Digitizing my thoughts

Chennai Super Kings & Champion's League T20

2011-09-18T22:14:00.001+05:30

The next big thing to happen to cricket is the Champion's League T20. Given the performance of India in England, one might question if this is the next big thing NOW or was it always the next big thing after World Cup. There's some truth to it. Given how the Indian players were criticized for their lack of preparation, their practice schedule and outfit and how unprofessional they were against a thorough English side. It was a clear case of Men Vs Boys. But, just the numbers don't convey the entire story. We cannot blame the Indian players entirely. After achieving Test #1 ranking, World Cup T20, ODI World Cup 2011, there is very little motivation for these players. They would feel they have achieved everything there is, and rightly so. What more would they want to achieve? That is probably why they didn't bother much about this marquee series, that is England. And they paid the price. India were thoroughly demolished in the Tests. But, in the ODIs, I thought India did pretty well, until the rain, that is. In all 4 ODIs, India bowled second and they had to bowl with the wet ball, which neither swings nor spins, thereby amputating the Indian bowling attack. It was only bad luck that Dhoni lost the toss in all the ODI games. I'm sure England are due for a drubbing when they visit India for the ODI series, with the hope that all first-choice players are fit (fingers crossed). Now, that brings us to the CLT20.

Chennai Super Kings - CLT20 Champions, 2010.

Chennai Super Kings, the team that I support, won the 2010 CLT20 championship. It was a phenomenal achievement for MS Dhoni, who's captaincy kept achieving greater heights till the World Cup 2011. As Gambhir usually says "There are no great captains. A captain is only as good as the team. If I have a great team, I can win matches. If I have a poor team, I cannot win matches, no matter who I am". A classic example would be MS Dhoni in this English series. But, nothing to worry for CSK fans as Dhoni announced his comeback with blasting performances in the ODI series in England. And guess who else found his form, our own Raina. Both these players were completely out of touch in the Tests, often ending up in single digit scores. But, with the ODI series, they overturned the tables completely. Given their current tremendous form, CSK's batting will be a force to be reckoned with. Another huge advantage would be that the CLT20 would be held in India, where Raina's strike rate and average are an all time high. I'm not sure if Dhoni would be rested for a few games, given the number of games he has played back to back. But, we will know about it pretty soon.

Other batsmen in the squad - M Vijay, Anirudhha and Badrinath are all good hitters of the ball and that the matches are in India would work to their advantage. Mike Hussey, who is in rollicking form in the SL series would also return to the squad. Having played on spinning tracks in SL, there is very little adjustment needed here. I hope he opens the innings for CSK again and does what he does best, play superb cricket. With Dwayne Bravo fit and kicking, we have a tremendous allrounder amidst us (in addition to our own Albie). He will know how his fellows from the T&T play and that would work to our advantage as well. Not only that, I guess CSK has a superb bowling lineup as well - Dougie, Southee and Ashwin. I don't think any other team has the balance that CSK has. Yes, Mumbai Indians have a formidable lineup, but given that Sachin is not going to play due to his injury, I really doubt if they can step up to the challenge of CSK. At this point, I'm not quite aware of the players in the teams other than the IPL teams, so, I cannot make a comment on that. I can only say that the IPL teams would have a strong advantage because of the local players and Indian wickets, which they are mighty used to playing in.

My squad for CSK : M Vijay, M Hussey, S Raina, Badrinath, MS Dhoni, Anirudhha Srikkanth, DW Bravo, R Ashwin, Albie Morkel, Doug Bollinger/Tim Southee, S Jakati.

What's your squad?

Tomatina Festival! Really?

2011-09-17T22:13:00.002+05:30

First, a little bit of history about this Tomatina Festival. Wikipedia says

"In 1945, during a parade of gigantes y cabezudos, young men who wanted to participate in the event staged a brawl. Since there was a vegetable stand nearby, they picked up tomatoes and used them as weapons. The police had to intervene to break up the fight, and forced those responsible to pay the damages incurred.
The following year the young people repeated the fight, only this time they brought their own tomatoes from home. They were again dispersed by the police. After repeating this in subsequent years, the party was, albeit unofficially, established."

And now, Spain has been organizing this festival every last Wednesday of August. Despite their govt banning this, it has happened every year. Its fun to watch on TV. People getting soaking wet and having fun.

Tomatina Festival

When I was in school and this festival was telecasted in the news, it would make me happy. Just a simple joy of seeing people beat each other up and having fun. I've even asked my parents - "why not in India". But, now, 12 years later, I know better. I ought to. Doesn't social responsibility come with maturity?As harmless as this festival is, there is a cruel side to it, that not most of us see. It's tomato. It's food. If it had been a synthetic squishy red ball of water/gel/collagenous dump, I'd have no qualms with it. But, sadly, its not.

"What's the social responsibility here? It's just fun." - one might ask. Some even go a step higher and say "As long as someone (be it the sponsor or the people who want to dive into tomato puree) pays for the tomatoes, we should not worry in wasting them in Tomatina Festival..". Is that so? Really? How about this. You sit in a restaurant. Order food. But, you don't eat it. You throw it down the floor. And say 'I'll pay for it'. Do you think you won't invite cold stares from the people nearby? "Rich spoiled brat!" is what one might say. How is that situation different from this one?

Another argument - "Hey, these tomatoes are going to be spoiled anyways.. due to lack of proper storage system in our country.". IF thats the case, then I have an idea - since you equate spoiled tomatoes to the ones that would be involved in this festivity, why don't the sponsors or the people who want to dive into the tomato puree visit a local vegetable market and hoard all the spoiled/rotten tomatoes and play with it?

A few of us are fortunate to have never felt hunger or have seen what starvation is like in person. So, we may not understand what its like to go on days without food.. But, its really sad that some of us don't even try to understand how cruel this festivity could be to a person who would even die to get his family one edible meal. It may sound cliched/cinematic or whatever you want to term it as.. But, that's the truth. Agreed, we are all not philanthropists.. I certainly am not. I'm not saying all of us should buy food to the poor.. But, lets atleast refrain from such callous acts of stupidity. If you have too much money and you don't want to do the philanthropy part. Cool. I understand and no one would blame you for that. Its your money and its your wish. You want to party? Fine again. But, don't even think about wasting food just because you can afford to do it. Please have some social responsibility. Its really sad that even educated people need to be told this.

India Vs Pakistan

2011-03-27T09:06:00.002+05:30

A WorldCup Semifinals involving India and Pakistan is approaching around the corner.. Needless to say, there's lots of pressure on both teams involved and their huge fan base. Here's a post on a lighter note.. :P Click on the pics to view the dialogues clearly..

English transcript:
Dhoni: You have to bowl all 10 overs.. The ball should not hit their bat.. and you should not give away any runs..
Nehra: Then, the only batsman I can bowl at, is you.

English transcript:
Afridi: Hey Guys.. I am here.. Where are you all? Come and hug me i say..
Others: Yeah right.. You'll give this pose for every single wicket u take and we have to come and hug u.. Think you are VasoolRaja MBBS? (Munnabhai MBBS..)

English transcript:
Afridi: Sachin's 100th century has to wait until the world cup is over. We wont let him or any other Indian batsmen to score big.
Reporter: Why sir? Is Pakistan going to bat first? (implying they'll fold for less than 50)
Afridi: (in Vadivelu's slang) My head is spinning already..

English transcript:
Yuvraj: Did u check the cricinfo article? It says that you are the one who is going to win us the Pakistan match by scoring a ton.. They have stats to further their claim.. :D
Dhoni: Is this world still believing that I'm going to score runs?? ;)

English transcript:
Gary Kirsten: Umar Gul is bowling well.. We need to exercise caution while playing him..
Dhoni: Gary.. What are you blabbering.. We didn't pick any Pak players in IPL..
Gary: :-O IPL is next month.. We are still playing the World Cup! Oh my God.. What am I going to do with you as the captain..

Chuck de India !!

2011-03-01T05:55:00.001+05:30

Going by the superb performance in the warmups, I was amongst the few who had high aspirations of India's chances this World Cup. Not only did they bat really well, they also bowled superbly against Australia to bring them down from 118/1 to 176/10.. I really felt India has match winning bowlers who can turn the game in our favor. But, the last match against England have clearly exposed India's bare bowling dept. Not only did India choke, they were spectacularly average with their bowling. When Strauss and Bell were going strong, they didn't need to play any shots out of the ordinary. A simple drive or a defensive stroke was running to boundaries. As the camera panned along with the ball, I expected to see a pair of legs cut it short. But, No! It slowly dribbled to the ropes everytime. It couldn't be described as a rocket, bullet, cannon or any other adjectives that Ravi Shastri uses to describe Sehwag's and Dhoni's bludgeoning shots. It was a slow dribble. Thats it. It shows us two things - English batsmen were too good and they read the Indian bowlers really well. Secondly, it didn't require a blazing innings from anyone to chase down 338.. Something that the Indian batsman would have definitely tried to do, if it were up to them chasing 338. The maturity of the English batsmen, especially Strauss was impeccable. As he rightly said - "The pitch was unbelievably flat". And yet, he didn't go blasting all guns. They had a plan and they stuck to it. It paid off well.
Another point to be noted from that match was that - No one bowler of India was picked upon by the English batsmen. Remember the previous match when Sreesanth leaked 53 runs in 5 overs? Something of that magnitude didn't happen here. But, relatively everyone leaked around 7 RPO. That says something. Pretty much every bowler in our team was average. Probably, they gave a tough choice for the English batsmen on who they could target. If you had seen Piyush Chawla bowl, you would agree that it was like a school boy bowling to an International player. He bowled one good ball in every spell. A majority of all the other balls pitched in line with the batsmen's legs and spun to his legside.. Even if the batsmen make a mistake, there was no chance in hell that he would be out. Watching him bowl was just so bland. I don't really see why Harbhajan is still the main bowler.. He doesn't contain like Vettori nor picks up wickets like Afridi.. He leaks around 5.5 RPO avg and picks 1/2 wickets per match.. And that too tailenders. Occasionally, once in every 10 matches he plays a vital role. R Ashwin would have been a better choice. Many players wouldn't have played against him and he can bat a bit too.. He could come in for a seventh batsman in the team.. India needs to realize that Zaheer Khan alone can't take wickets.. A team like SA know him pretty well and having played us over the last month, I really doubt if India can get any of SA's batsman out (probably except Smith falling to Zaheer).. Amla and Kallis will bat like Gods and India needs to bring in a surprise element to their bowling attack, if ever they want to take 10 wickets. England had no business coming close to 300, let alone 338 after what Netherlands did to them.. It only goes on to say that India's bowling is the weakest link. It needs a fix and pretty soon. Dhoni can take positives out of the match with England, but its absolutely idiotic to say - "I'm not disappointed with the bowling. This is what happens if a good team plays against a good team.. We know our fielding is not the strongest and we cannot improve that now". Banking on the 7 batsmen to win a match is nonsensical. Remember the World cup finals of 2003. When a team butchers 340, do you think the Indian batsmen would be able to chase it down? No! I don't think so. Coz not all teams have a bowling line up like India. England was an average team, but they were able to play down India hands down. What will happen if South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are to face India? So far, Pakistan have lived up to their captain's words - "Hurt and Dangerous. We are coming".. India better be ready! Hope they realize their bowling and fielding needs to be bolstered. India should be happy with the 1 point they got, coz the English deserved to win!

