never did I once imagined that I would begin to love the technology surrounding us with such ardent fervor. You know you're an engineer when you see a camera that shoots when you smile automatically and immediately start thinking what's it about and how's implemented instead of just sitting awestruck; When someone mentions some problem and your mind immediately starts racing...thinking about what can be done...cannot be done...several tradeoffs...overhead etc.

I can't exactly say I've always wanted to be an engineer. I remember in grade 5, my dad introducing the computer to me and telling me about Bill Gates, the richest guy at 18 and how he did it all. It held a fascination for me which I can never really express in words. That was the time of Windows 3.1.1. Then, after making up my mind to be a doctor and an investigative journalist, I finally settled on computer science and engineering. Whoever knows me will vouch for the fact that I'm a confirmed Microsoft evangelist...Seen Windows from 3.1.1 to Vista and the journey it embarked on has been really the stuff dreams are made up of. Though the world may condemn Bill Gates as a capitalist and so on, I've always held him in high regard and thought that he's a brilliant combination of an excellent programmer and a very good entrepreneur. For me, Bill Gates is Microsoft. He's long left the running affairs of his company but he's still around, isn't he? After him, I really cannot envisage Microsoft.Well...there's still Steve Ballmer but even then.

This year, however, I can say that some sort of a funny transformation seems to have taken place which I think is good. I'm flexible now...ready to try Linux and Mac perhaps. Now, it's not like I want to give Linux a chance due to the aforementioned reasons but only because I really love technology and I want to learn new stuff without any prejudices and really appreciate it for what it is. I've used Linux very briefly but my inclination has always been heavily towards Windows due to the aforementioned. It also caters to my need of daily dose of excitement. Running Windows without antivirus is exhilarating... It keeps me on my toes...It provides me with constant challenges and urges me to dig deeper and deeper into the system looking for some malware or viruses. Now, Windows security is not all that bad provided you're using a genuine version but it's just that I'm paranoid and I love dissecting it. I've been using Vista for quite a long time without an antivirus without any serious security issues. If you ask me...the root of most security issues, considering any operating system, lies between the keyboard and the chair. If you're click-happy, may God save you from impending doom!

Ah!At any rate, I've rambled enough for part 1. So adios!

Technorati Tags: technology,ramblings,microsoft,linux,mac,bill gates

Can Tigers Really Be Pets?

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 16:38:00 +0000

One of the other things I'm deeply in love with and fascinated with are tigers. I religiously follow most tiger documentaries and shows on Nat Geo and Discovery. I wish I was princess Jasmine of the Walt Disney movie 'cause she has a pet tiger. They are the most beautiful creatures I've ever seen in my entire life. A dream that'll probably only remain a dream is having a pet tiger.

Owning a tiger involves a lot of factors. Firstly, you need to have a lot of money....because you need to have a house with huge area around it...lot of land and that's expensive nowadays. Secondly, you first need to find a vet that deals with tigers and their medical bills, in case there's a problem, is mighty high. Thirdly, you'll end up spending a lot on tiger food. Fourth, you'll probably need to higher a trainer to train your mighty cat. Fifth, perimeter fencing and a strong cage. Sixth, procedure and gear to safely move a tiger to any place say a hospital or something. Seventh, complete all formalities with the law and animal rights activists. Lastly, say goodbye to vacations...you can never really tell your neighbor to pop in and feed your pet tiger after all!

Though a lot of tigers lead suburban lives, it's really a gamble after all. They are wild animals after all, the world's most feared predators. It'll take generations and probably an evolution for tigers to become actually tame. You need to be on guard with a tiger no matter how trained it is or how much love you might've given it. After all the predator instincts are as natural to them as it is for us to see. If you ever happen to crumble or fall or faint in front of a tiger, no matter how well trained it is, it will go for you. Training them is also not easy. Most trainers begin training at the age of 1 and trying to train them using food alone is like a suicide mission, where there's no food you're finished! It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to train them and this is not possible by an individual or even a team of 2 people. You probably need a fairly huge team comprising minimum of 5 people. They are manageable till the age of 3...it'll probably tear your curtains and chew your prized center table though. After that they begin to develop into the powerful creatures they are meant to be and you need to be more wary every waking moment with them around.

And yes. You can't feed a tiger everyday. They don't get food in wild everyday and their digestive systems are not designed to handle daily intake of food so around 2-3 days in a week are kept aside as fasting days. As far as I know, their diet comprises mostly of meat. But the zoo at Mysore actually feeds the tigers with one hen per week!!!!!And their kept in such cramped cages!!!! Tigers love open spaces, it's healthy for them and it must be provided.

