liberté

Irreversible Reactions

2009-10-24T23:35:00.010+05:30

A story churned from the dark & evil depths of my mind.
Signed,
The Pessimist

I will keep this short and straight-forward.

It was a still night, and the smell of gunpowder hung heavy in the air. Mixed with the luring scent of 'yakhsi pala' tree (Alstonia scholaris), it was pleasantly nauseating. The blasts would have been numerous, and frequent. There was no one to be seen around, those who wanted peace had left the place long back, the rest... A child was crying somewhere, and I heard some unsuccessful words to pacify the child. The street dogs joined the cacophony. Dark stains on the sidewalk, I did not want to think about anything. I was trepid about stepping on the wrong foot or... hand. The torn pieces of colourful cloth and paper strewn on the road almost made me wonder if it were some festival.

This place and time used to be one of the best of my life. Walking under the moonlight with my two friends, this was once my rejevenation path after a hectic work day. Humming some nice melodies, laughing to the calmness of night, we used to stroll the path. There never was any traffic, and the dogs seemed benign. Dug-up roads were fun to cross. College memories brought smiles to our faces, even those which were mortifying once. Life was peaceful. Life was a festival.

I walked on, alone. Life had changed, the critical moment gone past unnoticed. Further ahead, the road curved to the left, leading to my house. The sound of my shoes crunching the gravel broke the stillness of the deadly night. The dug-up road was probably a death-trap. A shadow turned the corner, and its hooded limping owner came into view. I was, to be honest, scared. The path behind me was long, and unfortunately straight. I had to walk on. He was close now, and he was holding something. He raised his hand. I was numbed, stood staring at him.

"Happy Diwali", he said, and moved on.

Strangers

2009-09-21T01:18:00.008+05:30

A post that does justice to the title of my blog - twisted scribblings:

The world is at war, and the biggest conflicts are happening in our minds. In these dark times, viewed through my vile eyes, it is super important to know - no, to realize - a few things. The world is not in black and white, what applies to some need not apply to others. What you read in books may not suit you. I read today in two different books conflicting ideas about emotional independence. That doesn't mean the books or right or wrong - they are just "brain stimuli". One says being dependent on anyone is foolish, the other says, it is the way to go. But we are free to choose either one, or a middle ground. Ideas and principles need not be discrete all the time - at times, discreteness make things harder.

Now and then, problems don't get solved when we think about it. They mutate to assume more dimensions, and try to overwhelm us. The critical point is to realize this, and stop thinking. (Programming theme : Like a program that understands it is in an infinite loop, and comes out of it automatically.) Do we attack the root cause of problems in these cases? Maybe not, but who knows, Time may solve the problem for us eventually :)

When some things cannot be judged as right or wrong, it is better to weigh them based on their cause and effect. Loneliness is just a state of the mind. I wonder if being lonely and happy has anything to do with maturity.

Truths

2009-01-23T20:07:00.004+05:30

It was a good thing to be addicted to the internet in a way. There are very few disappointments. How sad can one get if someone doesn't reply to your scrap? Ha! But I have deleted my orkut account halfway on my journey between ignorance and truth. Time will tell if I've been right. I feel its really true that engineers are socially inept. What will you choose between the two: having a beautiful possession and losing it, or not having it at all? Pretty good day today. Do you like lending your books to others? Most probably you don't mind. But I like to. How do you feel if someone scribbles on it and gives it back? Maybe you don't mind. But I do. I go on days thinking about it, until someone else tears off a page and gives it back.

Sometimes I laugh about it. Who cares! Genuine skepticism rocks me when I think I don't have any mental discomfort. Another interesting question I've been trying not to think about is the pain of knowledge. Is it better to be killed by curiosity, or by unpleasant truths? Sadly enough, I got my answer before I could waste more time on it - If I'm to die anyway, why not die knowing more?

Ha ha ha ha ha hoooo...

Now playing...

jaane dO na... jaane, jaane dO na...
mujhe tO jaane dO na, chodO baahem meri, mujhe tO jaane dO na,
jaane dO na... jaane, jaane dO na...

Why on earth am I even blogging...

Follow your heart.

2009-01-16T19:01:00.000+05:30

A beautiful e-card from Paulo Coelho's site:

Entry for Jan 5 2009.

2009-01-05T11:17:00.003+05:30

I woke up. Thank goodness, it was just a dream. I was feeling very lightheaded. I got out of the bed, and placed my feet on the floor. The marble felt very cold. Neurons fired, and every part of my body came back to life. I knew they were all real. Not just dreams.

Promoted!

2009-01-04T22:02:00.007+05:30

Yes! I've been promoted to Class 2 of Life. It seems now I have tougher and more difficult things to learn and digest. And I think that I considered Class 1 to be the hardest! Years back, I used to write the things I couldn't quite grasp on a big piece of paper and stick it on my wall. Whenever I pass by, I see it, and subconsciously ponder over it, and finally understand it. But alas, it doesn't work in Life.

We grow when we experience pain. This is the truth. Nothing else, not a blog, not a book, not lectures, nothing, can be a substitute for experience. And pain, the way it tears at your heart, yet doesn't fully take it away, ah!

Here's a story that i read long back, but couldn't appreciate it till now:

One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.

Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, "Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine." The crowd and the young man looked at the old man's heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn't fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.

The people stared -- how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought? The young man looked at the old man's heart and saw its state and laughed.

"You must be joking," he said. "Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears."

"Yes," said the old man, "Yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren't exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. "Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn't returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges -- giving love is taking a chance.

Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?"

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man's heart flowed into his. They embraced and walked away side by side.

Not exactly a nice story, but an inspiring one, and I somehow feel closer to it.

Have you ever wished to go back in time? Or to be God for a day, so that you can set things right around you? I wish, I wish, I wish.

But I can do nothing but watch. Not even give a word of comfort.

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why, when physics and chemistry and astronomy have reasons, does Life have no reason? Why can't science answer the meaning of life? Who are we? What on Earth are we here for?

WWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYY???????????

2008-12-31T10:35:00.005+05:30

I feel lonely - Sasha

2008-12-27T23:39:00.006+05:30

I'm not giving any title for this post, as the last few posts have had just titles. I had temporarily lost the urge to write anything. i don't think it has come back, but tonight, I felt a bit emotional, and consequently thought of trying my luck. Hopefully this would be a post that does justice to the name - freedom to blabber, and write twisted thoughts.

What were our desires when we were children? To play with a toy? To have ice cream? To get hold of a piece of trinket, a piece of paper or crayon? What has Time done to us? Did you ever have the feeling that you are so powerless? Ever had a sense of loss, of your past? I feel like crying, for nothing, step out of this world, live in isolation, enjoy nature, reclaim the lost myself...

I wish I could go back in time. To the days of wonder and energy. When everything seemed fresh and green. Where pessimism did not exist, where one did not worry about tomorrow. Time has given us knowledge and experience, but at the price of innocence and happiness. Do I really need this?

I climbed onto the terrace tonight. Stars. Cool breeze. I felt these, but my mood did not change. In fact, I became irritated by the mosquitoes. What has happened? A lighted city surrounded me. I looked down the 6 storied building. How would it feel to jump off the building and fall down? I did not want to know. There was a black dog on the street. There are many dogs here. I guess it is because of the garbage from the multi-apartments. Two children playing shuttle badminton. I looked at the time (not a watch, on the mobile) - it was 10:30 PM. Time! What do those children care about time! How I would like to embrace a life of friends and studies and exams once more!

Some twisted scribblings, straight from the heart.

This could be the end of this blog. May be not. Time will tell.

Coping with mannerisms, especially when you are bugged.

2008-10-03T18:29:00.001+05:30

Coming soon.

An elegy in memory of my dearest

2008-09-28T10:11:00.004+05:30

I saw not you leave, without even a glace at me
For I felt not your presence.
Chained to the wall, billowing in the waves of fate
Lifeless, all I've left, is a void, of shame.

How you taught me to fly, racing the sea gulls!
Laughing at even the teensiest of victories
Reaching the clouds, with only Time to drag me down to Earth.

The demons of the hell have woken up now, with you gone
To hale me back to reality, I don't want to fight
I just can't do it without you, all I have -
They have fallen into a long torpor, awaiting you.

We humans are eternally optimistic, not to be deterred
By trifles as this, but I can't seem to bear it
I can feel your coming, but will you?

Digression at its worst.

2008-07-22T23:06:00.005+05:30

What's so good about programming? A thought landed on my head today evening when I finished finding a bug - A bug in a code written by someone else. I had been looking into it for around 5 or 6 hours, and was at the peak of my frustration cone. Suddenly I found out the issue, double-checked it, the frustration bubble burst and happiness danced all over my soul.

So, why?

Finding out the answer to the "Why?" after hours of frustration and anxiety (but without the hazards of managerial death-watch and looming deadlines, of course), solving it eventually gives so great a thrill that i am very nearly forced to make some parallelisms on the joy of human mind. No, I do not want to miuse my imagination and enter those twisted alleys.

Speaking of parallelism, what makes a product good? Its features? Its performance? Simplicity? Usefulness? If I may, on trying to apply the same logic to a human being...<interrupt acquire_hammer="true">hit on the head by the public </interrupt>

The Great Indian Divide.