And pop goes the weasel

2011-02-19T07:44:00.000+05:30

At the end of the first semester, we arrived at an obvious conclusion that the girl was too pretty to be ogling at us.. Got to be odd arrangement of the desks to give us that perception, we concluded. It wasn't a rosy semester for me, academic wise either! With an 8.8 GPA my ambitions of hitting a 10 went for a toss. It wasn't a surprise for me, given that Chemistry was my biggest enemy, literally and figuratively. But, parental expectations, were as usual sky high and disappointments ensued. However, there were a couple of geeks, who hit a 10.0.. one of them being a fellow day-scholar, which served to double the dosage of questions from my mom. But more than studies, what I missed out, was the experience of the collegial activities, clubs etc.. Every day I enter the class, there would be discussions among fellow students about the inducation ceremonies, selection criterias in vivid detail. Wish we day scholars were atleast among the know-hows of these clubs. "These bloody hostelers.. They don't even tell us anything" - I cursed at every opportunity I got to vent. But, then again, being the lazy introvert guy I am, I wasn't perturbed much about these ongoing activities. My only goal was to somehow cross the 9.0 mark in the second semester to apease my parents and I thought this might be my only chance to get a 9.0+, given that the following semesters were in Hell (as some seniors have aptly warned!). But No! There was a chemistry 2 (I guess..) and it was grueling for me. Twelfth standard seemed easier. But, gradually it all sunk in..
I got to know the dayschi group of my class better.. Our lunch sessions were fun (majorly because Yogaa was amongst us..) with Murugs, perusu, thivahar and ofcourse SP.. It was always filled with humor and occasionally we would have dayschi visitors/seniors from other sections to discuss about the availability (or rather singularity) of girls.. In other words, girls who are not committed already! And about the hottest one of the batch.. Some names used to come up very frequently, but sadly I wouldn't have even seen them. 'Blink! Blink!" would be my response to queries relating to girls.. But it was easy for me, coz those dayschis from my school know me.. They wouldn't have expected any better response from me.. "Ivana vidra.. He is padips.. He'll not know.. We'll ask perusu".. and they ll move on.. Though insulted, it was close to the truth.. I didn't pay much heed.. Many a times, I was asked to accompany guys to the hostel mess for lunch, but I was never willing.. I don't know if its a big deal or not, but I always feel very conscious of doing something wrong when I'm going to places I do not belong. Or is it part of my introvert nature, God only knows.. But, I know this - every second I spend in their mess, my consciousness would be killing me. Believe it or not, of all the 4 years in college, I have never seen a hostel mess so far. May be I missed out on something? I don't know..
But after numerous hours of CAD, C, Physics, Maths and ofcourse our evil Chemistry, the second semester drew to a close. I made 9.08, just barely over my target. But I was really happy, coz I was the second in my class. That someone in another section hit a 10 is another thing. Apparently, my class was pretty tough, I guess.. How else could we explain 9.25 as the first rank GPA. And that drew the curtains to the second semester and I was ready to step into Hell. Little did I know, how colorful hell can be..

Speed Racer

2011-01-03T22:33:00.003+05:30

Dec 30, 2010

It was an usual trip in a road I travel once every month to Akron, my sweetheart's home. Nothing spectacularly different about it. Took a Honda Civic from Enterprise and started my journey at 10AM. Yes, the time is different. Usually I leave sometime in the evening, but since it was holiday season, I left early and in eagerness to get an extra day. All was well, I was maintaining my speed in the horizon of 65mph +/- 10mph.. The limit was 65mph. But while I was learning to drive, I've heard my friends say that in a 55mph zone u can go an extra 5mph over the limit and in a 65mph zone u can go an extra 10mph over the limit without being pulled over. And I have been following that like a ritual ever since and never had a problem.
This day, I guess I went a little over the top. The road wasn't empty. There were atleast 20 cars in my vicinity and it was a two lane road. I was going in the same speed or lesser than the car ahead of me in the left lane (the faster lane). Heaps of snow on the divider made it really difficult to spot a white dodge (patrol car) and only when I passed him at 90 degrees, did I realize that I stepped on my accelerator a bit too hard and was at 81mph. And bam! He rightfully started tailing me.

~~~~Flashback~~~~~
28 Oct 2010
Same road. But just 10 miles ahead of Akron. With glee written all over my face, I was driving at about 85mph (again, in a two lane road) and spotted a patrol car in the vicinity. In a panic, I braked hard and even then, I passed him at around 79mph, well over the limit of 65mph. Looking at my rear view, I saw that he had started vociferously in his pursuit. His cherries weren't on yet. I quickly changed my lane to the right one. Probably due to my speed, he raced ahead of me in the left lane.. changed to the right.. left again.. braked.. right again.. I guess he was searching for me! But I was behind a huge truck. His cherries were still off but all the cars had slowed down and he was still searching. In a desperation, I took an immediate exit, cleverly evading him. But that was not enough. Coz I knew, he can radio his fellow donut friends about the car's description and he can catch me on the highway again if I dare join it. Being just 10 miles away, I figured I can reach the destination, by avoiding the highway. Remember, I am not evading the law. Coz I need to stop only if the police is on my tail with the flickering blue/red lights ON. And that he is still searching for me, doesn't make me a fleer from law. Ha!
After driving on unknown, deserted roads I was trying to figure out a way to reach home. No luck. I kept coming to the same location again and again. Seemed like I was in some magical maze. Finally, there was some light at the end of the tunnel. I reached Howe Ave, a familiar road. I knew I could catch another highway from there to the destination. And right I was, I was in the other highway in no time. Still panic stricken, I drove within limits and reached home safe. But the shock and panic of having evaded a cop was still lingering in my heart. I kept telling myself, he may have been in pursuit of someone else... It took a couple of days and a safe return journey to recover from that incident.

~~~ Back to 30 Dec, 2010 ~~~~~~~~~~~~
All of this flashed in that 10s I was trying to comprehend what to do next. In a tiny bit of hope that he is not tailing me, I moved to the right lane, thereby making him way in the left lane. And there he was - Moving to the right, tailing me again. I knew what was coming. The flashing red and blue lights.. And there it was. I didn't waste much time in pulling over in the shoulder region of the road. After a few mins of waiting inside the car, he came up to my car and said.
Officer: "May I have your license and registration"
Me: "Sure. Here it is". Handed him the documents.
Officer: "You've been pulled over for speeding. 81mph. This is being recorded."
Me: "Okay.."
Officer: "Just give me a min. I'll get this done as soon as possible"

Saying that, he took my docs to his car.
The bad thing about these speeding tickets is not the fine alone. It makes a permanent record against your SSN. And once these speeding tickets are listed against your name, it will be there for 20 years. And if you get 3 such tickets within one year, your license will be suspended and you might even be put behind bars, in the rare case. And to make matters worse, your car insurance will shoot up, wherein you'll be making even more monthly payments for your car's insurance.

He came back in 10 mins, handing me a traffic citation printout, along with my documents.
Officer: "You have 10 days to respond to this citation. If you don't respond, your license will be suspended and a warrant will be issued for your arrest"
Me: "I'm sorry. This is my first time. By respond, do you mean that I have to go to court? Or just pay the fine?"
Officer: "Thats up to you. Read this carefully and do what you want."
Me: "Okay. Just another question. Isn't there a buffer like we can go 10mph above the speed limit?"
Officer: "No. If its 65mph, it is 65mph. That is why it is called Speed Limit."
Me: "ok.."
Officer: "Now drive safe. And be careful while pulling back into the highway."
Me: "OK"

I thought of wishing him Happy New Year. But meh! after spoiling my holiday weekend, what the hell.. I looked into the citation to see if I could quickly find how much the fine is.. It was $160. Thats way more than the car rental for 4 days. I cursed myself and the person who told me about the 10mph buffer over the speed limit. Anyways, holding all the evil thoughts inside, I merged into the highway and was on my way to Akron. He tailed me for a bit and then positioned him into the divider to catch another speed racer.

Now, even after reading this, I'm pretty sure some may still try challenging the speed limits. Read on, if you are one of them.
1. You will be caught. At one point or the other. So don't be bankrupt when its your time.
2. If you are being asked to pull over (by a flashing red and blue lights), don't try to escape. You will be caught, no matter what car you drive nor how skillful you are. Just pull over.
3. Switch your car engine off. And place the keys on top of your car.(So that the officer will know you are being polite. Just imagine how many rogues they meet everyday, with guns and what not.). I didn't do it, this time coz I didn't know.
4. Address them as Officer. eg. Yes Officer. No Officer.
5. Don't try to argue that you were not above the limits. It doesn't work that way. Period.
6. It is also recommended that you don't say anything other than what is asked. Whatever you say, might be held against you in court of law.
7. Just pay the fine. Or be ready to appear in court and go through all the formal procedures and pay the fine in the end. Some say, it is better to keep postponing the court hearing and finally the officer will forget who you are. I wouldn't recommend that, coz everyone has a life and if you are that jobless, you can go ahead and do that.

Its a lesson. I learnt it the hardway. Hope you don't have to dish it out as I did. Drive Safe. Within Limits.

Chrome OS Notebook

2010-12-12T04:42:00.001+05:30

Google, is a weird company. Its so weird, that for no apparent reason, they send me their Chrome notebook, code named "CR-48", as a part of their pilot program. It all began a week back. I was, as usual, going through some updates in facebook, where Google Chrome's page had a status update that read "Take the web-quiz and get a free Chrome sticker".. or something along the same lines. But the gist was that. 'A free sticker'.. Hmm, Why not ??
I took the quiz which didn't even take a minute or so.. It was fun.. Just to see if I'm a person who lives on the web and the result was that I was slightly more than the average person on Earth. :p.. Duh! Anyways.. at the end of the quiz, I filled out some details like my address to ship the sticker and so forth. The ensuing week was pretty darn busy for me, that I even forgot about this entire episode.
Fast forward to yesterday. I get back from college at around 8pm to see a huge parcel sitting on my dining table. And my roomie said he received it that morning after I left to college. I couldn't recollect ordering anything. I was trying so hard, that I started to suspect myself of ordering something and forgetting it. Finally, I open it to see a Chrome sticker. 'Ok!! This big a parcel for a sticker??'.. I couldn't understand.. Digging deep through those card-board protections, I saw this laptop looking thing.. "What the hell??" - I was flabbergasted. "Are they going to charge me for this" - were my first instincts.. And then found a note saying that I was chosen to be a part of this pilot program, where I'm required to test it and provide feedback to Google. On a ordinary day, I would be overjoyed, jumping up and down and screaming in joy.. But I dont know.. I wasn't really all that excited. May be because the candidacy exams that I'm going to take in Jan came screaming back to me?? May be! For now, I'm not even going to touch it. I'm sure, many people out there, would be screaming profanity at me! I completely understand. If I were you, I'd do the same. And in the same way, if you were me, you'd do the same.

NIH : Peer Review Process

2010-10-08T01:15:00.000+05:30

Many of us, graduate students, PhD candidates, Post-doctoral Researchers and of-course faculties at various institutions in US would have worked on one grant on the other. In the field of Biomedical Engineering and other studies related to health, National Institute of Health is one of the major funding sources. Even after spending hours churning out the most effective grant application, in some occasions it gets turned down. Peer-review of grants one of the most important and a decisive step in deciding whether the grant gets turned down or approved. Here's a short informative clip on how the grants are reviewed. This is what actually happens in a NIH grant review process.

A score around the range of 2-3 gets approved and anything else decides the level of rejection.. Hope this was informative.

Ad Block: Day 1

2010-10-07T04:34:00.001+05:30

As per the ancient heritage, we, the first year students were to attend classes in the Administrative Block of NITT. I'm given to understand thats currently not the case (CLC??). Well, I have only this to say to the juniors - "Your classes might be pretty, but couldn't have been funner". Here goes.

---- That Day-----

Rushing to the notice board to confirm our respective classrooms, the frantic search for the notice board began.. and ended pretty soon. There was a flock of students jumping around on hawaii chappels, full sleeved shirts (not tucked) and cotton pants. Little clue was necessary to realize they were our genre. Rushed into that crowded lot and found that I was supposed to go to Section D in the Ad Block itself.