Owning a tiger is probably something I would do at some point later in my life. It's definitely not feasible now. However, while discussing this with my sister, she asked me one question which really made me think. She asked, "Is it really fair to keep them as pets?". It was like a ton of bricks fell over me. If you look at it one way, it is unfair. They are not supposed to be tamed... it'll be probably be happier living in the wild and using its innate skills to the fullest. Nor can you suddenly change your mind and release your pet grown tiger into the wild because it will die. Tigers bred in captivity have to be trained under the tough conditions they will face in the wild to survive.

But then again, they are endangered...maybe this way we can really take care of it but only at the cost of endangering our own lives. Tigers are no doubt beautiful but it is a lethal beauty they possess. The best thing probably would be to make sure they are safe in wilderness. Maybe it really is inhumane for making these animals into something that they are not meant to be and then punishing them for doing what it is supposed to do. What do you think?

Technorati Tags: tigers,pets,right,inhumane,train

Recruitment Fiasco

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:41:00 +0000

It's that time of the year when you companies will start trickling in to hunt for freshers and hire them. After attending TCS, Infosys, Aptuit, Tesco, Novellus I'm simply not bothered anymore or so I think. Of all these companies I reached the personal interview stage save for Infosys and Tesco. However the interviews conducted by Novellus and Aptuit were utmost in professionalism. TCS was a nightmare. It was the first that came to our college. I thought I really had a good chance but fortunately destiny had something else in store. All through the holidays I fervently hoped that I would get into TCS but I’m glad I didn't make it. Surprised? Initially, their company policies which were environment friendly really awed me until their interview procedure.

The entire procedure was so horribly organized, wasting a lot of our time! Some very good students in my class didn’t make it 'cause they were too good like they reached the upper cutoff crap and all that. My interviewer actually gives me the feedback much later that I never maintained eye contact. What the hell?? I'm sure I can't talk without looking at the person...I don't know about others but I can never do that. So, even though I didn't get through I'm glad because I know I would have never been able to fit in such a kind of a place. Novellus personal interview was really good. It was designed in such a way which tested your process of thinking rather than the result and it gave me a lot of confidence. Though I didn't make it to the final PI at Bangalore, I realized that in some aspects of my field I’d been underestimating myself. I loved the way how they gave people who were asked to write programs during their interview their own time and didn't rush them but made them feel comfortable. But again, no regrets because I learnt a lot and they were heavily into semiconductors and all.

Now, again 2 more companies lined up. What's going to be my approach? Nothing. I'll just be myself. If asked I won't hesitate to tell that temper, impatience are my shortcomings! Come on, you think everyone who works in the company are all perfect sans any shortcomings? So what if I'm that way, it doesn't make me lesser than someone who can go out and win the world. If I don't try I'll never know. Nor will I distort my perception to suit the 'right' politically correct thing not that I did it till now but I was always told to give politically correct answers, to do this and not do that and all those things.

So this time, the idea is to be completely me and be completely at ease. At any rate before college ends, I want to try out all possible styles of answering interviews and see what happens! After all, it's just a job not the end of my life! right? In the end, whatever happens, happens for good. It's like one of those dark gifts. It seems horrible at first but only later we realize what happened was for the best.

Technorati Tags: recruitment,drive,fiasco,TCS,Novellus,professionalism

Switch to Windows Live Writer today!

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:14:00 +0000

The blogger online editor is really irritating. Firstly you need to be online to post anything and secondly the user interface is really not all that great. So, any alternate option? Yep....Windows Live Writer.

You can easily align pictures and text around it as you please.
It's very easy to embed videos. Just click on Insert Video, add URL and click Embed!
You can also add tags by customized tag providers.
Plug-ins can be easily used from Windows Live Gallery which let you add "Blog this" feature on the browser, Translation, Yahoo-MSN smileys and many many more power-packed stuff.
You need not be online to write your post. Just right and save the draft. Whilst online, preview and publish with just a few clicks.
You can publish to most blog services!
And guess what? It's free. Go to http://get.live.com/writer/ and get it!

Here's a screenshot of me composing this post...

Technorati Tags: Windows live writer,blog,publishing,software,free

The World Is Just Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:30:00 +0000

Man! This Discovery Channel video has me bowled over! I just love it. The opening sequence is a dream come true. What a feeling it might be??? THE WORLD IS TRULY AWESOME!!!!!