2008-06-29T19:07:00.012+05:30

A month ago, I went to the local electricity board office here near my house. It was behind a huge building filled with computers and cubicles of MNCs. But as soon as I walked a mere 50 meters, the whole scenery changed. Old men and women sitting outside their "houses"... Houses made of sticks and paper and tarpaulin sheets. Children carrying buckets filled with water. Little girls who should be in school washing clothes. Boys mixing cement for a construction site nearby (probably another 12 storeyed building filled with computers). The back side of the cyber city. People with no protection from the weather. People mostly ignored by the rich. Small kids rolling a cycle tyre with a stick while a BMW speeds by ...

Some captures:

(Silicon Tower)

(Just behind the Silicon Tower)

("Housing colony"...)

(... and the hygenic surroundings)

What an enormous economic disparity!

Emotional indigestion.

2008-06-28T07:34:00.005+05:30

How do you make your mind divert from something? The answer, I just figured out, is simple. Comcentrate on something else. Forget about diverting it. Dont keep thinking that you should not think about the thing that you are trying not to think about - this will only make things worse. Like the story of the king who wanted a cure to his baldness. A doctor prescribed an oil and asked the king to apply it, but on one condition - not to think about monkeys while applying it. Its said the King saw monkeys in all shapes and sizes whenever he opened the bottle of oil, until he threw the oil away in exasperation.

I do not agree with many principles - still I call them principles or ideals, because I accept that they are important to others. Each of us have a different perspective, and hence, different priorities. Its hard to talk and set a common ground for discussions when there are conflicting priorities. I never tell my priorities openly, probably because I'm not consciously aware of them. And when someone very close to you, like a blood-relation, breaks those ground rules (mine, not theirs - enter the emotional here) and strays from your principles, you cannot merely disapprove. The logical part in you says, "Excellent! I love the way (s)he has done it and is happy" or somethig like that... The emotional part (its funny) says, "what, i can't believe it!" over and over again... Why not? Even if you have been expecting something for months, the right brain (is the emotional seat on the right side?) just can't digest it.

Coming back after a digresion (and a happy truth thats currently eating me), I was saying how not to think of something. Think of something else. But make sure, when you are in the right state of mind(when you think the left brain is active), hack at what you want to avoid, think of why and why not, and drive the point home. But after sometime, you'll return to the earlier situation of "i can't believe it" especially if you are an emotional person. But engage in something completely unrelated to what you want to avoid. If you love programming, take an interesting problem and try to solve it. Or gossip, go overly anti-something, create a mild melodrama, or setup even a small fight ;)

Why else do you think I'm writing this post?

मौजा ही मौजा ..................... :)

2008-06-27T14:44:00.005+05:30

Nothing can stop me frommaking a blog post today!!!!

hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooiiiii............. ha ha haaaa....... hayyoo...

so... no time to blog, there have been many days when I've opened the page, and it has been there idle for a day...

So, 1 item in my wish list is done :)... waiting for the rest.... i can t say what, i cat say this, but i'm finee.... i'm hpappyyyyyyyyy..............

मौजा ही मौजा.......... :)

Which way?

2008-04-28T00:00:00.002+05:30

The problem with problem solving.

2008-03-22T19:05:00.006+05:30

A simple idea. Given a problem, how to arrive at the solution? The difficulty I've faced over the years has been frustrating. Its mostly when I'm trepid and resorting to a trial and error method that I've experienced this. Finally decided to put this down in some definite manner so that I'm aware of it next time.

It all boils down to depth-first traversal of n-ary trees.

Consider this diagram:
Problem := Any statement that requires a solution.
Solution-path := A series of steps that need to be followed to arrive at the solution. The solution may or may not be attained by following a solution-path.
Node := A point in the solution path from which one or more steps could be followed to arrive at the solution.
Backtracking := If a solution-path leads to a dead end or not to the desired solution, we backtrack to a previous node, and then follow a different solution-path.

When I see the problem, i take solution-path 1 to see if that could lead to the answer. After reaching NodeA in path 1, i may have to make a choice of steps to follow. This causes more solution-paths to be generated. At some time, i know i've reached a dead-end, and backtrack to a previous node. Take a different solution path this time. hgoes on till I arrive at the solution. Sometimes more than one solution has to be found out, and the best(optimal/efficient) of them will have to be selected. So the whole tree will have to be traversed.

Now consider if we solve this informally. It is fine (and recommended) if the tree is small enough (low value of n). We can mentally keep track of the paths, and even without a tree structure in mind, strike off the wrong paths, and thus arrive at the best solution.

When n is large, i feel that we have to consciously put on paper the tree, traverse each branch recursively and solve it. In the case of trial and error problem solving methods, this is an extremely important step. Write down the problem. Solution Path one. Solution Path two. where they differ. Point of branching. And while checking if the path leads to a solution, backtrack to an earlier node, continue from there.

All these are old school stuff, but I believe the application of this to real world problems will lead to efficient problem solving.

A feeble attempt at curing Blogger's Block.

2008-02-27T23:09:00.003+05:30

This is neither a poem, nor a story. Not a blog post, not an essay. It is pure rant. A waste of time as I usually admit. The moment I started typing this, I was planning to write something else, but now it has changed. There are moments when you feel your life should be an open book. Straight. What you see is what I am. But, at times, at times you just end up hoping it were otherwise. That life doesn't turn out to be something that every passerby treads on. Ah, gosh.
block block, blogger's block, when's the stop at shopper's stop??
bwaaaa
nuts.
lakalakalakalakalakalaka
blum blup bloop blugp blunk.
mimimimimi.
$> kill init;
terminates self

dice adiós

2008-01-28T00:07:00.000+05:30

You lit the lamp of my life,
Shining upon the darkness of souls,
Give me a chance to pass the light,
To you, when you need it most.

But by my eyes, one by one loves
One by one leaves,
Adieu! says, I just go on...

The road gets narrower, so does my heart
'Fraid to repeat the blunders of faith and love.

What, my Lord, is greater than human relationship?

Am I at the beginning yet?

2008-01-20T17:46:00.000+05:30

But the signboards are all destroyed,
By wind and storm, nay, by the same wind and storm
That are waiting ahead, that I've passed.
And it is scary.

The horses have started talking yet again,
And its a bad sign, wonder what they say.
The white one is all ready to go,
To see yonder.

To sway in the wind, yet laugh,
To dance in the rain, yet have
More than a tear to shed and share.
And yet enjoy them all.

The black one doesn't like it one bit,
Like all horses, neighs and scares me even more!
IT doesn't want to go ahead, and likes
To go back.

But shhh, my friend, I have a tale to tell;
Somewhere on the way here,
I found a present, a gift maybe
From God.

I knew not what was inside, try as I might
The secret never unhid, nor allowed me to.
I searched in vain, and got nothing,
Until I met.

A passerby, who had already seen this.
Gave me seven keys to the lock, each one
Opens up a different path, and dared me to open,
What I wanted.

I chose. I knew not at that time though
That it was to be a difficult one. That it was destined,
That it should be ripped open once a year, to make sure
Things are all right inside.

To be stitched again, to be healed again.
And ever has it been; broken, and patched.
Still I love, yearning for the healing touch.
Still I hope, longing for the immortal you.

another shell breaks?

2008-01-01T20:01:00.000+05:30

illusion, this sailed me day after day
i loved the steady breeze of dreams
brushing against my face.
until i had to dismount-
and saw life.

i dont like this.
i want to delete this.
but still....

one by one i see the petals wither away,
as the lotus, which yearns for the sun,
is killed by what it seeks!

yet the lotus blooms... not for itself, but for others..

this remains a pregnant story... an unfinished prayer...

Life is... lonely?

2007-08-28T18:55:00.000+05:30

I hate saying goodbye. Its like plucking a part of your heart and throwing it away. Gross! Most of these days are cloudy. Its raining heavily sometimes, but the world doesn't see it. Roads do get blocked sometimes, bombs go off, but some consolation is always there. There, see, I've lost touch of writing a good nice senti blog. What I would like to post is one like Aug 30, 2006(Will I forget that date??? :D ) Its almost exactly a year now. Sigh. Wish that day came again. And again.

These days I don't feel like blogging. One main reason is that this blog isn't private... :) Don't think like that. There are no big secrets in life. Just that I feel a bit.... whatd'yu say... naked? well... something... writing about yourself that the whole world can read.

So, is it the end of my blogging days? Even my crazy mind can't know.

I'm back!!

2007-08-22T20:59:00.000+05:30

I've never before skipped blogging this long. Phew, more than a month! I don't have my own computer yet. That was why I had to keep away for so long.

I've now graduated, working, single, happy... what more can one ask for? Work place is beautiful, am getting used to Hyderabad, hindi bhi eisa vaisa use kartha hoon. jeene keliye haina? Food was a problem initially, now trying out new dishes, some do backfire, but :) Transportation is very good over here, share autos, buses, metro, cabs... Have a lot more places to check out, get time only during the weekends. Still life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you are gonna get. I can say only one thing to my friends and parents....

2007-07-07T14:38:00.001+05:30

Bored, saw this somewhere and thought to take the stupid thing myself... here's wat i got.

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ENFP)

Your personality type is enthusiastic, giving, cautious, and loyal.