While some unlucky fellows were clueless as to what CEESAT was!! Jittering here and there didn't help either as they were trying to ward off the seniors who were 'vulturing' for their prey. As I rescued myself from the crowd and tried to locate this D section, the seniors drooped their heads and were quietly dispersing. For a second I thought, they were coming after me. But, they moved past me, murmuring "TB, TB da.. TTTBBBBB" I had no clue on what they were talking about.. Looking ahead, I saw a man, may be in mid 40s.. professionally dressed to be a peon, march towards us with some kind of a irritation in his eyes. Well, peons get pissed all the time! They would be treated worse than the chai-walas.. Who cares?

What appeared to be a classroom entrance, led to a phone booth with a couple of office desks. Oops, it was an office only. But they had a few phones there with ISD, STD marked on them.. This peon just walked past me shouting "Heyy.. You. Blue Shirt!!" And the rambling began - "Is this the time to come for your first day class? Why are u still standing here? Don't you have discipline? Get lost from here.. Get Lost".

"Sir, class room sir. CEESAT Building??" - that boy said faintly.

"You dont even know where your classroom is? Are you an engineering student? No discipline! Which hostel are you? Tell me! Tell me!" - the lion in him roared that it echoed through the corridor.

"Aaaahhhh.. TBBBBB." - A couple of seniors coming out of the phone booth escaped in the opposite direction..

Apparently, it came to my notice that he was the Dean of Administration - Dr T Balasubramanian.

"Day scholar sir" - the boy was on the verge of melting down.

"You idiot. Don't you know classes start at 830? Why are u coming so late. Now get out of this building. Its the building there.." - he pointed to a building that was hardly visible, but in close proximity.

And that saw a flock of students walking steadfast in that direction.

As to me, I was walking in the opposite direction in the corridor..

"Aaahhnnn Section B" - my mind SMSed me.. and tht class was almost full.

"Oops. Am I really that late?"

"Probably not!" - As section C was just half filled. And in both classes there were no professors still. So where is section D ??? And my guess of the next class being section D was false. There was no next class room. The corridor ended with a passage to the right. And an exit to the MCA dept.

"What the..." - I ran in that passage to see if it was somewhere there..

No. It wasn't. There was this physics lab and another entry that distinctively smelled like a restroom. Yes. I was right. It was a restroom. Uffff...

Turning back, I saw this huge door. More like an entrance to a ruined palace. Upon first look, it looked to be closed. Slowly pushed it to realize it was open.. Entered the room. And there were students seated in what appeared to be NOT a classroom, but a huge semi-circular lecture hall. And I took my lucky second desk, as usual. In a short while, Yogaa came by with his ever-present smile.

"Dei.. Neeyum indha classah.. Super po" - he was all smiles. And so was I. He was a like a sunshine in what appeared to be a gloomy first year. First relief that I have a known friend in class. Gloomy? You might ask. Yeah.. There were just 2 girls in the class so far.

Speak of the Devil. And there they were. (No disrespect! Just an application of proverb. I'd have used 'Kumbida pona dheivam kurukka vandha maadhiri' but some girls prefer being considered a devil, rather than a goddess. So be it :) ) 1..2...3...4...5...6 Everyone came in their trademark chudis. Well, I dont know what else I'd have expected. Cinemas spoil us.

And within the next ten minutes or so, the class was almost full. Everyone were chatting about some hostel stuffs or the other. As to me and Yogaa, we had just said "Hi" to SP and the remaining 5 of our benchmates. Slowly, but stealthily.. I, being the desperate teenager that I was, looked in the direction of the girls to see if our class proudly housed the most beautiful one of our batch. Well, that was only the secondary intention.

"Second row.. red chudidhar.. super la" - Yogaa pinged me.

"Dei.. enda ippadi irukka.. first naale.." - I pretended to be un-interested and sub-consciously reminded myself to be atleast half as true as I what I seem to be. Maybe I wasn't willing to discuss my intentions publicly.

"Summa dhaana nanba.. idhula enna irukku" - he appeased me. I conveniently agreed.

And the classes began. The intro sessions went by and I really couldn't even get half the names registered in my mind. But duly noted the 8 important names. Atleast for that moment. The easiest names to remember are the ones that create the most dramatic scene. A couple of classes went by. And I couldn't help but notice that there was this girl, who was looking in our direction. Probably an illusion, as the class was semi-circularly arranged. But after a few mins, I was pretty sure that her focal point was around my vicinity. Or so they say.. Girls are like a painting. It always looks like they are staring at you.. no matter where you are in that room. Just to be sure... I pinched yogaa.. "udane paakadha. But Is she looking at me??" - I told him. See what I did there? By not distracting her attention by Yogaa's sudden movement, I'm making him a witness to her ogling crime. "Muhahahaha" - a villain inside me laughed a bit.

"Dei... aamaan da unna dhaan da paarthutu irukkaa.." - his reply was in the affirmative.

----------

P.S: I've tried writing this to the best of my knowledge of what happened. Pardon me for any factual misrepresentations.

A Box and a Square

2010-10-06T01:01:00.000+05:30

The Box that I'm referring here is the DropBox.

Its a tool that enables a sync between different computers. And why is that necessary for you? Well, if I'm not wrong, many of us use multiple computers, PDAs and there are different documents, folders that we manage all the time. For example, if there is an important document that we are working on, to be presented tomorrow in our office. We finish it, save it and even make a copy on our pen-drive to take it to our office. But, in the hurry of going to the office, we forget to take the pen-drive to the office and have to end up making excuses. Thats where Dropbox comes in handy. It creates a folder in your computer(s), where you can save the files. As soon as the files are saved, it is automatically synced across the different computers that are linked to your account. If you had linked your office computer to ur dropbox account, the file is already there before even you reach your office. Not necessary to email stuffs back and forth. Or even better, the file is stored online in the dropbox website as well. So that you can download the file on the go. And you get 2GB of free space. Another advantage is that when you can't send huge attachments through email to your boss/advisor, Dropbox comes in handy. Just put the files into the DropBox's public folder and it creates a public link, which you can email to the recipients. Sounds cool eh? Try it.

The next thing is the Square. Its a technology that I heard a few months back. It was a time when I didn't have an iPhone and didn't pay much attention to it. But, it doesn't mean I wasn't impressed with their technology. Who could have imagined that we can use the audio jack for other inputs? Certainly I didn't.

It consists of a small device plugged into the audio jack of the mobile device (works on Android as well). This device reads the magnetic strip of the card to process payments. If you are someone living with a roommate and if you settle bills/accounts periodically, then, this one is for you. Even otherwise, if you are someone who buys or sells stuffs through craigslist, this one works like charm. Just swipe in the card and the money is transferred to your bank account. Very simple to setup, or so it seems. I'm yet to try this out, but I've just got the app (Square) from the itunes store. They say that the device would be shipped shortly. The device is free and it ships free. No monthly fees and no contracts. They do, however charge 2.75% for every transaction, which is the only downside. In the meantime, here is a short video of how it works.

New Apple TV Vs Roku

2010-09-28T04:34:00.000+05:30

With Apple revamping the Apple TV, it has certainly encroached the product line of Roku (loses 10 points for this name). Roku ? Ever heard of it ? I certainly did not prior to the launch of the new Apple TV. When I was searching different forums to see the different options available, Roku was one name that was consistently mentioned by everyone. It looks like Roku is in this market for quite sometime and has been pretty successful in doing what it does best. The advent of the new Apple TV has infact forced Roku to slash down its prices the day before the launch. Apple, known for its high-priced products has infact come down to the customers, for once, with this new Apple TV - priced at $99.

Before we go about saying "Wooowww.. $99 for Apple TV ? My money is on it.".. its imperative to see how Roku ranks against Apple TV.

Roku product line (Click on the image to purchase it):

Roku HD-XR Roku XD Roku-XDS

As we can see from the comparison chart above, there is not much difference between the Apple TV and Roku, except for the fact that Roku has promised to deliver 1080p video quality via a free upgrade on Roku XDS Streaming Player 1080p later this year. And Roku has a wide variety of packages that the customer can make use of. Apart from that, the important question that pertains to many consumers is Availability! While Apple introduced the Apple TV about 3 weeks back, it is still not available to the customers. As of today, the website says that it ships in 3 weeks. Roku, on the other hand is already available in the market (Click on the links to purchase) - Roku HD Player, Roku HD-XR Player , Roku XD Streaming Player 1080p and Roku XDS Streaming Player 1080p. They all qualify for SuperSaver Free Shipping as well. The chart below (from Roku's website) shows the comparison of the three versions of Roku.

VERDICT:

So if you are someone, who is waiting to get your hands on AppleTV, DON'T!! Just go ahead and buy a Roku, which is a much better version at the same $99. Get your money worth.

Unless, you are someone who's house is filled with Apple products, then it makes sense for you to wait and buy the new Apple TV, which has a better integration with iphone, ipod touch and the macs.

Ada Cha!!

2010-09-23T04:51:00.003+05:30

When my lab mates and my advisor were trying to figure out a bug in the software, I was busy reading a paper. When that got my head spinning, I decided to distract myself by playing some ringtones on my phone. Plugged in my earphones and started playing the tones in the following order.
1. Pirates of the Caribbean theme
2. Marimba - African beats
3. Scifi - alien invasion type
4. Barking dog
5. Baby crying.
6. Pirates of the Caribbean (twice) - I loved it.
Slightly tilting my head, I saw my advisor nodding his head happily smiling at me. Asked him "what??". "nice music" - he said. What!!! Isn't my headphones plugged in? It was. Apparently, ringtones don't play through the headphones jack it seems. Great design Apple. And I was playing through crappy tones while they were trying to do something useful. Blonde moment for me.

Charlie bit my finger !

2010-07-16T00:09:00.001+05:30

Its very rare that we come across a video that can completely change the perspective of our life.. In this busy machine life, rarely do we get a chance to genuinely appreciate good things.. No.. its not about philosophy or quotes by popular dead people.. Just a daily happening in every family, but one that was fortunate to be caught on camera. I have been seeing this particular video over and over for the past few months. And I think most of you would have seen this video ..

I don't know really what I liked about this one. Is it the cute brotherly love expressed by Charlie and his bro ? Or the timely giggle that Charlie delivers right at the end of the video? Or the elder one confidently letting Charlie bite his finger.. Its all soooo cute.. :-).. If you are thinking, what kind of parent films their children and put it on youtube, please don't be mistaken. The original intention of the parents was to send this video to the Godparents of the kids who were in US (which they revealed in a TV interview) and thus the upload on youtube. What they didn't forsee is the humungous popularity that this video got. About 209 million views as of today. The second highest viewed video on youtube (it was the first until overtaken by Lady Gaga's shitty Bad Romance). I'd really recommend this video to anyone.. I really appreciate the parent's upbringing of these kids.. It goes on to re-iterate that the little joy and happiness derived from innocence has an everlasting impact :-)

Apple iPhone 4 cases - A Review

2010-07-13T06:53:00.000+05:30

The iphone 4's have been a revelation in the mobile phone business. Despite coming with inherent flaws (read antenna design), Apple has held its stand that it is not a design issue. And customers haven't bothered much either. Reason being, casing the iphone solves the issue. That being said, the bumpers provided by Apple only covers the antenna. That offers no protection to the device, which has glass on both front and back. So I wanted to take a look at the different cases available in the market and review them here - so as to help a few people make a quick buying decision.

1.Sonic Snap Slim Case

The Sonic Snap Slim Case for the iphone 4 comes with 2 screen protectors. One of them is for Anti-glare and the other one is Clear. Providing a rubberized grip, its best to hold and doesn't slip much. Nearly all customers have been happy with this product but some have expressed concerns over the screen protectors, which might bubble your display if not installed properly.