(Dialogue)
Astronaut 1: It never gets old, huh?
Astronaut 2: Nope.
Astronaut 1: It kinda makes you want to...
Astronaut 2: Break into song?
Astronaut 1: Yep. Two astronauts on a space walk
I love the mountains,
I love the clear blue skies
I love big bridges
I love when great whites fly
I love the whole world
And all its sights and sounds
Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da (twice)
I love the oceans
I love real dirty things
I love to go fast
I love Egyptian kings
I love the whole world
And all its craziness
Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da (twice)
I love tornadoes
I love arachnids
I love hot magma
I love the giant squids
I love the whole world
It's such a brilliant place
Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da (repeating until fade)

Technorati Tags: discovery,i love the world,song,beautiful,awesome

My New Year Resolution-40 things to do.

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 10:13:00 +0000

Become self actualized!(top priority)
Devote at least 2 hrs to exercise (yoga, Pilates, weight training, aerobics and a lot of running to be precise).
I will not be accident prone and upset my fitness regime!
~~I will eat 100% healthy! I’ll try to eat 70% healthy (No pizzas, No Fischer Cheese Balls etc).~~I’ll exercise harder on the day I eat junk.
Early to bed and early to rise! I will not be nocturnal anymore! (This one’s really tough!)
Try to curb my temper and not fly into a rage.
Do NOT throw words like pots and pans if I get angry.
~~Be nice and patient with people even if they are mean.~~ I’ll try to be diplomatic.
Do NOT be lazy.
Do NOT procrastinate.
Become disciplined and pull my socks up.
Learn at least one form of martial arts.
Try Linux.
Learn at least one Latin Language.
Try to keep my room from looking like a hurricane hit disaster.
~~Use my organizer and take notes.~~ No! Get rid of the organizer and use my grey cells for the same.
Save more paper and electricity. (Electricity part is tough though!)
Go rock climbing.
Practice daily and participate in the Online Scrabble Tournament.
Learn swimming completely with correct breathing. (Right now I can just float enough to save my life!)
Keep Blogging regularly.
Do some creative and useful programming.
Concentrate on IELTS.
Try not to be like the-glass-is-half-full-but-it-is-also-half-empty-so-to-minimize-the-overhead-do-blah-blah-blah!
Take less stress.
Google daily and learn on the Internet.
Do not keep my cell phone on silent all the time.
Learn to cook steamed tasty healthy vegetables with minimal oil and perfect my Pasta recipe.
Find Kashmiri tea to drink! (I drank once in Jeddah 10 years ago… Been hunting for it here… No luck… What pretty pink it is!)
Try to get a paper reviewed for an International Conference at least.
Learn to detect and clean all kinds of unwanted malicious stuff manually on the computer.
Find the perfect antivirus for my computer.
Back up my PC regularly and not become lax when it comes to doing that,
~~Do NOT color hair.~~ ~~On second thoughts, one last time I’ll try the ammonia free one???~~ No way…No coloring anymore.
Teach my sister basic programming and photo editing during my holidays.
Learn Java, PHP and PERL inside out, very thoroughly!
Attend all classes daily even if it’s the one I hate and find utterly useless.
Manage time better and effectively!
Use my 124 IQ level properly. (Right now, I’m such a waste!)
Stick to these aforementioned resolutions.

I hope all of you stick to your resolutions like super glue too! Good luck! Au revoir….

Technorati Tags: New year,resolution,2009

GHAJINI-An excellent movie made!

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 10:03:00 +0000

GHAJINI- What a movie! First of it's kind named after the villain. I've not watched the original movie but the remake is amazing! The story revolves around a young business tycoon who after a devastating incident suffers from anterograde amnesia and is seeking to avenge the loss of his beloved.

The anterograde amnesia is still a medical mystery with no cure on the picture as of now where the patient suffers loss of memory of what happens after the event that caused the amnesia, remembering things only for some minutes and it's projected so realistically in the movie! I was really stunned the way Aamir Khan has to label every single thing in his house, take photographs of people and places he knows so that he can recall when he forgets. However, his other emotions, how to go about daily routines remain intact in his subconscious. It reminded me of this story I read in Chicken Soup where the woman after meeting with a devastating accident during horse riding loses all memory, everything! The story painfully goes on, outlining how her husband helped her learn everything again- to walk, eat food, brush hair, to talk...everything that comes so naturally to us! It's ironical! These are the things we do everyday and often take it for granted and all it takes is one ruined moment to take that all away which makes our existence felt and expressed.

GHAJINI is a must watch for Aamir Khan's amazingly amazing stunning performance, the body this perfectionist has built up after months and months of hardcore training and the engrossing narrative which never loses any pace. He reminded me slightly of James Bond. Well! I said to myself that this is India's closest answer to James Bond along the lines of sheer power and endurance!

So grab the phone, book your tickets while I get back to my books to start mugging like a parrot again to answer another mugger-friendly, thinker-killing paper on Monday though it's useless 'cause I end up writing my own strain of thoughts even in the answer sheet! Sigh...