Only about 8% of all people have your personality, including 9% of all women and 6% of all men
You are Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

2007-07-06T19:04:00.000+05:30

How strange that I always blog only when I'm busy! Almost packed & ready to shift to the land of the Nizams. Nothing interesting going on... The winds of life are blowing calmly. ;) Nearly a week more; after that corporate life begins. hmmm.... :) Good thing the vacation doesn't extend more that this... Would have died of boredom.

Until next post,

--N;

Graduated!!!!

2007-06-29T07:17:00.000+05:30

Wooohooo... Its all over. The last of the BTech exams got over on Wednesday. Am still going to college to see off friends, all leaving hostels and going home this weekend. Tinu, Tommy and Meera have already gone home. Yesterday deleted Linux and unwanted files from computer. Parents don't need Linux, thats why. Its getting late now... Have to catch the college bus.... for the last time....

2007-06-16T22:02:00.001+05:30

The clock's ticking... Everyone's getting ready to go home... When to be seen again? Some of us going to be away from our families for the first time... Its all like a haze... Just read...
"The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress."-Charles Kettering

liberté

2007-06-08T21:37:00.000+05:30

liberté, at last.....(its here...)

.
;)) thats called an infinite loop.... tehehehe

2007-06-04T23:06:00.001+05:30

manitharkku mozhiyE thEvayillai....

bandhamillaymayuDE uchasthaayi, engilum athil enthO illE...?

2007-05-16T15:38:00.000+05:30

This is not philosophy, so don't cringe. This is what I want to say, but can't say.

This is simply what I felt immediately after waking up from my usual afternoon nap a few minutes back.

Weird? Absolutely. Childish? I think so. Seems grossly irresponsible. Enjoying every moment in life? Everybody feels so. Normal? Whats that? Caring? Of course. Suddenly I saw maturity personified. I was seeing a live transformation in front of me. An intelligent heart saturated with a calmness so natural as to seem in-born, as against someone who does not want to grow big or change. To control all the reins of life, and still, spare hands to embrace you.

Why had I, this feeling? My sneaky subconscious? Or the Impossible peeping at me through the door of unreality while Miss Sleep was leaving? Or just my desire to be a good judge of people??

None. I guess it was just a thought. One as weird as the one it was all about.

But the picture is there in my mind. Getting clearer by the minute as I type this.

And one day I'll know. Do I love change? Will those around love it? I don't know.

But I believe I shall. All will.

Exams around the corner

2007-05-13T15:58:00.000+05:30

Life ain't easy when the exams are so near. Hardly a week more, caffiene is one thing which keeps me going. Just got some advice from deeveedee about green tea and plain water, but no thanks.

Final university exam, just want this to be over, too much left to study... Some subjects, as Varmaji said, read for 30 minutes and you will sleep for 3 hours. sigh. Taking a break now. Even the most optimistic timetable cant cram all subjects into whatever time is left. hmmm... let me get back to RMIs.

I Hate CAPP

2007-05-12T12:17:00.000+05:30

I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP. I Hate CAPP.

Who are we, mere mortals...

2007-05-08T20:40:00.000+05:30

Had an excellent study session at college today. 15 minutes. Better than yesterday's 5 minutes.

Evening, went to British Library searching for "The Subtle Knife", Philip Pullman. No luck.
Met a computer science lecturer from Christ Nagar. He used to be the only CS teacher there. Well, met him today, told him I'm 2001 batch passout. He gave me a weak smile and said, "Son, I lost my memory. I dont remember anything in my life before 2005"

I didn't know what to say. I'm sure I was gaping at him for at least two minutes, before he asked what I was doing, patted me, and moved away.

Who are we, but mere mortals, in this mysterious kingdom of time?

A Trip to Aazhimala beach.

2007-05-06T21:42:00.000+05:30

May 04, 2007
A nice hot lazy day as usual...
10:15 am

"hey naaru, enthaa plans innu? ningal eviDeyengilum pOkunnO?"
"illa. aRiyilla. iviDE okkE thannE kaaNum."
"ok. jnangaL spidermanu pOkaam ennu vichaarichu. theerumaanichilla"
"hmm... enikku varaan pattum ennu thOnunnilla... kuRachu paNiyuNDu".

*******

10:30 am
SMS: "going to aazhimala. Meet at Museum at 11:30"

*******

Negotiations, Phone calls, reschedulings...

11:30 am

"3 chocolate icecreams, 1 strawberry"

1:00 pm
Starting for aazhimala beach. Chathan splitting us into laughter as usual. Munchkin n Honey miss each other. Except for those frenches thru the window.

Seems Anna Paul has started singing.. Their Qualis is now going at 100 kmph.

Shefy has had enough. He gets out and Mathai gets in. The girls wanted Poona, but he dint trust them, that sly old thief. Remeber that rainy day at school???

*******

1:30 something. - Beach!!!

Wonderful! Love at first sight.Saw a black blur shriek and run past the rocks n jump into the water. Hasn't seen water, this gal, only oil. So has this strange affinity towards water, beaches and wells.

Chathan doesn't like red... should have told that American earlier. Too bad.

Waist deep in water... err.. whats' that smell?? WATER IS OUTPUT! aww, shhi... yes literally. yuck.

Coming back to beach. Have a dip once more. Everyone else going nuts in there.

Wish I could stay here for some more time.

Abdu is funny in those pants. tehehe.

*******

6:30 pm
Back home in Dew's car.

awww. why do I keep thinking "Never again"????

It was soo good.

Bye

never again...

2007-04-25T22:39:00.000+05:30

On the MH Day(last friday), had a great time at panchaarakkaadu, the effects of which can be seen in the class blog. Then we went to top of the college terrace.. saw the college in floodlights... everything was soo good to see... archi dept, the stairs... the tiles.. trees... the drizzling and at the end of the day, one thought lingered in my mind.... never again....

Then came the last series, the 100th one. Quoting my friend JaS... "varnakadalasukaliloode bhavanayude chirakileriya yathra ini illa..." ...never again....

to share those heart aches, to fight over an ice cream, to sit in the crowded college bus.... never again....

Brutus is an honourable man

2007-04-06T16:04:00.000+05:30

Was bent on doing everything abnormal this weekend. Learnt the 24 Greek alphabets today morning. Now suddenly had an urge to read this...

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest--
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men--
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.

and so it goes... http://www.ibiblio.org/ais/speechan.htm

Finished 'Next' - A horrundus, obnoxious, atrocious book. No plot, full of transgenic apes and humanzees, talking orangutans and fluorescent turtles. Crichton is being unconventional, i KNow, but i just plain dint like it.

A winter morning or a summer evening?

2007-04-04T20:42:00.000+05:30

It was dusk. I was walking alone to my house, drinking Frooti. I had gone to the library and taken a couple of books. Long weekend ahead, nothing to do. No plans. No thrills. Just some more pages in my life. I shifted along, sending a few "Life is so boring..." SMSes to my friends. Its usually the starting point of long philosophical discussions these days. Well, they must have been fed up with this, got no replies. Or maybe the messages din't get delivered? Was too lazy to check. Walking was difficult. Played cricket with a PVC pipe and a 4-yr old's play ball for 10 minutes inside class, and got a nice muscle pull in my legs. I know, its a shame to even mention it. But its a nice feeling. Pain is sweet sometimes.

Sauntered along. An old schoolmate riding a bike stopped near me. Had seen him a few months back during school reunion. We talked for sometime about his life, my college, said goodbye, and I continued. There was not much traffic at that time, and the silence was very pronounced. I was walking, humming aaraarum kaaNaathE. My mind was running wild and out of control, thinking about everything, but nothing in particular. Suddenly saw a house to my right. A small ODiTTa veeDu. The housewife was chanting "...rAma rAma pAhimAm, mukunda rAma pAhimAm..". An old lady and two small children were piously sitting and praying. What a serene sight! I moved on. The juice was almost finished. I threw it away. Another house. "...rama, rama, seetha rama...". Something stirred up in me. I felt life was very good and beautiful. Interesting that I should think of waking up when the sun is going to sleep. It seemed like a winter morning combat. Too lazy to wake up, watching the sun stream in through the windows... It seemed my life has been like that winter morning. This slumber has been too long, too cozy. I just don't want to wake up now. I know I must, soon. But, just a few more minutes, please...

Twisted Scribblings

2007-03-21T17:08:00.000+05:30

Mind is an esoteric entity which exists but is invisible;is the most perplexing of God's creations. It is quite intuitive, though theologists may differ, that the mind is the seat of man's creations. All the beautiful and amazing stories the mind whispers, the hands caress them to existence. The mind is said to be just one of the three "substances" that make humans - body and soul being the other two. Its just the mind I wish to talk about.

Few will disagree with me if I say we can't control our minds properly. Still we call it ours. Completely ours. And private. Who knows my innermost thoughts?

Isn't it surprising that the birthplace of the most beautiful of emotions - love, gratitude, friendship - is also where you hide away the vilest and darkest of your thoughts? Those twisted dreams you wished you never had, the deepest and most crooked ideas and run-away imaginations. Where does all that come from? The Little Evil Step-Brother of Mind perhaps? Whatever be, its a disturbing teeny-weeny little box in you. Never to be opened or looked at. The wise man never allows it to be opened. Or to be spoken, lest they materialise.