2. Gumdrop Cases Motoskin

This rugged looking case is the best IMO, if you are someone who is susceptible to dropping ur phone. The silicone is a soft, thick silicone which offers more protection. The downside is that it might collect dust, as expressed by some customers. Nevertheless, if you don't mind wiping the dust off every once in a while, this one's for u. It also comes in Gray and Blue colors.

3. Empire New Skin Case for iPhone 4
Though the title in Amazon might say that it to be silicone protector. Its not. Its actually made from a Thermolastic Polyurethane material, which becomes clear after reading its description. Its one of the cases that was released really early along with the iphones and the users have not been much disappointed. The only downside that the users have is that its edges are a little sharp and hence it might be difficult for holding. But it offers good protection nonetheless.

4. Incipio dermaSHOT case for iphone 4
This is one of the best cases I've seen for iphone 4. The design is elegant and it offers superior protection and casing for the iphone. The silicone is about 2 mm thick and hence it will offer good protection. It isn't much bulkier either. The only downside being it will collect lint, as with any other silicone case. If you are into silicone cases, then this one for u.

5. Leather case for iphone 4
There are several leather cases available for the iphone 4s. Check them out if you are a fan of leather cases.

6. iFrog cases

There are several iFrog cases for the iphone 4. But they are still not available in Amazon. But if you have an AT&T account, you can purchase it from them. They are selling a bunch of those cases online. Or even otherwise if you drop into an AT&T store, you can get one i believe. I'm not a fan of their cases and hence I haven't reviewed them.

7. Incase.

As of July 10, 2010, incase haven't come out with cases for the iphone 4. I'm hoping they come out with something by next week atleast. I'm a big fan of their slider cases, but they are a little slow in delivering the iphone cases this time. I sincerely hope they don't disappoint.

Thats about it folks from my side. Hope you all have a good buying experience.

Past, Present and Future

2010-07-12T20:34:00.004+05:30

Long time no blogs from me.. Pardon me for that.. It was tough getting my research written up and scheduling my defense.. All along I thought, writing is fun. But its time for realization i guess. A lot depends on what I want to write about. Its fun as long as I am free to write whatever I want.. When someone intrudes on that, fun is not the word. Thats exactly what was happening for the last 3-4 months.. Finally, I can say I am done with my Masters. Just some minor corrections and eons of waiting time remaining. So what am I doing ?

Its summer here, and since I am not teaching any classes this semester, I took up an internship opportunity at the very own Akron General and learnt a few computational stuffs and I'm working on it. So far its been going good, thanks to Dr John Elias (my advisor) who has been very considerate of me. I'm hoping to get something started and working, so that he can get students to work on it in the future. Speaking of future, there's good news folks.. I got admitted to Penn State University for my PhD. Yayyy !! :D The best thing about it is, I'd be joining a program thats been ranked No. 1 in the nation.. My specialization would be in biomechanics and motor control (neuro biomechanics to be precise). I'd get to the details of it in my tech blog in a few days.. But I'm very excited about that opportunity.. I'm joining PSU in August 2010.

So, it will be only few more days here in Akron, OH. I'll definitely miss the place and friends here.. But life has to move on right.. Thankfully, PSU is only 3 hours away from here, so I can drop by anytime.. :-) .. No worries..

Will keep updating this space.. Watch out..

Research poster ~ Biomechanics

2010-04-10T02:05:00.000+05:30

Warning: Before you click on the picture or take a closer look, I have to warn you that it is very graphic (No! I'm not talking abt the charts) since the study involves cadaveric specimens. Please leave the page if you are very sensitive.

I've never designed a research poster in my life.. But there's always a start right? I had a chance to showcase my research work at a conference. Here's the poster that I prepared for the CUGSR conference that was held in my University. Click here to download the poster. Or you can click on the image itself for a bigger view. Clicking again would zoom the image. (I hope its readable)

UPDATE : I won the Award for the BEST RESEARCH POSTER, for the above poster at CUGSR Conference.

I'd like to thank Archana S, Dr John Elias, Dr Marcus, Laura Gump who were extremely helpful in carrying out this research work.

First day

2009-12-13T22:20:00.000+05:30

In the interim time of my admission to NITT and the commencement of classes, I got to know many of my friends from my school got admitted to NITT in a wide array of departments ~ around 24 from my school. Nights passed by, very fast, with me thinking about how I'm gonna face the hell and deal with it. But only one thing pacified me a little bit - I've got a year before I need to encounter HELL.

The first year is common for the students of all branches. Everyone has to study some basics of all branches of engineering and hence we were all put up in different sections with a mix of students from other branches as well. Well, I was in D and when I enquired among my school friends, I couldn't find anyone who ended up in D, while there were a cluster of them in sections A and B including some of my very best friends.

"Get up.. Get up.. its already 8" - my mom woke me up.

"8 ?????" - my mind alarmed hard.. With a sudden shock of being hit by a lightening, I sprang up with my eyes wide..

I groped for my watch nearby to see the time out of bewilderment..

It was 7:14.. my mom's good old trick to wake us up..

"Amma - its only 715.. why do u say its 8??" - I retorted, as I slid under the bedsheet for some more warmth..

"No no.. get up.. I have office at 8.. Have to go prepare lunch and you should have your breakfast - get ready for school - do u want to be late in the first day itself?? " - my mom pulled me out of the bed as she was finishing her morning 'bhajans' as we call it..

As I got up, I saw my bro still asleep..

"Y are u waking me up and not him ??" - I asked her with a little hope that I can sleep for 5 more mins..

"You go first and take bath and wake him up once u r done" - she said as she descended downstairs..

"Always partial to him" - my mind snorted

And as I was leaving, I kicked my bro in his butt - to soothe my ego a little bit..

His body shuddered a little bit and he was back to his peaceful self, in sleep.

In about half an hour, we were ready to leave for our very first day at NITT.

Actually speaking, it was the first day for NITT itself, after it was christened so from being formerly called REC.

The college was just 2 miles away from the bus-stop near our house. The stop was referenced by various names, prominent ones being 'Training center' or 'Boiler' - both in reference to the BHEL factory that was in close proximity.

We reached the bus-stop at 8 AM, just to find out that it was the first day of classes for many other colleges. The bus-stop was flooded with students. Around 35-50 to say the least. And the buses that kept arriving, had people hanging off the footboards.

"Oh.. well.." - I mumbled.

"Kilinchudhu krishnagiri" - my bro said as we saw a mini-bus approaching with maxed out passengers and there were students literally hanging out of the bus.

Mini-buses were meant to commute small-time farmers or villagers to transport their goods to the market. Atleast that was the intent when govt introduced them. But NITT students from BHEL Township had the exclusive rights to travel in those buses. Atleast we felt so..

But wait, there's a catch. We can't get into the same buses in which our school seniors travel. That's one of the stipulation we needed to follow blindly. If ever, some senior is considerate enough to allow you travel in the same bus, you can't take a seat, even if there are plenty available.

Luckily, for us, a couple of buses arrived. The seniors took the first one and we took the second bus. Clad in full sleeves and cotton pants, with slippers and no shoes, we were no different from the students who studied in the Govt Polytechnic institute near our college. Oh.. Didn't I mention - No Jeans nor T-shirts nor shoes is one other stipulation that was universal for all the first year students of NITT.

Getting into the bus, there was a seat available near a old man who was sleeping away to glory..

"Already asleep in a bus that would have travelled only for 5 mins to reach this stop ??" - I thought..

Even though my brother got inside the bus first, he asked me to take the seat. I took the seat, and my bro was standing beside me holding the bars.

"He's so magnanimous sometimes.. " - my mind felt a little guilty..

Few seconds transpired and I found it really difficult to breathe.. Some obnoxious smell was obstructing my air passage..

"Do you smell that ?" - I asked my bro who was standing beside me.

"Ofcourse" - he said, smiling..

"What??" - I was confused on why he would smile..

"The guy near you is stoned" - he said and burst out unable to control his laughter.

"Is that why you offered me the seat ?? You evil devil" - I cursed him, but not with any anger..

"Bear with him for some more time" he said, as the stop to NITT arrived a couple of mins later.

As we got down from the stop and marched towards the NITT gate, we saw some seniors dressed in jeans, tshirts, sunglasses and what not, standing in flocks near the gate. All for the same reason - 'sighting' the first year girls.

We felt like villagers walking in their midst, for the clothes we wore.. Keeping our heads down, we just glided past them. They were busy scheduling meetings with the girls who passed by - "Come to Snackie during 10.10 break.. And be prepared to give proper intro" - Orders were flying everywhere..

Our steps quickened as we literally ran past them.

When we were at a safe distance away from them, I looked up to see the Administrative block of NITT. My heart shuddered. Something just wasn't right !!!

I looked at my bro.

"It can't be happening" - he was aghast.

How clean are your hands, Doctor ?

2009-12-12T00:17:00.003+05:30

Hospitals are supposed to maintain sterility of the environment and themselves, right ? Its one of the best places where you can contract infections and hence sterility and cleanliness is a must and a kind of a given too. Well, my work in a medical center, requires me to be there from 8AM till 5 PM and today, I happened to visit the cafeteria there. A little isolated from the patient wards, it housed doctors, nurses and even patients who were just moving from place to place with their IV bottles hanging to a stand which they were pushing along. Startling to say the least. Well, I'm not sure about the policies in US and whether the patients are allowed to move freely with IV bottles hanging around, but certainly not in India, atleast not in the BHEL hospital where I have frequented many times.
And the most important part, is that the cafeteria didn't have a washroom or a handwash station. The menu included Chicken wings, Burgers, sandwiches - which among many others, requires you to handle the food with your bare hands. And I was witnessing many of them to do so. All they do, after they have their food was to wipe it with a paper tissue. How clean is that ? Well, may be the doctors wash their hands, sterilize it before they examine the patient, but how hard is it to have a hand-wash station in the cafeteria ? And How can you guarantee that all of them do the necessary cleaning and sterilizing before they visit the patient wards ??
Whats more shocking ? I saw many nurses and doctors come inside the cafeteria right after surgery. Their head masks, shoe masks and even their face masks still intact. They come in, take their food and go out. That, not only unhygienic to themselves, it spreads whatever germs they have contracted during their surgery. Well, if this is the standard of health care in US, something very badly needs to be addressed. And pretty soon !