Technorati Tags: Ghajini,movie,plot,synopsis,review,entertainment,Aamir Khan,bollywood

Galileo's Laws which we were ignorant of!!

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 09:01:00 +0000

Ok..so i was not supposed to blog until exams get over but this one crumbled my resolve.....My sister who is now in grade 11 CBSE has this physics teacher who said in class,

So this Galileo was sitting under the Apple tree and a ball fell on him. That's how he discovered gravity....

ROTFL! So we all studied wrong. This Galileo did all the hard work and Newton took all the credit. Tcha! Probably 'cause he got miffed with Galileo already having a couple of stars under his belt!!!!:):):) So our Newton wanted little limelight perhaps??

If I don't get placed I'm definitely going to consider teaching for a while! Just when i thought things couldn't get worse..

Have a good laugh and also ponder over how teachers are recruited. Perhaps there must be an entrance test for them too :)?

Ciao...

P.S- ROTFL (Rolling on the floor laughing)!

Technorati Tags: galileo,gravity laws,newton,poor teachers

Why do I hate traveling in India???

noreply@blogger.com (Ni) — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 15:58:00 +0000

I don't want to travel again for the next few months... but considering my rotten luck, i can't escape it because i still have one and half hour journey to suffer if i want to go to college. Traveling was never my cup of tea. I don't really mind several days road trip where you take the car and hit the road but buses, planes and trains put me off! However, I would prefer planes to buses or trains even though it brings out the best out of my motion sickness...atleast I'm not wasting a lot of time in traveling. I'm especially averse to buses post the 2005 Maharashtra floods which turned the usual 18 hour journey to over 32 hours!!!!!It was definitely the worst traveling experience.

Over the past 3 weeks, I've visited Bangalore twice and then Mysore taking the train on both occasions. Bangalore and Mysore are 357 km 248 km away from Mangalore respectively. Nevertheless, by train it takes around 8-9 hours to Mysore and 10-11 hours to Bangalore and by car i think it'll hardly be 60 or 90 minutes less!!!! What really frustrates me is that why can't we have darn good roads???It'll make traveling faster and cheaper since you can just take the car and hit the road. When I say the roads should be good, you should easily be able to drive at 200 km/hr or atleast 120 km/hr for starters. At that rate, At that rate one can reach Mysore in 2 hrs and Bangalore in 3 hrs at the rate of 120 km/hr. However, if one intends to take rest, it might take half an hour more i suppose.

And this frustration is not easy to suppress, since I still have to travel from Nitte to Mangalore which is mere 57 km away. and it takes me 90 minutes!!!!!!!!sometimes even 120 minutes!!!!!!!!!Why can't we have very good roads????why????why????why?????Ok...now i have an overwhelming urge to compare this against Saudi Arabia, where we always used to travel city to city by car. From Madinah to Riyadh it would take 13 hours to cover 1200 km with a couple of breaks for rest!!!! Forget Saudi Arabia and take any other American or European cities as example! But, as many will point out and state my comparison is misplaced giving me a dirty look....why???because India is a developing country!!! India- has the third largest military force in the world and touted to be the rising economic superpower et al is still developing at an excruciatingly small pace when it comes to giving the taxpayers their money's worth by providing us with atleast good roads.

As of now, I'm dying to see what the NH 17 will be like after the concrete roads and 4 lanes etc. But, tell me honestly will that day ever come where you can drive at 200 km/hr without getting trampled by a dozen other vehicles! It's not like I'm urging that everyone should drive so fast but even if one wanted they can't!!!!! Personally, I think the country made cars will reach the speed of 120 itself with great difficulty....

And that's why traveling in India is a curse, roads are terrible!!!!!! They take up hell lot of your precious time and you can't risk driving fancy cars on such roads. You would probably have 2-3 parts hanging by the time you reach home. If the roads were really good, I wouldn't have to stay in the hostel. I would travel everyday to college!!! And ok...if you want us to stop complaining and travel by trains!!!!Please please pest control them....it's disgusting to see cockroaches crawling all over the place. However, like the Ticket collector states that one is lucky if they haven't spotted the abundant rats yet!!!!

At any rate, Mysore was worth the train journey....It's a very nice, serene place not like Bangalore. I could go on and on trashing Bangalore which I would in some other upcoming post. It's a great place to be if one likes to observe buildings or monuments which have near perfect architecture and brilliant finishing and the weather is really pleasant too.

Before i start off with another parallel chain of thoughts, I'll just sign off. Crunch mode up ahead...wish me luck!

Sayonara

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