Is there no escape? There is. Time. The more mature you become.. the better person you are... the more you understand, the smaller the box. Drive it away! You will see them fading into oblivion. For example, there are some things you feel at times. Most of you know what i mean, have experienced it. Caution, whatever you think I'm referring to now, is actually based on YOUR experiences, YOUR life. We always relate everything to our life, don't we?? Isn't that how we understand what life teaches us? Well anyway, do you think its impossible not to feel that way? No, it isn't. We can change. Its just how you perceive your surroundings. And its better when the feeling is unlike the first time. The second is better. First impressions are not always the best. Never be afraid to change. The willingness to accept and enjoy change is what determines whether you are happy or not. Enjoy life, be happy.

hell, i opened the box. stop reading and get lost, i'm mad.

Problems, problems...

2007-03-18T12:51:00.000+05:30

How difficult can accepting this invitation to join a group blog in Blogger get? It seems, pretty tough, considering how people end up not joining the blog, even though they think they have.

And here are some comments by netizens (collected from various threads, forums over time)

I unchecked that option and when i got to the part where the PC restarts, he did not restarded but he simply stop processing and i got no image on monitor screen :S

when I open a pdf file or html file it just open in the same windows I need it to open in separated windows who? my browser called konqueror. ther are file called file.pdf in C driver. when I open this file it open in the same browser that mean I most press on back button to go to C

hi can anybody tell me what type of cam is best for filming cinema stuff i need good quality big memery card and somthing quite small and also quite cheap so i dont get caught i am planning on uploading all stuff i film email me with all info including what to say if i get done or caught. thanks [email id]
can someone please tell me how to put this thing to sound?? because the sound is not working... do I need an extra sound file or something?? (from some torrent site after down a movie)
What's a tracker? Please don't upload it as a torrent.. The 'seed' and 'sowing' concept has not sunk well inside my thick skull..
[This guy just started downloading a torrent...] Its not working. do u have to wait until everythin is downloaded??

NO OFFENCE MEANT TO ANYONE!!!!

A smile...

2007-03-11T18:25:00.000+05:30

...made my day The toothless grin of a two year old how enchanting it is! I just smiled in spite of the heat. Innocence personified, aren't they??

Seems like Mother Earth can stand the treachery and injustice around her, only with the strength of the smiles of the children. How difficult is it to do that now? I mean to smile that innocent way even after growing up, as if the smiling is the ultimate bliss; guess it comes from within the heart.

A heartfelt smile to all my friends...

My ideal week day.

2007-02-25T22:26:00.000+05:30

Wake up at 6 am
Get ready for college by 8.
Sleep from 9am - 12pm.
Lunch @ Techies.
Lime @ Lords.
Back to class by 1:30pm
Sleep till 3pm
Canteen @ 3
Leave college at 4
Back home at 5
Sit on my computer chair
Sleep at 11:30pm

Edit: There's a stop under the shades of acacia every now and then - no fixed timings. Mostly in the afternoon - before cutting classes, and after we cut classes... :)

Is this 42??

2007-02-08T18:01:00.000+05:30

Its all a race...

It all looks like a race. I don't know what the goal is, where or when it'll be achieved. I don't know when I shall stop running, when I shall start again. But I run. We all run. And that is what matters most. Its important we don't let the light we are, to burn out. The day I stop running, its not going to matter how far I've run, but how much I've helped others run.

It has taken a long time to realize there are people running around me - but oh, it was to be expected, considering every other day makes me feel I was stupid and immature the day before.

Its amazing how one moment can change everything. An instant, all that is needed to redefine your entire self. An answer you've been searching for your entire life, a name you have been trying to remember - everything gets answered within a blink of the eye. The joy you get from that, I'm afraid to speak of it, lest its magic be broken.

And I thank my friends. My friends - how much they mean to me! How one day changed me! I always had one thing dearest to me - music. Something which has always consoled me, supported me during difficult times. How one afternoon changed it all! Now I've my friends too.

Interestingly, you never stop learning in life. Nor do you ever stop changing. And how visible the change is! How exciting! I see myself moving forward, never stopping, and am surprised to see myself as I was months back. How on Earth could I have been like that??? I used to see faces - some evoked envy, some asked for pity. A few others cracked me up laughing; still I was lost - pathetically lost. I've never understood people in my life, nor do I have any hope of - its weird when others don't think like I do, don't respond how I want them to - which was a nasty recursion and made it harder for me to understand myself.

But you are mistaken if you think education and studies were my worries. No! Those nasty exams had already started growing meeker and more stupid by the day, and a pass has now become the pinnacle of my education.

No, I wanted to be as I want to, others wanted me to be as they want to, and it didn't work out. I tried to change those around me - and failed miserably. I had two choices, either to accept everything and to be like I had been, forever; or to step aside, watch it all happen, never to be bothered about it all. And its seemed I was dangerously close to that point of no return and I felt this one decision mattered the most. Months were spent trying to sort it all out logically, rationally, emotionally. The worry lords of life had set their eyes upon me, and i was again lost. I thought it was unsurmountable. Hours would be spent in depression, frustration. I tried to resist change.

But college life has made me sane, or at least as far as sanity can be defined for me. My friends came to my rescue, unknowingly. How true it is when they say "Time is the healer"... I stopped trying to worry about things around me, and took up the spectator role. I watch the things flash by. I started respecting those around me. I see each of them for what they are, what their roles are. Life starts changing, but this time I don't resist. I just let it flow... Not that I'm there yet, but I've taken the path.

Every step counts. Every flower has a reason to be happy. Its variety that makes this world such a wonderful place to live in... dreams, smiles, tears, hopes, happiness, sorrows... I want them all... I love life now...

And one fine evening, I wrote, "Its all a race..."

2007-01-25T22:21:00.000+05:30

Got back internet after 5 days. Really, the people in this part of the world can do only one thing promptly - calling a strike. Repairing the cut telephone wire in front of my house took just 5 minutes. For that they had to be coaxed and pleaded, and 5 days was what it took them to put a tape on the wire. Problems coz of public sector laziness...

Attended Conert by Kadri Gopalnath, accompanied as usual by A Kanyakumari on the violin. It was as a part of the cultural fest going on at Nishagandhi. 1 1/2 hours, started with Brova baramma, then another one i dint recollect, then a big big Nagumo(aabhEri), almost an hour of that... They did Swara bEdhams, i believe.. Will post it here... I liked it very much. Finished off the concert with Theeratha Vilayaattu pillai, bhagyadha lekshmi etc.

I've noticed that everyone likes Morsing in the thani avarthanam part, even if they don't like Carnatic Music....

Review: "Night at the museum"

2007-01-19T16:07:00.000+05:30

Saw the film Night at the Museum today(cam release torrent). Filled with humour all the way through, a really novel idea for a film. Who framed Roger Rabbit has something similar where the cartoon characters have life. But this one is short, just over an hour and a half, and has a whiff of moral essence to it too.

Its about a man struggling to find a permanent job, ends up at a museum. The museum is under a spell - all the exhibits come to life at night. He comes close to quitting his job, but finally takes responsibility and gets a permanent position there. The director of the museum made me split up laughing, so did the scene where the pirate(?) (rip-him-apart guy) becomes friends with Larry.

Thats about the most uninteresting review of that film. But rotfl-ed throughout the film... Its going to be up there as one of my favs.

Eesshhwaraaaa....

2007-01-17T23:05:00.000+05:30

Was half-heartedly checking out something for the project... half asleep...
came across this in a typedef in Visual...

struct tagVARIANT
{
union
{
struct __tagVARIANT
{
VARTYPE vt;
WORD wReserved1;
WORD wReserved2;
WORD wReserved3;
union
{
LONGLONG llVal;
LONG lVal;
...
....
.....
*sigh**sigh**sigh**sigh**sigh*

Audio Blog testing.

2007-01-17T20:51:00.000+05:30

Audio without problems.

Audio with problem

2007-01-02T20:14:00.000+05:30

TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE

or

TO LOVE WHAT YOU DO ???

2006-12-31T20:31:00.000+05:30

What has gotten into me???? I watched the 4th HP film 2day morning(4 the 3rd time), then finished the whole Digital Fortress book. Tuesday exam...... :(( I'm mad. 2 o' clock.. i'm halfway thru'... 3 o' clock.. just 150 more pages. 4.. Come on, almost there, just 50 more pages... Finally finished the book at 5 o' clock, ending up NOT liking the book(I don't like Dan Brown's works. He always throws it away at the end(Angels and Demons end was horrible); in this case, in the beginning of the 2nd half). I don't know why. And these Americans.. they can't ever write a proper "For All Ages" book. However tense the situation, they always put in the Fs n Xs.... I prefer there were more author's like Asimov.

I am mad, really. I can't believe I'm blogging at this time. Got LOTS to study. Maybe its complacency, maybe overconfidence or else frustration.

2006-12-31T12:06:00.000+05:30

uuurggggggggghhhhh........

Ended up watching Goblet of Fire... for the third time. Now got to cram for exams.

Why do I like Harry Potter so much?? Why does it so emotionally affect me??? ah, who cares? I like it. Thats all. End of Story.