Prologue

2009-12-09T12:41:00.000+05:30

I was sitting nervously with my Dad in the really big auditorium of NITT – the BARN they call it. It befitted its name, just that the cows were missing. Biting the last bit of nail accessible by my teeth, looking anxiously at the display of the seats available for each quota in the different departments of top colleges in TN. It was counselling time - where students get to pick the department and college they want, depending upon the rank they got. Essentially, it is the college that picks the students.. Third session of first day and electrical engineering was getting done with its seats in NITT.
“Why NITT ?” – I asked my father, though secretly I wanted to get admitted in the mechanical engineering of NITT or at PSG. But my dad insisted on NITT as it was second only to the IITs and it was just a couple of miles away from our house.
“It can’t get better than that. And stop biting your nails.” – He said, pulling my hand down from my mouth.
“How many seats were left after Prad took his CS seat” – I enquired about my twin, who was in the session before me.
“I guess 4 in CS dept and about 7 in EEE” – he said, though his eyes were fixed on the display.
The last seat in EEE was taken and the Mech quota began. Well, that’s the hierarchy of engineering disciplines in India. I have no idea on how this came about, but it was kind of a given that a top rank holder takes ECE and if that’s not available take the next best in that college. ECE, EEE, CSE, Mech, Chemical, Prod, Civil and Metallurgy is the 'Order'.
“What do you think of Instrumentation” – my Dad asked me again.
“Dad, we have been over this. Its Mech in NITT or in Anna University” – I retorted, kinda loud making my feelings for Instrumentation explicit.
“Think about this, it’s a relatively new field and not many universities in India offer that. And they say that the job opportunities are gonna expand over the years” – my Dad said..
‘I don’t know who ‘they’ are.. But if I get my hands on them, I’m gonna really show how my fist feels in their face’ – I sweared to myself
“Lets see Dad. Hopefully I’ll get Mech itself” – I said, hiding my thoughts.
According to the stats based on last year, the last person to take a seat in Mech Engg at NITT was ranked 956 in the TNPCEE. And my rank was 724, and I had no reason to doubt that I’d get a seat in Mech engg. But the display board suggested otherwise. With each refresh, the mech seats in NITT kept reducing when compared to Anna or PSG, where even the EEE seats were still available.
‘Hell with the name change and your stupid IIT matching curriculum’ – I muttered, cursing the recent announcement from the Govt of India to change all RECs to NITs and to match the curriculum to that of IIT standards. It wasn’t doing me any good. If anything, it saw a mad rush from the black-eyed, geeky nerds who failed to qualify for IITs despite their multiple attempts over a span of few years, to NITT, the best among all NITs.
There were 3 students before my turn and there were 7 seats available in Mech. I was still hoping to get through.
Two students and 4 seats. The number math didn’t look that good. Given the fact that the counseling process was being held in 4 centers simultaneously.
It was down to 1 student and 3 seats.
“Ass-hole” – I cursed the one guy who just took that 4th seat.
My turn came and I didn’t waste any time
“Mechanical engineering, NITT” – I shouted even as I was going to ‘computer-guy’ who was helping with the process.
“Other two ??” – he asked, as he has to feed the computer with 3 options and depending upon the availability, the high priority one will be alloted.
‘What other-two. Stupid fellow, do what I said fast’ – I wanted to yell, the desperation coupled with the fact that I couldn’t see the display anymore drove me mad.
“Instrumentation, NITT and Production, NITT” – my father said, before I could start thinking. Though it saved time..
“Production ???” – I was aghast at the options given by my Dad. I felt insulted.
“Don’t worry. It is just an option. If not Mech, you’ll get Instrumentation” – he tried to cool me down.
15 seconds transpired as I was looking anxiously at the screen, though I couldn’t make out anything. Some forms, fields and text boxes. Looked like a complex VisualBasic project to me.
“Its Instrumentation at NITT sir” – he told my father as he gave back the documents.
“Congrats” – he said, looking at me with a grin on his face.
I looked down. I was partially sad that I wasn’t exactly in my father’s footsteps. But more so, because I missed it that close.
“Happy ?? Both you and Prad are in the same college” – my father said.
“Mmmmm” – I mmmmed..
“C’mon.. It’s a good field.. You’ll like it” – my Dad tried to cheer me up..
He was more happier coz I became the fourth in my family to go to the same prestigious college after my Dad in 1976 and my sister in 2003 and ofcourse my twin, Now.
After completing the other formalities, we came out and were in discussion with my school friends about the numbers and what they can expect and what they got etc..
One of my school seniors, came rushing to me – “Which dept ?? Mech ah mech ah?? Don’t tell me ICE” – she was ecstatic.
“Not mech. But whats ICE” – I was puzzled.
“The Hell of NITT. The most torturous department that squeezes the hell out of students. Most of the students have arrears and supplees. They toil day and night for getting a E grade. In short, they have NO LIFE. Its the Instrumentation and Control Engineering(ICE). ” – she finished, realizing that I still haven’t answered her question.
“Well. That’s me then. ICE department” – I said, dejected and with fumes blowing out of my ears and nostrils, I was looking at my father, who was talking with his colleagues, in a distance.
“Oh..oooh. Its not thaaaat bad.. You’ll do great. You’re a topper. Anyways, Congratulations” – she gave me a firm handshake.
“Yeah.. right. Thanks for the warning though” – I muttered, with a fake smile on my face.
‘Another 4 years in hell. Thanks Dad’ – my mind blamed him completely, failing to accept the reality.

The life of a 9 pointer ??

2009-12-09T03:43:00.007+05:30

Its been a month or more that I wrote a post here.. Well, nothing much transpired.. I'm just getting done with my coursework and Masters thesis work. And this week I'd be done with my Finals and all free. Oh wait, NOT exactly 'free'.. I'd still need to go the medical center, AGMC, to do my research work.. BUT, won't be that loaded. So, that boils down to - More time and less stuffs at hand.Thats where YOU come in. All I could think of writing is about my NITT days (there's so much of it - that I could make it a book 9.some1) ;P I'm not gonna bore you with academia, but some stuffs not everyone knows.. And so, starting next week - expect some regular updates here.. So all I need of you, is your comment to this post below that you'd be watching this space. I know not everyone comments for the posts, but this would help me know the audience and refine myself as a better writer from your reviews. You can also 'Follow' my blog by clicking the follow button on the sidebar. And can read the posts from Google reader rather than visiting this page everytime. That's all folks..

Scripts to the rescue

2009-10-28T04:30:00.000+05:30

My thesis work involves working on several applications.. The data processing is usually done in excel before it is sent as an input to the MATLAB. The usual data processing in excel is something thats very recurring and monotonous.. I should process atleast 25 files in excel before i input it to matlab for one test case. And doing these were becoming too cumbersome for me. Though i knew Mac had some softwares like Automator, Applescript etc., i never knew how to use them. But today, after a day long testing, and collecting data for over 72 testcases, I face a cold reality of how many files i need to process, let alone execute using Matlab.

To find an alternative solution to the daunting task ahead of me, I ventured into studying about how Automator and Applescript works.. Applescript sounded a lot easier and simpler. So i googled about it, read some basics and wrote a couple of scripts that does the necessary processing on my excel sheets. Basically, I remove the unnecessary columns and rows from the excel data so that Matlab can process the data easily. As many of you know Matlab can't accept inputs if they have texts in them. So part of this processing is to remove the texts, if any, from the input data. Since I know exactly which column and row would need to be removed, I wrote these scripts that would make my life much better. How I wish, I had known this earlier. Would have saved me lots of time in the past. Here is one of the scripts, just in case anyone wants to modify it for their own use.

--- Apple script ---

set theWorkbookFile to choose file with prompt "Please select an Excel workbook file:"

set theWorkbookName to name of (info for theWorkbookFile)

tell application "Microsoft Excel"

open theWorkbookFile

set theWorkbook to active workbook

tell worksheet "Sheet1" of active workbook

delete row 1

delete column 1

repeat with x from 39 to 10 by -1

delete column x

end repeat

end tell

save active workbook

close active workbook

end tell

25 years of research on tendons and ligaments

2009-10-14T03:55:00.000+05:30

This is the video of the presentation that I prepared for one of my classes. Its basically a review paper that talks about the 25 years of research on tendons and ligaments. The copyrights of this journal paper rests with the authors I have mentioned in the introduction. All I did was this presentation and hold no ownership for the content you are about to see. Feel free to pause it, if you feel that its a little too fast.

Here's some introduction for people who don't know what tendons and ligaments are. Tendons are the tissues that connects bone to muscle. For eg, the patella tendon connects your knee cap to the tibia (the bone below your knee). And ligaments are something that connects two different bones. (eg) ACL - anterior cruciate ligament. You must have heard about it - Athletes often get their ACL injured, especially cricket and tennis players. Its a ligament in the knee.

This video basically summarizes whatever major and recurrent research that has been done in the past 25 years in tendons and ligaments. Sit back and enjoy.

The Golden Triangle

2009-10-12T08:45:00.007+05:30

Its been quite sometime that I went on a long trip. If I remember correctly, the last time I left the state of Ohio was for my brother's graduation at Cornell Univ, NY in May'08. And Pitts, being just 2.5 hours away had eluded me for quite some time. Especially, I wanted to visit the highly famous Venkatachalapathy Temple in Pitts. Hence we took off on a weekend a couple of weeks earlier. We implies myself, Archana and Abi.. It was drizzling a bit when we started and I expected it to stop as we crossed the Ohio border into Pennsylvania. But weather had other plans- it was raining cats and dogs as we entered Pennsylvania. But we were to blame as we didn't bother to check the weather before we started. Driving wasn't easy at all, thanks to high speeding trucks that were crossing lanes at will, and the road-work that further shortened the already narrow lanes. Ohio is truly the best as far as following road rules is concerned - I mentally tweeted myself. But then, the rain became drizzle and we reached the temple.

To be fair, I was a little disappointed to see a very small temple. My expectations were a little different. And temple is a temple, nevertheless. The food was amazingly sumptuous. They had the best sambhar rice that I've ever tasted. After some time, we were back on the road, as rain caught up with us again. We reached the downtown and took a stroll down the street. It wasn't all that busy, but seemed a little crowded. Guess I can blame it on the narrow roads. Then we entered Macy's - a shop that I'm never comfortable in - 4 floors of Macy's. Kill me.. Kill me now.. My instincts suggested. Nah ! None heard it. After giving the shop its due warmth, we visited some other shops and finally had lunch at Jimmy Johns. Cold Sandwiches ?? My hungry stomach didn't mind. After clicking enough of Downtown, we left in search of Mount Washington - a hill from where the view of the Golden Triangle is said to be the Second best view in the United States.

Then we reached the Incline, from where a winch took us to the observatory. The view was indeed spectacular. Its supposed to be even better at nights, they say.

Courtesy : Abi

After taking some snaps, I drove back to Ohio amidst the heavy downpour that made us go atleast 30mph below the speed limit. Practically, I could see nothing. My vision has been compromised. I wanted to yell. Just didn't want to freak others in the car. The only thing that kept me on the road was the rear lights of the car in front of me. Thanks to him/her, I was on the road all the time and we reached Ohio in one piece. Though short, the trip was dramatic. And that, my friends, became my first drive on the road outside my state of Ohio.

The Golden triangle - Conquered !

Facts:

1. The Allegheny river and the Monongahela river confluence to form the Ohio river at this particular location as you can see in the pic here. This forms the golden triangle.

2. The view of the golden triangle from the Mount Washington is the Second best view in the United States.

ASS-U-ME

2009-09-11T00:01:00.004+05:30

One of the bestest (I know its the wrong superlative) teachers I've known in my life, Mr.Lloyd Gonzalvez would give tongue vent voice to us - 'when you assume things, you are going to make an ASS of U and ME'. True, ain't it? But seldom do we realize that. Got to do with the belief that you know a person inside out, that we go about making postulations, left and right. When these flip out, people tend to get thwarted in anticipation and even feel betrayed. And failing to realize this mistake of theirs, they take their hatred to the next level. Most often, we do this too. What could have been solved amicably, goes on to become excruciatingly painstaking.
All it takes is a little introspection. You just need to walk in their shoes and see what has actually happened. People don't want to take the extra step to understand their dear ones. Coz they are comfortable laying back and considering themselves back-stabbed. Less work and more attention, I'd say. More often than not, they don't even wish to talk about their issues with the concerned person - they just stop talking. Well, maybe that's their point. "When I'm out of your loop, I don't have anything to talk to you" - many think. Well, that's the first mistake. Alienating is no solution for any problem. Talk it out.. Cuff it up.. Yell the hell out. It might lead you to understand that it was just a simple misunderstanding on your part, where such drastic measures aren't at all necessary. As a first step, understand everyone around you or atleast those who you care about. Secondly, make an informed decision, rather than gluttoning on assumptions.
Life has its share of ups and downs for everyone. It isn't rocky for you and rosy for others. You know it or not, people have their own problems to take care of. Doesn't mean you are left out/no-more needed. The gravity of their other issues might have been overwhelming for them. All you need to do is be an adult and talk it out! Hope this makes some sense! This post goes out to all who are fighting over silly issues with any of your dear ones.. Go now, talk it out and be at peace.. :)

Anti-theft system - Mac & Bluetooth

2009-08-12T03:35:00.000+05:30

Ever wondered, when you enter your room and your computer welcomes you - "Welcome Master. Hope you had a wonderful Day" and starts playing music from the playlist you like, makes you a cup of coffee, switches on the fan/air-conditioner. Well we are half way there. Over a last few weeks, I had been playing around a bit with two applications that I downloaded from the internet - JackSMS and Proximity. Well there aren't very well documented stuffs about these 2 applications, but nevertheless they come in handy.