Look at that again... ywxycdco

2006-12-30T19:32:00.000+05:30

India lost the test. Bad luck. But SA wasn't better than the Indians. Lots of decisions went in favour of the SAns and against the Indians. In both the innings, Rahul Dravid wasn't out. Prince was out in the first innings early on, not given.( catch i guess) Boucher too. :(( :(( really hope the top order gets into form.

P.S >> I'm getting tired of this stupid Word Verification.. Its getting longer each day... Will we end up one day, doing polygraph tests and fingerprint scans to make a post??? See today's "rcjawjey"

Edit 2: Hey, Thats a neat idea.... Fingerprint scans instead of passwords. In every site, every forum. Scanners attached to all keyboards. No more of countless passwords, forgotten/stolen passwords, insecure storage. Universal password - your fingerprint. No more phishing attacks. Hell, NO passwords at all!

BSNL increasing bandwidth for users???

2006-12-29T08:41:00.000+05:30

got more than 55 kbps download speed consistently today morning, and around 25kbps upload spped... BSNL speed doubled?

A long n busy week...

2006-12-23T10:17:00.000+05:30

What a week! It seems I haven't posted after the exams - almost 2 weeks now. Am up to my neck in things I shouldn't have poked into, now as a consequence ending up very busy.

Have organised something like 30% of my Carnatic Collection(about 3 DVDs), most probably thats all for this holidays. Went for L Subramaniam's Global Fusion Concert this wednesday. Excellent. Liked a genre called Flamenco Music - Guitar n percussion - by Jan Kubek and Miguel from Poland.

Its a week of retirements in Cricket - Nicky Boje, Shane Warne, Harmison, Damien Martyn. Too bad Ponting still has a long way to go :(

I had a brush with a viral fever. Still drowsy under the medication, sleeping 12 hours a day..

And to all who dared to ask the question "Any films?", my reply was "Meera, 1945", and it was déja vu : raised eyebrows and shaking heads

P.S >> 7th Harry Potter title announced : "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".. Oooh. can't wait.

Shai Sharanam!

2006-12-11T17:35:00.000+05:30

If you don't know Shai Simonson, too bad. You missed him as a teacher. Some of us got the opportunity to know him through his video lectures, and I'm sure anyone who has listened to them, will agree with me. He is an excellent teacher, if not one of the best I've seen so far. And not surprisingly, AAD exams were easy today. That, considering the fact that the video course was a not more than a basic course. No math was asked, so was just 3 hours of writing all I know

KU aa... kaNdaRiyaam...
Free for another 20 days, yay!!! Going to seriously start on our project soon... Only Ashwin is doing now

The nectar of life

2006-12-09T21:03:00.000+05:30

Why does music affect people so much? Someone had said... "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture - it's really a stupid thing to want to do." Well, let me start doing stupid things.
   There is nothing like getting- I feel compelled to use the word... "seduced"- by music . Even the Sitar maestro, Pt. Ravi Shankar, in one of his interviews, compared music to a beautiful lady.
   Good music evokes that inexplicable soothing feel, something which amounts to experiencing bliss. I feel that it builds a bridge over the voidness in life. Something mysterious, supernatural. As if it can fuse together the broken pieces of the heart.
   Music has life. But there is nothing else in this universe to which she can be compared. Maybe she's the most beautiful of God's creation? That elusive ether of metaphysics? Elusive, but still within sight... within reach... within us...

"Ah, music! A magic beyond all we do here!" -- Albus Dumbledore.

Currently thrashing in an infinite loop in Winamp... Sutrum Vizhi Sudarthaan Kannamma.... by Hariharan( )..... aaah!

How should Linux evolve?

2006-11-28T20:43:00.000+05:30

GNU/Linux is a great OS. But it just isn't there yet. Lots of issues still persist. A couple of weeks back, i got my original Windows XP and installed it overwriting the GRUB. And I lost my Suse 10 DVD, so thought of installing some other distro. Started with Debian. all fine till the "X" part. It had an option "i810" driver, while my chipset is i915. well, ok, went with that, and as u guessed right, didn't work. Come on, guys, it was the stable version released april 2006. not too old. still they havnt got a driver for anythign i810 up. Ok, Ok, i understand. stability. server. hmm. but then......awww i dont knw.
tried Fedora 5 next. detected my monitor, chipset etc. correctly, but hung at Graphical installation. Fine. Did text install. booted into console. init 5 and startx spewed a garbled GUI, and eventually hung the system. hmmm. ok, these are all problems every1 faces. just have to configure via commandline, n everything will be fine... But whats the command... thats when i realised... different distributions have different commands for configuration! i tried xorgcfg, X-config, xorgconfig, xconf, xconfig, x-config, Xorgconf, and all such combinations... Coz i was sure i had used something similar b4 in suse... but no. that was not it. searched the net, and got "setup-config-display" which when run, brought my grabled GUI up. aargh. tried "setup" next. Same story. why would anyone want to use command line to set the display settings unless its not working??? So why on Earth should the configuration option try to start the GUI..????

Ubuntu is working good, atleast the live one... ut i'm not installing it. waiting for suse download to finish, has been my favourite till now.

Here're my thoughts on what should change in linux.

1. Drivers, hardware support, drivers, hardware support...
2. Some distributions give as default "delete complete partition and install" as the default in partitioning. Please, why should it be like that????
3. Standardisation of commands for configuration... Like if modem doesn't work, there one command for all distros. A generic one. and the distro specific ones can also be standardised.. like name_of_distro-config-display or something like that...

Otherwise, i believe Linux will remain a geek OS. Esp. since most of the computer users are those who can't distinguish one end of the mouse from the other. Or those who think the monitor is the computer. They are the average computer users, who don't want to learn more about computers, but just enough to use them for day-to-day uses - mail, music etc...

bad, bad dream.

2006-11-19T23:28:00.000+05:30

Uh oh... Just remembered... I dreamed of 'at' command yesterday night... *yuck* - This is a bad sign... Read in newspapers about IAD : Internet Addiction Disorder... hmm... time to think again.

well, studies going on... just less than half a module done today... hoping for better days ahead...

sigh

2006-11-14T13:24:00.000+05:30

I've decided. This is it. The beginning of the end.

Adiós, Cioa, Au revoir.

another occasional post

2006-11-12T11:56:00.000+05:30

Here's the resume of my friend in IIT-M....

http://rnarayana.googlepages.com/AtulSVasu.pdf

Just hats off to you, dude.

Why are my blogs getting smaller and smaller?? Maybe I'm too busy doing nothing...

Seminar Report

2006-11-11T22:25:00.000+05:30

http://rnarayana.googlepages.com/Virtualization.rar

My seminar report. Almost done, except for inserting some links to references inside the body.

I'm rustin'

2006-11-03T22:55:00.000+05:30

i'm rustin',
life's callin',
oh my! i'm chaind!
to earth, to sleep, to food.

Not a song, not a song... Its the truth.. Long hours of lazy day-dreaming at college have left me lazy, fatter, and above all dull. Don't feel like doing anything these days... don't want to wake up, don't want to study, just idle away...

Oh, can't wait.. can't wait..

TimeCapsule.

2006-10-28T10:56:00.000+05:30

My lowly contribution to Yahoo Time Capsule...

http://timecapsule.yahoo.com/capsule.php?i=120911&t=faith&l=en

hopefully the last assgm. this sem...

2006-10-25T21:20:00.000+05:30

This is the first question:

Next is 2nd question:

Supposing the first 2 answers are correct, I don't know the 3rd answer. 3rd Question is "Problems of Behaviour"... I guess you cud write anything from mob behaviour to teen behavioural problems to psycho-somatic abberations... Photos: Courtesy Dew, as always.
And if its not clear, athra ezhuthiyaa mathi.

IE 7 Extensions

2006-10-23T17:40:00.000+05:30

Finally, its in.

Users can create their own add-ons for IE7
http://www.ieaddons.com

I can't wait to try IE7... Let me get my system repaired... Its tooo unstable.. I believe its a loose connection. Boots only if i give two slaps on the cpu(yes, literally).

And thus ends another Diwali.

2006-10-21T20:50:00.000+05:30

My system acted up again today morn. I just removed the RAM, plugged it back in, and it worked... What is the problem?? The other day it worked when the processor was removed and reinserted. no idea.

Lots of crackers and fireworks this time in my house.. We got them very cheap, so infact this was the biggest deepavali till now... Nice tasty sweets, hot vadas, ukkarai, boli - in short, it was an overloaded kitchen...

Didn't send any email greetings this time.. I wish a Happy Deepavali to all of my friends and relatives from the inner sanctuaries of my heart...

Bad, bad system.

2006-10-19T21:11:00.000+05:30

My PC has been giving me troublw for more than 2 weeks now. Was living off the department laptop last week, now i have my PC back, though still it seems to be acting up sometimes... It won't boot. No signal to monitor. Tried removing drives, memory, everything. Its very random. sometimes it just starts working. Gave it for repair, and they are equally stupefied. Sometimes I get an error message at BIOS like "Serial Presence Detect(SPD) not correct or something..."
Just looked up what SPD is...

"When a computer is booted (started), serial presence detect (SPD) is information stored in an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) chip on a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) memory module that tells the basic input/output system (BIOS) the module's size, data width, speed, and voltage. The BIOS uses this information to configure the memory properly for maximum reliability and performance. If a memory module does not have SPD, the BIOS assumes the memory module's information. With some memory, this does not cause problems. But SDRAM memory has to have SPD or the computer may not boot at all. If it does boot, the assumed information may cause fatal exception errors..."