JackSMS, for instance is an application that I stumbled upon when I was searching for anti-theft systems. Its a free software and guess what it can do - when activated, it locks the screen and it'll sound an alarm when someone tries to pull off the power cable or close the lid of the monitor. Obviously if someone is trying to steal your laptop they have to do either of the two actions. And once the alarm has been set off, muting the laptop doesn't work. The alarm sounds at full volume. The only way to turn it off is to unlock the screen and turn off the alarm using this application. Wait, there is more to it. While the thief is trying to fiddle with the laptop, it secretly takes a snap of him and mails you his photo / sends you a text message. No one can beat that !

Proximity, the name implies that it detects the proximity of the owner to the laptop using bluetooth. All you have to do is pair your mobile device with your laptop. And write two scripts - one, when the mobile device is in the range. Two, when the device is not in the range. What my script does is that, when the mobile device is not in the range, it activates the JackSMS application so that the anti-theft system is ON, pauses itunes if it is running, sets my status message to 'Away' in Adium and locks the screen. Well, these scripts are fairly simple. There is no complex coding necessary. When my mobile device comes within the range, it deactivates JackSMS, resumes itunes, unlocks the screen, and sets my Adium Status message to Available and also welcomes me with a text-to-voice converter application.

As far as the coffee making and the switching on the fan is concerned, it isn't a difficult task either. All it requires is a circuit relay switch be triggered by a macbook and a simple script that does that. Or there might be something in the market already that 'switches' power to electric appliances from a computer. I haven't tried that yet. Will let you guys know about it when i get a chance to try it out !! After-all as i always say Mac is a better deal !

Our first car !

2009-08-06T07:34:00.005+05:30

Well it all started with the Summer Internship at the Akron General Medical Center, OH. Its located around 2 miles from my house and the transit facilities at my disposal includes bus,walk,car. Well walk would be a good enough suggestion, but not in a place like Akron, where the summer soars at 90F and winters go below 0F on an average. I was more inclined to taking the bus and yeah I wanted to give it a go before taking the monthly pass. Guess what? The total transit time from my point of boarding, changing the bus at Transit Center and landing at AGMC was a whopping 35 mins. All this for a 2 mile distance.. Definitely not worth it. Hard it might be, we took the walk option for the Summer. Its not as easy as it sounds - Running/Walking 5-15 miles on a treadmill is not the same thing.. the scorching heat, dusty traffic, pouring rain, sweaty formals - I've seen it all. Imagine wearing tucked-in formal wear and setting out for a walk every morning at 730AM and back at 5PM.. The return journey is always the toughest. Well, I made through the Summer. But Fall means classes at the University, research at AGMC and the pendulum motion between the two places. There began the need/essentiality for a more convenient mode of transport - CAR.

I started off searching for good deals on the internet - Craigslist, autotrader and a few dealer websites. I should thank Narayanan, Sunil, my sister and her hubby for their guidance and support during my rigorous search process. On the whole, I looked at around 33 cars to be precise and test drove around 14 before finalizing on the Nissan Sentra. I can tell you with certainty, 'All that glitters is definitely not even bronze'. There were many instances when I was filled with confidence that one particular deal would work out.. But when i test drive the car, it would have a pathetic transmission which would be evident in the first few seconds itself - yet the Ad would say - 'Excellent condition. Clean Inside and out'. (Axelrod Pontiac, Cleveland) I'd curse myself for setting off on a 38 mile drive to just see that car alone. If not for the patience of Narayanan and Rajesh who came with me to each of these dealers, I'm not sure how I would have made it.

I bought a Carfax account, even though Ashish had shared his Autocheck account with me, just to be double sure of the vehicle's history. The problem with good vehicles is that the dealer knows its worth too.. Infact, he knows its too good that he wants to make a profit twice the actual worth (Millenia Autos, Akron). A 1998 Camry that has run for 138k is worth just $3.5k according to KBB (a high priced market value index). And most dealers charge atleast 1k below the KBB value. But this guy wanted $5k. Except for the miles, the vehicle was perfect. No rust. No problems with the transmission either. But no one is going to fall for such a huge price. Neither did I.

In some cases, the Ad would be perfect, the pics great, the prices fair enough. And when we go to the dealer to do a test drive, the car's windshield would be broken, the bonnet wouldn't close properly. When asked about it - 'Oh my gosh. I never knew this had happened. Must be those little miscreants who throw stones at the cars in our lot. May be I can reduce 100-200$ off the bill' (Budget Car Mart). Well, if we were to believe his stories, he would have made millions by now. Everyday was a lesson. Every dealer was a legion.

After visiting a lot other dealers, disagreements and diappointments, I found this car with one of the dealers. Test drove it, it was good. We negotiated a bit on the price and we settled down on a price that was fair enough for both the parties involved. After all it is good enough for my shuttling between the University and AGMC during the Fall and the winter semesters. Now I can sit back and save the walk during the snowy times.

Plan Bs to the rescue

2009-07-06T06:31:00.002+05:30

Well ‘t was the July 4^th , the Independence Day here at United States and I had a Big Weekend ahead of me.. With my internship ending the next week, I considered having my BIGG plans after that. That being said, it would be very gloomy to stay confined within the four walls, I thought.

So we met up at my friends place and defined on how this 3 days are gonna pass by. Friday, July 3^rd, we planned on hanging out at Regal Cinemas for a movie – The taking of Pelham 123. Thanks to Nancy’s outstanding driving skills and Narayanan’s guidance, we reached the theatre at around 2225 hrs, just five mins ahead of the show time. Even though I loved the pragmatic portrayal of Mr Garber by Denzel Washington, the movie didn’t end the way I’d have loved it.. Even then, ‘t was a nice watch. Being a late night show, we didn’t even think of stealthily hitting another screen with the same ticket.

Saturday, July 4^th, we started early at around 0900 hrs and were on a road trip to Arora Mall which was quite far from our place. Thankfully Sunil had the directions written out and that really helped us find our way there quite successfully. I should say, this place was really awesome. It shattered our expectations of a Mall. It more looked like a series of houses that have been converted to individual shop outlets. We began our venture with Ralph Lauren & Polo and went through a series of shops like Tommy Hilfiger, Bose, Fossil and the likes. It was a great shopping for all of us. Everyone bought their hearts out. Sadly I couldn’t find the tees that would fit me.. Even the smallest size seemed to be too broad for me.. But then, I shd be pragmatic – When there are increasing number of shops that sell exclusively XXL clothes to cater to the needs/wants of an obese population, thinner people can’t finds goodies everywhere. We started back from there at around 1600 hrs – yes, that’s around 7 hours of shopping.

Being the day of Independence, there were Fireworks scheduled at the downtown. Since citizens here are denied the handling of fireworks by themselves, events like these are a rarity. Tired from the 7 hours of shopping, I dozed for a couple of hours before we started to the fireworks. We heard from our friends that the downtown is already crowded to the max. and hence we couldn’t make it to the downtown.. Plan B came into effect.. Watching it from the EJ Thomas Hall of our University. And yes, it didn’t disappoint. It was really awesome. It was spectacular to say the least.. We were a bit voracious in expecting to see the crackers burst to show the American Flag just like in Tom & Jerry cartoons.. :P Yeah !! That didn’t happen. But then, it was really good to see so many people out on the streets, on an otherwise stranded streets and enjoy the Independence day.

Sunday, July 5^th, had plans on going to the Gurudwara, a Sikh temple near Richfield, OH. But, the road trip the previous day left us tired and we gave that plan a pass. As usual Plan B was much more hardheaded. Visiting a Mall nearby and shop for the tees I couldn’t get the previous day. I thought of visiting the Summit Mall and get my watch repaired as well. But getting up late screwed up a lot of things including me forgetting to take my watch - the sole reason for me going there.. But then, the tees came to my mind. Alright, it’s the weekend for Plan Bs I thought. As soon as we reached the Mall, we hit the food court and had our favorite dish at Sbarro – the Spinach Stromboli and the fried Zitis.. and then we set out for shopping again. I usually never enter the Abercrombie & Fitch shop for their huge tag prices.. But then, today I wanted to go see what they have. I loved their rugged sentinel outerwear. It looked and felt great. But then they didn’t have the size that fits me. Asked about it, they said they are out of stock for that particular size. I was terribly disappointed. But then, my brain emailed me – the tees. I looked at their tees – they had a very good collection. I took a couple of tees to the fitting room, tried it on and guess what – it fit me perfect. Absolutely perfect. My eyes lit up and I loved the tees. I didn’t mind the price, after-all its just a swipe of the card and a signature. And then we went around the mall and shopped stuffs from Hollister, Aeropostale and the likes. Before we went home, we had our lunch at the Chipotle Mexican Restaurant and raced home.

Back at home, I had some cleaning to do – my desk was a mess. Sorted those things out, cleaned my room, refreshed myself and sat down composing on what was an eventful 3 days in the recent days.

10 best firefox addons

2009-05-15T07:35:00.001+05:30

I hope you are reading this from a Firefox browser. If you are still using IE, its really a good time to download Firefox 3.0. Though Google Chrome is out there now, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is the best out there. As far as speed is concerned, Safari tops it all, but also it consumes a little more memory than Firefox. Hence Firefox still rules the browsing world. What makes it rule the world comprehensively for the past few years ?? Speed, less memory consumption, reliability, history, open-source and of-course the addons. From just decoration to everyday tools, there are addons for everything. I'm just giving the 10 killer addons out there, right here.

1) Twitterfox

Twitterfox is an addon that allows you receive tweets from your friends and you can also post new tweets or reply to the tweets of your friends. Very useful if you are having a twitter account. As shown in the figure, it appears as a small icon in the status bar. Get this addon here.

2. 1-Click Weather

This addon gives you the current temperature and forecast for the locality you choose to monitor. Hovering the mouse over it shows the radar of your locality and clicking it takes you to the weather page where you can see the forecast. Very necessary if you are living in a place where weather changes frequently. Get this addon here.

3. Cooliris

Cooliris instantly transforms your browser into a full-screen 3D experience for viewing images across the web. Makes browsing through pictures a wonderful experience. The interactive 3D Wall and built-in search function, lets you effortlessly drag, click, zoom, and zip your way around a wall of pictures for an amazing viewing experience. Get it here.

4. All-in-one Gestures

This extension allows you to execute common commands using mouse gestures, rocker navigation, scroll wheel navigation and page. Moreover it allows you to customize the gestures so that you can create gestures for your frequently performed actions. Its very simple. You need not depend on keyboard shortcuts/toolbars if you know how to work your way through this addon. Get this here.

5. Foxytunes

Are you the one who listens to music while browsing ? In that case, controlling the music player, shuffling songs can be very tiresome. Minimizing your browser is no longer necessary. FoxyTunes lets you control almost any media player and find lyrics, covers, videos, bios and much more with a click right from your browser. It works on all music players out there. Just the one you were searching for. Get it here.

6. CTRL-Tab

This addon gives you a preview of the webpage if you press CTRL+Tab. With CTRL key pressed, press tab again to toggle thru the different tabs to see the content of different tabs.. This is particularly useful if you are working with multiple tabs and you don't need you to go thru each of the tab to see its content. Very useful addon. Get it here.