Is it with memory then??? God aone knows..

PPL

2006-10-15T21:30:00.000+05:30

merci again to dew, bejoy and to the one who wrote the assignment(swetha this time?)....

busy times again

2006-10-13T23:18:00.000+05:30

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT.
If you can't see any lines, skip them...
no system for a week now... its simply not booting... living off Vipin's laptop.
Thanks to some1 for writing th assignment(anjana?), dew for scanning it, and bejoy for forwarding it...
and results out.. bd year generally for every1 again.. many supplies this time too.. I got 7.94

The final lap, continued.

2006-10-05T06:03:00.000+05:30

5 pm

Almost there. Another 2 hours to reach TVM. Finished readig the book. Its awesome. A book that everyone must read and try to follow. I think almost all spiritual and religious books impart similar thoughts, but its all consolidated here. There's every chance that a commonerwill understand this book than the rest.

I'll try to follow the book. Seriously. I"m going to. I know I am. I must. I will.

I haven't finished Zen and the Art of MOtorcycle Maintenance yetm ut this book seemed so easy to read than the other one. So plain, so simple, so direct.

***

There ends the great story of my trip to Hyderabad. Its back to college from today.. Hopefully its not back to old days. That book has made some difference i feel.

The final lap

2006-10-03T05:43:00.000+05:30

12 noon
Inside Sabari Express now... Its going to take 30 hours to rech TVM. Bought two Robin Sharma books... 30 hours.. *sigh*

***

Reading Monk who sold his Ferrari...

***

Finished our lunch. An elderly couple near our seat. Their daughter and son-in-law are working in MS, Seattle, it seems. One fifteenth of the journey over... Reading again...

"From struugle comes strength."
"Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens."

***

There is also a lady army officer near us. Great discussion going on here about equality of women and men, INdia, history, heritage etc. I'm just relaxing...

Its goodbye time

2006-10-02T17:30:00.000+05:30

7 am
Yesterday I forgot about the awards ceremony for the past year's student partners and all...

5 pm
Dead tired. whole body seems like a sack of stones. Am at cousin's house, left MS at 2 pm, reached hotel by 3 and cousin's before 4. Had an ice-cold shower today also in the morning. It was too cold here in the morning. I was wearing 3 T Shirts one over the other @ campus... Max. temp is around 20. Didn't eat lunch. Just want to sleep now.. Vijayadasahmi festival going on here. Big processions on street. They are banging something - its loud. dogs, children all crying.. slipping into oblivion. Till next awakening...

Second day @ MS

2006-10-01T23:11:00.000+05:30

11:20 am

Its a break now. Had Kevin, an evangelist, talk about Web2.0 and stuff. Then one Prathiba Menon gave a cool overview of AJAX and ATLAS. Its a peculiar feeling watching the gals here discussing db and OLE and servers ans .NET.... Now, don't get the wrong notuion that I'm and MCP. I'm not. Its just that its new. Its siply too techy here. NExtseesion abt. to start...

5:20 pm
Its been free for one hour now. This si agreat experience - am seeing all aspects of life - organisational, technical, ... We're oppping in and out of the cantten every hour. Its too good. Soft drinks and coofee, tea are free. You can order both South Indian and North Indian dished. They make it "live" ;) If you can't imagine the canteen, here how big it is: thrice the size of CETAA Hall.
Even bathroominl polum technology vittu vechittilla.

We were given lectures - more like interactive sessions - on how to go forward with the group etc. There ppl. are really inspired. Except for the evangelist here, they don't seem to be biased. They admit GMail and Google search are damn good, but vow to catch up and do better. They don;t seem to be bothered about open source(Win CE is open source).

Its Dandiya tonight. Some programme after 7...

6:30 pm

I was talkingwith the guys from Bangalore. ellaam kidilams. They speak of reversed indexed hases, xml parsers optimisation etc when they get bored... Food is plenty. Let me escape.. The hot chocolate is too good to miss...

9:45 pm

One half of the Dandiya night dance is over. Mostly it was like Adhivasi dance for us ignorant guys. First time anything like this after the Loyola College experience... Rest later.. Out of breath...

1 am(oct 2)

New experiences... Hey I'm decent. Just that I'm awake at this time... Had discussions with those guys abt the pgmmes in TVM. were the last ones to leave the campus. The almighty Reza took us on a tour of the campus at 12 midnight.(Thankfully no one is working here on weekends - thats a solace). Walked from the dropping point to my guest room to sleep, throught the unknown Hyderabadi roads at 1 am in the night, followed by 2 dogs, saying my prayers... I'm seeing new things... that coffee can keep you awake.. Last week, i found out that a project like Dhwani can keep you awake, now found out much more about coffee... I myself am surprised I'm writing this now.(Yes i was writing this that night, now i'm simply typing it on OCt 4th) its past one. We had a fabulous dance party for around 1 hour, then an as-usual-big-dinnerm still I'm not tired. Got to get up again early 2moro. There'a gng to be a lab on Windows Wmbeded. Then its goodbye time... Sleep's trying to peep in. I'm switching off my Nokia 1100 torchlight now...

Day 2 : The D Day

2006-09-30T22:49:00.000+05:30

Am now in the room provided by MS. Seems to be a residential area guest house. Two of my roommates are from TN. ONe is a graduate, and the other doing MSc at CIT. We've to wait here till the organisers come and pick us up. Maybe by noon we'll reach the campus. I've actually seen the campus from outside. I went there at 10 am but it was all deserted.

***

Am waiting inside the office now. The place is all deseretd even now. Just visitors only. They are taking the guys batch by batch inside. The place is big. Photos not allowed, they sya. This is a bit away from the city, less pollution, no traffic. A guy sitting next to me is talking about his internship @ MS, code4bill, semaphoer, locks etc... huh?

9:20 pm
We're sitting in the campus grounds now. Its drizzling slightlly. The climate is excellent, but i heard its gets very cold usually. Today's session was basically user group intro, general overview of what we've to do and all... Just heard from Arun and mili that all is well @ dhwani. Good. Am stil writing this down, heard we'll be provided systems 2moro to use net.. IDC and GDCI different it seems.

12:30 am(oct 1)
Back at room now. Had to wait from 11 to 12 to get back to hotel, they are shuttling students by batches again.. Was litewrally was half asleep. Have to be ready by 7 am 2moro morning... Going to sleep.

Day 1 Continued.

2006-09-29T22:03:00.000+05:30

We went to Hyderabad Central - a shopping complex - at around 9 pm. 5 floors, theatre at top, rest were clothes, food, fashion and all modern life junk.

The entry section had perfume stalls. Hmmm. nice. Dress seems to be a craze here. Lacoste shirts for Rs.2400, a pair of socks for Rs. 950 all seems to be common here... There was a board displaying "Rs.100 OFF if you buy an underwear", I dare not guess the price...

Had good food there. Must be one of the better places to eat out in this city of Nizams. But its all too... too.. trndy?? Everyone seems to have glued their ears to small 10cm x 5cm x 2cm electronic devices... The world seems to be full of sleevelesses, eyelids-matching-colour-of-dress, tshirts.. But its not as glamourous as Bangalore . I wonder, though, do I like this modern cyber-tech city full of glass, gloss and glamour? Or is a picturesque, peaceful, calm countryside better? I don't know. I may want to experience the former to enjoy the other...

Am back at the lodge now, writing this on paper, hoping to blog it sometime later thjis week. Nite for now.

Day 1

2006-09-29T22:02:00.000+05:30

Frantic calls from college... registration held up for 2 hour.. oops. Was at airport by 1 pm. Checked in , all OK. Flight - IA.

***

There was a murmur of dissent from the giant old bird as she was pulled onto the tatrmac. She slowly turned, and started her run from one end of the runway. I was surprised by the sudden acceleration, and it was a thrilling experienc - I felt the enormous soeed, even the distant buildings were flashing by. Then she soared up, inclined at an angle noticeable even from within the plane. All nasty thoughts came rushing to my mind. The uplift had caused a sudden loss of acceleration. Blasts, crashes and death danced in the back of my mind. But soon she levelled out, and I could enjoy the grand view[I had a window seat].

It is one thing yo see your city using Google Earth, but to be actually on top it, to actually see the whole shadow cast by the clouds is something different. I even saw the full shadow of our plane on the ground!

Then came the tastiest part - refreshments! I opened the packet with great expetations.... urgh... parotta?? Cold memories of cet canteen froze my mind...

It was time to land at Madras. Nothing eventful for another two hours, while we waited for the next flight to Hyderabad.

***

It was nearly 5 o' clock. There was no announcement for Security Check/ Boarding for our IA flight. There was some dissent by the passengers. Somehow w boarded the flight. It was very sultry inside the flight. There was soft music playing in the background. At around 6:30, the flight readied for take off. During the final run and acceleration, the music turned to some sort of eerie screeching noise. After a few minutes, all the lights inside the plane started flickering. At times, the turbulence and clouds reminded me of trivandrum roads. But the food(from Chennai Taj hotel this time) was excellent. Touchdown @ hyderabad at 7:40 was pretty much unexpected. It was dark outside, I didn't know we were going to land(was reading cricinfo magazine), and was startled fo a second. It was not at all a smooth landing.