7. Inquisitor

This addon speeds up your search like no other. Just as you are typing the word, it starts giving you options, including some related web pages that you might have recently visited. It also gives a count of the number of visits you have made to that particular webpage in the recent times. Advantage being, you need not wait for the search query to appear on google, but click it right away if the page you are looking for appears even before u click search. Get this addon here.

8. Speed Dial

This addon gives a direct access to the pages that you visit the most. Setting this as the home page and also configuring the pages according to the numbers you want, gives you fingertip access to your favorite sites. Setting this as the homepage works great. Get this addon here.

9. infoRSS

InfoRSS displays RSS, Atom, parsed HTML and NNTP feed in a scrolling area in the status bar. Compatible with podcasting RSS which can be downloaded directly. It's also a good Gmail notifier. Very useful if you are someone who reads a lots of blogs/feeds. Get this addon here.

10. ACE Safari Foxdie Theme

If you are someone who likes the style of Safari but use Firefox, then no worries. This theme matches the style of Safari and gives you a feel like you are browsing a Safari browser. Clearly, firefox doesn't have the professional look like Safari. So this one matches it up in style and 'professionality'. Get this addon here.

Thats about it folks. Doesn't necessarily mean that you need to have all these addons. You can probably install some of these addons and see how it works. It has definitely improvised my browsing experience. Hope it does so for you as well.. Adios.

Inmates of E12

2009-05-12T09:35:00.004+05:30

Initial hassles, email communications and after a lot chit chats over Orkut communities, it was decided that the July '08 batch of New Hires will be staying in the Hummingbird Suites for the first 15 days. Though the address was given clearly, had a little problem locating it at 6 AM. None on the streets nor any landmarks. Finally located the building, only to find it didn't even have the name embossed on it. New erection i believe. Bangalore - not the same, two years back.. Concrete structures have sprouted like a paddy field. Globalization - they say.
Vijay was at the Hotel a couple of days earlier. Plan was to meet him, get together and find an apartment nearer to the Campus. Well, the first part worked as planned. Met him over breakfast there, talked the talk - the usual one, on his well being and the comfortness of my journey. And when the topic of housing started, Marathahalli came the answer. His Father's friend had located the house for us. 'Great' I said. A 2BHK he said for around 9000 bucks. That put a fullstop to all the search results, house hunts, saved email conversation with house/flat owners in bangalore, that I had done in the last couple of weeks. I didn't mind though, coz his deal was better.
We went to the house the following weekend. It was E12 - Rekha Park Apartment.. There was Raghu, his bro and Karthi already living there. They joined their respective companies a month earlier than us. Basically they call us the Software Engineers. It was a very small house, not that big and I was wondering if that would fit the 5 of us. But the house had all the basic facilities. So I thought, I ll stay there for maybe a couple of weeks and see if it works out.
Little did I know, I'm in for something that would change my perspective on life. Vijay, who is mostly the person who is made fun at, ridiculed at, is a little more than that. Actually a lot more than that. For a person who has always believed that there is none who works more harder, he shattered all my beliefs.. He is a smart, hard-working, tech-savy guy. He had this quest for knowledge and believe me, he works 20 hours on weekends as well. Even in those rare ocassions of him not having any work, he would try to play around with VI editor, find new commands and do what not. "Needless" - his manager would say. But to him, goals are to be met a week in advance. He completely flipped me over. I felt miniscule in his presence. This was the first time I came across a guy with such a quest for knowledge.
Then came Raghu - I had known him since college. We did an internship/training together in Bangalore earlier. He is someone with such wit and humor. His timing is impeccable. I knew he was a brilliant chap since college. So there were little surprises there. I knew he is one person who would go places and aptly he did. He filed a patent (in process..) within the first year of his working at IBM-ISL. He rightly deserves it. It's always fun when he is around with us. When both Vijay and Raghu are there, its party time for us. None can compete with Raghu. You poke him, u get ridiculed at. He has a side to himself which he hasn't divulged enough to the outside world. He is a wonderful artist. Once he roamed around the streets of bangalore to buy charcoal sticks. Little did I know, his talent. A few months before I left, he showed me a pic he drew. It was Shah Rukh Khan and Manisha Koirala. A still from the movie 'Dil Se'. Impeccable. Astoundingly professional. He drew all that staying up late nights after we all dozed off. I was really surprised at this marvellous talent that he had garnered without much attention. His brother was a Big brother to all of us. He is a soft-spoken, caring guy who didn't interfere with our independence, but at the same time had always mentioned about we coping with the software world. True, should i say, his words got me through, in my intricate times. He was a really good person.
Karthi - Always late to the classes, never serious in anything, not at all responsible.. well yeah, these would fit Karthi in college days. But he was my close friend in College. I'd think - "Where's this fellow gonna go ? In the world filled with such fierce competition, where is he gonna place himself ? and How is he gonna survive?". But he cared little about all these. He was enjoying his college life. And when placements came, he got placed in Airvana Networks - where only 2 managed to get thru and he was one among that. I was a little pleased. That he cared atleast to sit in placements. I never thought he'd do any justice to that job. But again, I was wrong. He proved that I judged him too quickly. He wasn't the average guy i thought him to be. He knew computers. Inside out. RAM upgrade, partitioning Harddisk and other virus issues, he knew the answers. He was a genius - hidden behind his humbleness. I was grossly wrong in his case. He knew what he was doing. He knew where he wanted to go. He almost carried on an entire project in his company all by himself. He worked hard nevertheless. And eventually was sent to Boston, US to finish up his project work there. I was dumbstruck. So were a few others. But his talents were a surprise only to me. I was an idiot.
As days passed by, Raghu's brother had to change companies and he moved to Chennai. Then came Sami and Vasanth. Sami - my classmate all throughout college. He is a friend to everyone. Not just a friend, but a great confidant to almost everyone in his hostel. He is someone that everyone trusts and he does a lot of justice to that. He helps all the people he knows. Doesn't matter if there is something very important coming up for him, he'll speak to u if that'll help u alleviate ur pain. Quite a character. He had this insatiable quest for New Jobs, tat he changed 4 jobs in 1 year. Would you believe that ? Yes, he did. The fields weren't the same either. Software engineer -> research engineer -> embedded systems -> control engineering. Versatality! - I should say.
Vasanth - the one who joined us last. This was the first time I was in close proximity with him. To him - life is to enjoy. No commitments, no trouble. He wouldn't even care to comb his hair before he leaves to the company. He'd say - I'm working for a software industry. Not a fashion magazine. Arrongant - you'd think. No.. He's very childish, humane and a damn simple guy. He is more human than the rest of us. He wouldn't even allow us watching horror movies. He tagged us 'merciless' people for even watching horror movies. We didn't mind. But when it comes to 'being there'-he would always be. Though he appears to be a lazy fellow in weekdays, when weekend comes, he would not mind the tiresome trip to Trichy, but he'd make it every week possible. Just to meet his good old buddies there / take a ride in his bike. Two days enjoyment is worth the pain - he'd say. He would never care 'what's next..' but appreciates what he is doing right now and would try to do that better. He is the personification of the statement "Life is to Live"
The one year at Bangalore, taught me a lot of things.. Everyone has their own perspective of life. Many see it as an opportunity to do worthy things, rise up in stature and plan on the life that's ahead of them. But to many others, life is precious, they wanna live every moment of it, do only things they like to do and so on.. The goals in life aren't the same for everyone. And you gotta respect each one for their goal in life, even if it means to enjoy it to the maximum. Who knows - you'll envy them in the future. Like i do, now ! I'd definitely say, the period of my stay at E12, was infact the one where I learnt life, realized my mistakes, began understanding of people and more importantly something that I'd cherish the rest of my life.

The New look

2009-05-12T06:13:00.002+05:30

With the grueling spring semester behind, it meant a life less projects, less assignments and less exams. Should have been relaxing, pleasurable and a time to lay back in the couch and read a couple of novels, browse internet and other recreational stuffs. But all it took was just 2 days to reach boredom. And these 2 days didn't even go eventless - visited the mall, did a little bit of grocery shopping, played cricket, started watching House M.D and yeah tried to hit the REC twice (sadly, it was closed due to maintanence).. With pretty much nothing to do, I couldn't wile away the time in hand.. And just when I started browsing random stuffs in the internet - Mausam & Escape soundtrack , new tips and tricks in Mac, iWeb and it led to the templates for blogs..
'It's been a really long time that I changed my template'- I felt. If you'd remember, my blog had a 3 column maxima dark template (something that Blogger doesn't have) which i had downloaded from some other site and varied some parameters here and there.. Even then it gave a congested feeling to the blog page.. It looked good initially to me as I was just playing around with stuffs..But then I wonder how Abhi and N were able to modify the 3 column template beautifully to fit the screen perfect.. Must be a lot of tweaking to do I guessed and didn't go with that idea..
I thought I'd better go with a 2 column template which looks a little different.. And there began the hunt for the different template.. And I passed from one site to the other, each one stating it as the best template ever.. And finally I landed on this particular site. I particularly liked this one because of the way they had described each and every step.. There's just little that you need to do by yourself.. And it gives a website like feel rather than a blog feel.. Moreover, if you notice, there's a menu in the top that can give links to different other pages.. And the search box in the header that allows you to search within the blog.. Awesome I felt.. Scanning down the page, it gives you a link to the recent posts/comments.. This is all what a blog needs.. If not more.. I definitely like the new layout.. But would highly value your comments/suggestions.. If you think there's something that I'm missing.. plz let me know here..

25 things about me

2009-04-21T07:54:00.010+05:30

Not in any specific order.

1) My dream job now is to work for the Forensics department. I would love it if i could get a job that's atleast marginally closer to it.
2) The happiest day of my life is when our Class XII results were out. Obvious to a few. For those who are wondering why, my brother and myself were ranked 1 and 2 respectively in our school. And both of us got admit in NUS,Singapore & BITS, Pilani. Eventually we took up our respective courses in NITT.
3) I am a Black belt holder in Karate - Kummah Budokan Karate Federation was the Dojo I attended. Looks can be deceiving. :)
4) I love painting. Anyone who has visited my house in Trichy can see the Tile paintings, vase artworks in our hall (done by myself and my bro)
5) The wildest fight I had was with my brother. It was all within the walls of our house. Shirt-tearing, jaws-punching, fight. We are so close :)
6) I love Apple's products - Mac, ipod, itunes.. Just that the prices are a little too high..
7) I never had a clue on how my twin outscores me in final exams always.. It has got to be the colors he uses in his exams.
8) I used to run home after school just to watch Swat Kats at 4 and the Centurions at 4.30 :)
9) I have hit a 6 off the last ball of a cricket match to win the game for my team once. Also I've taken a hatrick in bowling at Cisco.. 2 lucky days ;) . On all other days I have been a really pathetic player.
10) I won a district level Calligraphy competition. Guess what ? (It was a Hindi Calligraphy competition). Yes ! I can write and read Hindi fluently. But can't speak fluent Hindi.
11) The longest drive on my bike was 38 km in Bangalore. yeah, not that much.
12) If its summer, then you can find me playing either Soccer / Cricket in our school ground during our school days.. Miss all my school friends here..
13) Among my college days, 6th semester was my best. Scored a GPA of 10/10 :)
14) I really was taken by surprise when my father offered me and bro a bike to transit to college, even though the college was only 3 km away from my house. I loved my bike - Hero Honda Splendor +, really miss it now.
15) My sister was the one who introduced us to the Star World, HBO, Star Movies and the likes. She was the one who is solely responsible for my addiction to Friends, Small Wonder, Who's line is it anyway and Hollywood Squares. She was a great role model for us and often the benchmark that we found difficult to match up to.
16) Not sure why, and I'm not strong in that field either - but i love probability, statistics and gaussian curves.
17) The line i keep writing often or when i feel bored or when i get a new pen is "Then the value of the equation becomes equal to the fact that.." . Wierd ? Isn't it ? It has no meaning.. but i keep writing it.
18) I wrote my name playfully in the entrance of my house using a liquid solution which i found in our window. Later only found that, it was concentrated nitric acid. And that my name couldn't be erased. Till date (I guess !!), my name is imprinted in the entrance of B3/45. What a way to emboss a name !!
19) I don't think I would settle down in United States.
20) I do spend some quality time of mine analyzing people's behavior and the motive behind their actions. Good or not, I reach a level when i can fairly predict them in future..
21) The swing behind my house in B4/172 has seen most of my not-so-divulged emotions.
22) I'm not a big fan of parties/dance/drinks - they make me feel very uncomfortable. Don't ask why. Just not my zone. I'm not against it though !!
23) Arvind & Anbu were my best buddies/benchmates in my dept.. Wish I had know them earlier. They know me and my actions perfectly. There's no limit to the fun and frolic we had during some classes..
24) People who didn't know me would say ' He's a soft-spoken, reserved guy, who doesn't raise his voice even when asked a question'.. I wouldn't bother changing that coz I'd prefer to be known that way. Truths apart !!
25) I'm on Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, LinkedIn, Academia and Blogger networks.