My cousin had come to the airport to pick us. The ride though the city was a blur of horns, brakes, and swerves. At one glance, Hyd. seems to be atleast as congested as Bangalore, but is even dirtier than Trivandrum. My cousin had also booked a lodge where my father would be staying. Today I also am here, but am going to MS Campus tomorrow morning.

(Am typing this after returning to TVM, but had already written it all down.)

Leaving for Hyderabad

2006-09-29T11:26:00.000+05:30

The day started late for me today, being late in getting up... NOw all packed up, ready to leave in an hour, am getting calls from Dhwani site about various problems in the registration software I made... :( but I don't think its with the code.. The XAMPP server used is acting up. I guess its one of those things which you learn only by experince... The InnoDB locks are not getting released. *sigh*... I should not have taken this responsibility since I am not here during Dhwani... *sigh*

Tomorrow is the D-Day... Too bad I don't have a camera, but will try to blog if I can from there... Else will do so on 4th or 5th, after I return...

some news.

2006-09-25T20:37:00.000+05:30

Was busy with Dhwani and series exams till now... Things are happening fast...
Kavitha won the Idea Star Singer award yesterday, which is a gr8 achievement. Heard some funny stories about Guptan in class , new teachers trying to teach us, dhwani this weekend, "Strings" from Pakistan (whoo???), and the grand finale with me flying to Hyderabad... hope i'll come back in one piece... Still 3-4 more days to go, hope nothing amiss happens... Its raning like anything here; some nearby places are flooded. hmmm.... LIFE.

Sachin back in form...

2006-09-20T20:50:00.000+05:30

This is an incident between Glem McGrath and Sachin, narrated by the fast bowler himself, on TheHindu, dated 18th Sept, 2006...

:)

Tendulkar is GOD.

2006-09-11T07:35:00.000+05:30

Courtesy: Hindu Epaper, http://epaper.thehindu.com/

Saving stream from MIO

2006-09-10T13:17:00.000+05:30

Update to this post::

To save streams from MusicIndiaOnline, just do this:
Use Ethereal to capture packets, and as soon as transmission starts, stop capturing, and "Follow TCP Stream". Select ASCII. Look for something like this... at the beginning... Make sure you clear the display filter... And search for 'smil' until you get...

What we need are the things rounded in RED... Join them together, thats it... Direct download.
If u try this for sometime, you'll know how to get all the songs in the album, if u find out address one one song in that.

If you ask me why I'm doing all this, I'm a little paranoid about preserving audio quality, and am not enthusiastic about using something like total recorder and transcoding.

Save Streaming real audio from Malayalavedhi(works for ALL sites too)

2006-09-10T10:28:00.000+05:30

That sense of victory, satisfaction, i lovee that....

Finally, atlast I saved the streaming audio from malayalavedhi

THIS is the most general method i believe is possible. u should be able capture anything and everything.

Tools used :
Ethereal(to capture the packets)
Hexedit(to delete some header portion)
Some player which plays real audio...

Open ethereal, go the the site, start capturing, click the song which u want to stream( open with player). voila. if u r using realplayer, u can stop as soon as buffereing is finished.
Now in ehtereal, right click anywhere and select "Follow TCP stream". Dump raw. save as some file(extension .rm or .ra) u want.
Open that file with hexedit. Delete everything till the line starting with .RMF (excluding that)
eg::

***DO NOT USE NOTEPAD/WORDPAD TO EDIT.... IT IS NOT A BINARY EDITOR***
This should be how it looks like at first, after deletion, it should look like the second one... Use hexedit.

10 best free programs I like

2006-09-08T23:42:00.000+05:30

Firefox - browser, along with the wonderful extensions.
utorrent - bittorrent client, for windows only. [Ditch Azureus, unless u want other protocols]
ZoneAlarm (Free) - firewall. [Ditch WinFirewall]
GordianKnot - integrated DVD ripping, Xvid/DivX encoding software. [Ditch Nero Recode]
Media Player Classic - my favourite video player.
Winamp - my favourite music player.
IsoBuster - recover data from damaged CDs.
Foxit PDF reader - small and fast pdf reader. [Ditch Adobe]
Irfan View - picture viewer, converter.
FreeDownloadManager - use along with flashgot extension in firefox

Its difficult to stop with 10 programs, but thats it for now!!!

2006-09-08T17:15:00.000+05:30

Saw this in a change log in an application port to windows @ sourceforge..

 * include/afxres.h: Remove the \r from the line ending.
 * include/errorrep.h: Ditto.
 * include/shldisp.h: Ditto.
 * include/tschema.h: Ditto.
 * lib/dhcpcsvc.def: Ditto.
 * lib/uxtheme.def: Ditto.
 * lib/wldap32.def: Ditto.

lol...

2006-09-07T22:51:00.000+05:30

aargh. Of all days. :( Its too cloudy today. Partial Lunar Eclipse... Let me wait and see... If I'm lucky..
Still its only partial.. just 20% on moon goes into umbra.

2006-09-03T13:14:00.000+05:30

Music, books , food and sleep. And Internet.
Big plans for holidays, yay!

sigh

2006-09-02T19:49:00.000+05:30

Each of my posts have some significance, only a few of you may know it...

Some interesting optical phenomena in the sky.

2006-09-02T10:37:00.000+05:30

This picture taken with a long exposure. This is actually at nighttime.

life is beautiful

2006-08-30T20:21:00.000+05:30

The young leaf bore it all,
the morning dew, the rays that played;
It was happy to see the earth,
all beautiful things in nature.

The leaf kept swaying in the wind,
until all the dew and mist weighed it down...
Then came a day, he couldn't bear it anymore,
the woes of yore came hurtling down,

He shook himself, and leapt for the world again,
and all the suns shone brighter than ever,
the darkness washed away by friendship;
so long, and thanks for all the help.

I'm 2 years old.

2006-08-29T19:17:00.000+05:30

Its 2 years since I started blogging...
My first blog was on August 25th, 2004... Its here

Two Years.... well, not exactly. I didnt blog for some time after that initial couple of posts in blogger. Around 2005 June, I shifted to 360.yahoo.com, was there till April 2006. Then dumped 360, back to blogger.

College is boring these days. Labs are good. And Anwar sir's classes... lol. Don't scowl like that.

EDIT::::

August 25th was also Linux's 25thy anniversary of announcement.

Hello everybody out there using minix -

I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I'd like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix, as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-system (due to practical reasons) among other things).

I've currently ported bash(1.08) and gcc(1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that I'll get something practical within a few months, and I'd like to know what features most people would want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won't promise I'll implement them :-)

PS. Yes - it's free of any minix code, and it has a multi-threaded fs. It is NOT protable (uses 386 task switching etc), and it probably never will support anything other than AT-harddisks, as that's all I have :-(.

Linus Benedict Torvalds, Aug 25 1991

hmmmmmmmmmmm..........

Creating Firefox Extensions - 3

2006-08-28T20:56:00.000+05:30

Baah. Got that stupid Hello, World extension working... I guess I'll have to eat some of my own words from the previous two posts on the same topic...

A lot of the files don't seem to be doing anything(for now) Mostly for styling i guess... The main beautification and structure of your window is done in the *.xul files inside the chrome\content directory.

Summary:
This is the latest structure of my extension diretory...

Click to enlarge...
Here's the extension as a .xpi file
Right-click, save as. then unzip to C:\myext
inside, go to chrome\myext.jar, and unzip that too... u get to see all the files...
If you try to see it working, ofcourse, u have to install it.
And if you install it, Go to Tools->extensions and right click on this extension... This is the data from install.rdf

Sigh. Wonder when I'll start doing somethign useful...

aurora

2006-08-28T17:45:00.000+05:30

Breathtaking picture of the aurorae as seen from the space station.
[Taken from uwww.universetoday.com]

Reminds me of Asimov's radioactive earth in his Foundation books...

Creating Firefox Extensions - 2

2006-08-27T12:40:00.000+05:30

OK. The second part. I don't know what this extension is going to do, maybew something as stupid as "Hello, World". But here goes, anyway.
We can start by making directories... Read somewhere that the names don't matter, but we'll just follow the convention:

I MAY CHANGE ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING I SAY ANYTIME. SO BEWARE.

myext
--content
----myext.xul
----overlay.xul
----overlay.js
--locale
----en-UK
------myext.dtd
------overlay.dtd
--skin
----overlay.css

--install.rdf
--chrome.manifest

{Things in black are folders, those in red are files}
The most important thing we write will be in chrome\content.

Chrome is the set of user interface elements of the application window that are outside of a window's content area. Toolbars, menu bars, progress bars, and window title bars are all examples of elements that are typically part of the chrome. [ the "UI" ]
The content directory will contain the .xul and .js files needed to describe the windows, dialogues etc.
All localisation stuff is kept inside the locale directory. ie, Suppose I need to put the name of a label of a button in English, i write it separately in another file, and keep it inside this locale/en-UK directory. If some1 else wants to write a Tamil/Malayalam version of this, he can create another file inside, say, locale/malayalam and put the malayalam names for the labels in it. Thus localisation is a breezee.

[More about chrome and the contents of the folder here: http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Chrome_Registration ]

We'll see what the two files in the root dir contain...

chrome.manifest

content myext content/
locale myext en-UK locale/en-UK/myext/

The first line registers a content package. ie, when you type chrome://myext/content/... in the DOM inspector window(or during runtime ? ), the file in the content directory is used. Similarly a locale package is registered with the second line.

The mozillazine site says:
Warning: Don't forget the end slash at the end of the paths : "content/" works, whereas "content" doesn't. Also note that the package name has to be all lowercase.
Note: this file will be a bit different when you create an XPI for your extension, see the Packaging section

install.rdf
This file is used by the extension manager while installing the extension, to provide information about the author, version number and such metadata.

Overlays
We can modify the existing window of Firefox using overlays. We use the DOM Inspector to find out the name of the different parts of the window, menubar, tools etc, and use overlays to add to or remove from the existing GUI.

Starting Development:
Now to the interesting part. To make the extension, first we must create the directory structure and the files inside it, then register it with the extension manager, and then we can continue development, adding more things, etc. and here's where the tools we mentioned long back help.

There's no need for me to explain what these files should contain, coz its done extremely well in mozillazine. Go there, try out their example of hello world. Then learn other things bit by bit, and become an expert in extension development..

now let me go and finish that hello world. ;)

Pluto thrown out.

2006-08-26T09:28:00.000+05:30

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas. Remember this?? This was a mnemonic to learn the names of the 9 planets in the solar system. But now its reduced to 8. We've to find a new rhyme now.

Puto, discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh, was always involved in a controversy, with many astronomers not accepting it as a planet. Reasons were that it was too small, had an eccentric orbit, and the presence of other objects of same size as/larger than Pluto. Finally, last week, PLuto was demoted to a class of objects defined as 'plutons'[also called dwarf panets] by the IAU. The current objects under this classification are Pluto, Xena(would-have-been the tenth planet), and Ceres(asteroid). The 3 "satellites"(this term may not apply to pluto anymore )of Pluto are charon, hydra and nix. Of these Charon is of similar size as Pluto, and is contesting to be a dwarf planet.

Ceres continues to be the largest asteroid and Pluto continues to be a Kuiper Belt object despite their classification as dwarf planets also.

Infact, many objects are found in the Kuiper belt, many of which are appreciably large. The Kuiper Belt is an area of the solar system from Neptune(30AU from sun) to 50AU. The objects here are called Kuiper Belt objects or trans-Neptunian objects(but these include many more objects orbitting the sun).

Creating Firefox Extensions - 1

2006-08-22T06:33:00.000+05:30

I'm going to learn how to make a FF extension. You need to know HTML, Javascript and XUL[XML UI Language] (or atleast XML). I don't know JS or XML, so its going to be right from square one. Here're the websites from where I'm going to learn:

Mozillazine
http://www.rietta.com/firefox/Tutorial/overview.html
http://www.orablogs.com/duffblog/archives/000536.html

I dont have the slighest idea how to do an extension, so this is going to be something like my notebook.

First, create another profile in firefox to be used for development purposes alone. We need to install a few extensions which willl help in the development process. Loading these extensions when you are not developing will slow down FF. So instead of installing these extensions in your regular profile, we better make a new profile and instlal there. Create new profile by typing

firefox.exe -ProfileManager
in Start->Run.
Then search and install the following extensions:
Extension Developer
Console2
Console Filter
Web Developer Toolbar (not needed for extension development, but always good to have it around for all developers)
DOM Inspector

If you selected Custom install during FF installation, you may have been given the option to install this. But if you don't have it, it isn't available separately. So to get this, run the installation again, just upto the first welcome screen. Now go to
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temp.
There a new directory would have been created when u ran the setup.(eg:7zS54.tmp). Open this, you will see an adt.xpi file. Just drag drop that file to your browser.

Note that DOM Inspector is very important in the development process.

Well, I hope that this completes the preliminary considerations to be made. If there are any more(i told you, I'm just learning), will update in this post.

Technology rules...

2006-08-20T22:45:00.000+05:30

This is how I write assignments these days...
One merciful lady writes the assignment, one gentleman takes photos with his mobile, and I write.
Aaah. Life is beautiful. Thanks friends.

60th year of Independence.

2006-08-15T20:53:00.000+05:30

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrgggghhh.....

you know the frustration of working on a problem for an hour and then finding out that you had overlooked a silly thing???

Was diong the Bresenham algorithm... had the algorithm for one case.. had to do for one more case... made a guess (it was a symmetrical case) and implemented it.. something was wrong.. it was not working well... So went back and derived the equations for the other case as well, but my guess was correct. So wat could have gone wrong?? checked my program again... it seemed to be working for many values.... finally the answer hit this rusty brain, and hit hard....
abs( ) function in math won't work for floating point numbers...

Jai Hind...

2006-08-12T22:19:00.000+05:30

Can't cry, can't cry.
I don't know the way,
I don't see, i don't see
The asnwer...

Alone and lonely,
Have made me sick.
Feel bored, of life.
The life...

Just want to spill out,
A whisper, a word
can be better than a million docs.
The cure....

Who says, that life is still, it isn't,
it moves, but so does everything else,
Who doesn't say that,
these lines are crap??

exciting test match...

2006-08-08T14:59:00.000+05:30

exciting match between Srilanka and South afriac... SL were cruising along, needing if i remember correctly, some 19 more runs at lunch, 4 wickets in hand... but SA really fought hard... Boje took the wicket of mahela jayawardhane, then fell vaas, and finally murali, with his usual swing- hit or miss style getting a couple of runs, he too got out... finally they needed 2 runs 1 wicket... won anyway....

P.S : Life seems back to normal after a long time.. dont know y... didnt use computer for long today.. its soo hot upstairs... was watching test match, then a 20-20... relaxing mood ............

"The lamp of life"

2006-08-07T17:29:00.000+05:30

wht happens when u hav fever, and can't sleep...

1:21am, 5th August.

The lamp is burning,
giving light to all,
changing visions.
the radiance is shattering,
shattering the veil of darkness

But 'tis burning out,
steadily but surely, getting shorter.
The brightness is deceiving,
deceiving also is the stillness of the flames.
The lamp of life is burning.

Need more faith to survive,
even reason can give food to life
But faith is what gives the beauty,
beauty to the flames.
But then variety is the essence of all life.

Why men, why not machines?
Why chaos, why not order?
Why not perfection?
Why sorrow, why pain, why death?
Death! Why life at all??

Here I stand, watching
the seconds tick by. I realize,
realize that life is to live, to light
tha lamp of others, to give hope
to all who wish for.

To live! Thats what life's for.
Make the lamp burn brighter,
light light light,
light till the last pulse.

"Am I dreaming in life, or living in a dream???"

jnaan paranjaa vaayikkaan??? anubhavicho...

2006-07-31T21:50:00.000+05:30

Did I hear Wright say something about Sachin in his book??? It was not clear in the news... It was about the declaration by Dravid when Sachin was at 194.... also that juniors took a lot of time adjusting with Sachin...that Sachin believed he was let down by the team....

.....interesting....

SACHIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LET YOUR BAT DO THE TALKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Things to do.

2006-07-23T19:43:00.000+05:30

Learn 8086 and 8085 for labs: Compiler Design and uP lab exams within two weeks from now. Compilers better i hope. zero in assembly.
Prepare for the seminar. Topic most probably Virtualization. Have to read more about operating ssytems for this. Deadline : Before Onam Holidays.
Learn S7 papers in about half the time : Give importance to Algorithms, Networks and Computer Peripherals.
Learn C++ more. More. Most things like STL before Onam, rest throughout the year.
Club(s????) @ college.
Blog, chat, browse... ;)

Its all about prioritising...

sigh. its a good exercise taking up challenges like this...

T M Krishna Concert.

2006-07-22T22:03:00.000+05:30

Junior Semangudi!! hehe

Violin: T H Subramanyam
Mridangam: Trivandrum R Vaidyanathan
Ghatom: Udipi Sreedhar

The concert would have been nectarine to students of carnatic music... It was kind of slow, what you say, azhuthamaa irunthuthu. Started at 6:30, went on till 9:30 i guess, but i had to leave at 9:15.
The violin was really excellent, even to my untrained and inexperinced ears. Thani avarthanam was again really interesting to listen...

Nice ghosti for him anyway

1. Virubhoni
2. Rama nannubro vara
3. Some raga aalapanai. sounded very much like bhairavi.
4. One song in a raagam called kalgada
5. Sankaraabharanam, misra jampa[danke sreedhar. Its X-1-2-3-4-5-6-X-X-V right?? I was wondering how this becomes misra chappu... I guess i heard wrong.] , dakshina moorthE something. alaapanai, thaniaavarthanam. This lasted around 1 hour
after this, he said that they don't usually aavarthanam in misra chappu, and that the percussionists were simply brilliant.
6. Raga Maalikai
7. One song in the raaga "gopika vasantham". he gave some explanation for this, about two schools of music, and about the two different versions of melakartha raagas. i didnt understand.
8. Jagadodarana ;)
Some small songs followed this, and i had to leave at this point...

Well, thats it for sometime...

Carnatic Music is the best genre in all worlds...