Degenerative disc disease - DDD

2009-04-19T08:51:00.000+05:30

DDD predominantly occurs with aging. But there are other risk factors that accelerate the degenerating process of the disc - Cigarette smoking, repetitive mechanical lifting of heavy loads, trauma and failure to do exercise. Here's a short video of a presentation that i made stating the symptoms, treatments and methods used for detecting a degenerated disc. Questions, if any, can be asked and will be answered.

References - Internet, Youtube, Books by Dr Panjabi, Dr Adams, Dr Bogduk et. al.

The Kings of Pings

2009-04-19T07:35:00.006+05:30

't was July 2nd, that I was asked to report at Cisco Systems, the leading networking (96% share of the World Market) Giant at Bangalore. Yes, Quite not the place for a topper in Instrumentation & Control engineering. But the project at BHEL R&D had its share of impact to make an eventual change of mind in me. Nevertheless, its a Great place to work. (Truly)
As a part of the induction programme, we (the new hires) were subdivided in groups and were given training in different locations - mostly 5 star hotels, followed by Cisco Campuses. After the training, we were given a letter stating our Managers and the date to meet with them. Luckily for me, there was a guy (Amit Kulkarni) in my batch who reported to the same manager. And hence we were kinda close with each other during the rest of the training programme. Eventually became friends before even we joined the team.
Later, I was asked to report to a different manager in a new team that was taking up a new project from San Jose - the ASR 9000 series routers. That didn't deter us from our games of Carrom, coffee breaks and lunch sessions everyday. Day by day, I realized how humble a person can be in Amit. He was a soft-spoken fellow, ever smiling and cheerful. He introduced me to the other folks in the Dev team when we shifted to the main campus in the outer ring road. The folks being - Sriram, Neeraj, Soma, Abbs, Raunak, Dhins, Jai, Renjini, Sujit.. Initially I had this inhibition in moving freely with them, cause their team always talked abt images, code reviews, and all technical stuffs which i had no idea abt, coz i was still in the training program for the new series of routers. I kept myself away from them for a bit except for the lunch sessions.
But with the passage of time, I was kind of a happy-person in their presence. I realized that there was something about this group that cheered me, loosened me up a bit and made me have that laugh without any inhibitions. They were fun. Everyone was a different personality altogether. Can't describe them enough here. They were the best buddies that anyone can ask for. I should say the Cisco hiring team deserves a ton of accolades for bringing all these people to Cisco. Definitely, they are the best. And a special thanks from my side for bringing these guys in my life. I'd never forget the Table tennis games, the carrom games and of-course my hatrick in Cricket (my very first in my life) that we played behind the cafeteria.
It was always fun when i was with these guys. We tripped to Goa and a trek on the Skandagiri hills. The Goa trip was the best in my life.. No No.. not for the bikini clad women nor the beaches, but for the breakdown of our Van on our way back. We woke up that morning expecting ourselves to be near our Campus, but only to find the van stranded amidst nowhere and our driver was missing !! He had gone to get some mechanic, which we were clueless about. Yes, it was a Monday and none of us turned up for work. No restaurants near by. Nothing. The village-wala within us woke up. We spread out a towel on the roadside and started playing poker. Yeah we invited attention as well - a couple of villagers wanted to play with us for money and they were gleefully denied. We are professionals boss !! AAh.. it was an amazing trip. Feeling quite nostalgic to think abt it even to this day. May be for them, it was just hanging out with friends which they might have done loads of time in their life. But for me, who was a day scholar throughout college life, who visited the hostel only twice, who has never had food in a hostel mess, who hasn't stayed in the hostel more than 1 night - it was a new life. A new beginning. I wanted it to last forever - throughout my life.
This was one of the reasons why i was skeptical about doing my higher studies. Not that i may not find any new friends, but I felt, they were a treasure that i shouldn't let go. But anyways, here i am doing my Masters in US. Life doesn't go as planned. Does it ? But I'm glad to say that I'm still in touch with them and I'm getting their mails thru the group we created - Sultans of Pings.

Recent movies - a one line comment

2009-04-09T09:13:00.007+05:30

These are some of the movies that I watched in the last few months. My one line comment for the movies are as follows.

Yaavarum Nalam - A terrific thriller, great cinematography, sound and characterization.

Vaaranam Aayiram - The bond a son shares with his father, beautifully told. A good try.

Pollathavan - Thoroughly Gripping. The villain stands out.

Dasavatharam - A fusion of science and entertainment. A good try.

Raman thediya seethai - Watch it with zero expectations, you won't be disappointed.

Sivaji - Its Shankar in a Rajni film and not the vice-versa. OK.

Saroja - A very good entertainer.

Kuselan - Could it be any worse (Chandler style)

Silambaatam - Did the censor board sleep off during the flashback scenes ?

Satyam - Nayanthara, Vishal shaving his head bald, climax worthless !!

Kuruvi, Villu - Reviewing it is a waste of time

Aegan - Remake gone awful.

Padikathavan - Waste. Betters kuruvi and Villu.

Slumdog Millionaire - BG Music adds flavor to an otherwise ordinary story.

The Dark Knight - One of the best movies of this decade. Totally chilling.

A Walk to Remember - Clings to your heart, melts it and dissolves in it.

The Notebook - A different story with a superb ending.

The kite runner - Terrific.

The inside man - Denzel sizzles, thoroughly gripping.

My Cousin Vinny - There's a comedy written in every frame

The others - Scary, chilling, and a remarkable performance from Nicole Kidman.

Usual suspects - An unusual story.

I'm sure some of you might disagree with what I had mentioned. Lets debate it over. After all, opinions differ. Comments welcome.

Update :

Abhiyum Naanum - A cloyingly sweet movie filled with laughter, sentiments, twists and reality.

Anjaathey - Miskin proves his class yet again extracting a brilliant performance from Prasanna.

Subramaniapuram - Harsh reality. Good screenplay filled with violence. Not sure how long Madurai people are gonna carry sickles in movies.

Say Hi to my new blog

2009-03-26T06:10:00.002+05:30

Well, this was quite some time due.. It was only after a couple of years that I realized that I had let my thoughts flow all over my blog posts without much control.. And this year I am trying to streamline the flow of thoughts into two separate lanes.. The one, here, which you are reading, will be my thoughts, experiences on anything but tech.. And I've dedicated the other lane solely for Tech.. so that i can save a few souls from being bombarded with medical terminologies and my love for Apple. ;)
The earlier posts which I considered a little techie have also been moved to the new blog and the contents have been removed from this blog page. I hope all of you will show me the same support in welcoming this new venture. Thanks :)

Oh yeah - Here's the NEW BLOG

Why a Mac ?

2009-01-31T08:06:00.009+05:30

Expensive, Less features when compared to an equally priced Dell or HP, Not an easy Operating System, Not all softwares run on a Mac - these are the reasons why you shouldn't buy a Mac..
That being said, now lets analyze all the above reasons..

Firstly, Expensive. Definitely a Mac is very expensive. That's majorly because it was Steve's dream project and he doesn't wanna give that for free.. 2) Its from Apple - the brand that stands solidly on quality, perfection and innovation.. 3) The people who don't buy a Mac actually don't get to know whats really in a Mac. Let me explain this in detail - People generally consider Mac to be just another Laptop less the Windows OS. But its more. It has a lot of applications that ordinarily a windows PC doesn't have. Examples being GarageBand, FrontRow, iPhoto, iMovie, Automator, iDVD and more.. These softwares individually cost more when you buy them separately for Windows - say Photoshop, Nero Burning software, a decent video editor.. FrontRow is an exceptional piece of an application - that gives you a theatrical iPod experience.. All these and more softwares comes with every new Mac.

I initially tried to assemble a custom made Dell Inspiron 14" laptop in the dell website (following some deal in deals2buy) and added a few very basic softwares and guess what the total came to - $789 [Remember this].. Statistics and the surveys from the marketing world say here , here and here that Apple tops the list of all manufacturers.. Also I read reviews that told that Dell's quality has been degrading over the years and the life of a Dell laptop is a meagre 1.5 years before it becomes garbage. On the other hand, a Mac is seen to be more reliable.. [How many times has your iPod crashed unexpectedly ?? Believe me - it has never happened for me.. Given that I had been using mine for the past 3 years] Thats the reliability of Apple !

Coming to the OS - a very tough operating system.. Who told ya ?? If you are someone who likes Mozilla over IE, then you are someone who'd love the Mac OS X over windows.. Its a very cool operating system - professional and sleaky.. I love the graphics - the way it minimizes, magnifies and the likes.. Mac is like a hidden treasure.. There are ways to do it and its fun to go about learning it in the intuitive way.. Its like working on VI.. [If you have ever worked on it, you'll know what i'm talking about] After 12 years with the windows, I'm liking OS X better..

Not all softwares run on Apple.. This, to a certain extent is true.. Especially Google has been reluctant to release the Mac versions of Google Talk and Chrome.. But Apple has nothing to lose - it has iChat and Safari (needless to say Mozilla) to replace it. More the time Google takes, more will be the fan following for Mozilla.. the power of open-source. But most companies release softwares for Mac.. but some doesn't - especially if someone is in the engineering field they may need loads of softwares. Here's the catch.. there is something called boot-camp and VMware Fusion - that allows you to run Windows on a Mac - so that you can install applications that work only on Windows.. And the prize is this - Windows runs faster and better on a Mac. There are loads of other links that reiterate the same fact..

Now all these being said, let me tell you one more reason why a Mac is way better than windows.
Who makes the software (windows) ??
Microsoft.
Who makes the hardware ??
Uhmm.. Dell, HP, Sony, Gateway, Toshiba etc..

Coming to a Mac,
Who makes the software (OS X)??
Apple !
Who makes the hardware ?
Apple !

Don't you think if the same guys do both the hardware and software, they would know the notebook very well and how it would behave ? This is the reason why a Mac doesn't crash or crashes less often.
Here's a little suggestion if you are still concerned about the price.. Go for a refurbished Mac. When it comes to Apple, a refurbished laptop is just as good as new. It comes with the same 1 year warranty as the new one, the finish looks exactly the same as a new one. Believe me you can't spot a difference between a new mac and a refurbished mac. Except that the price would be 200$ lesser than the new one.

Last but not the least, there is one major reason for the vast popularity and the general tendency of people to prefer Apple - VISTA - read this post by Ab to know more..

If you want to learn more about the Mac - visit the Apple website.. Their site market themselves way better than any other site. These are just my views on why I sought to a Mac rather than a Dell.

Escapades..

2009-01-29T03:27:00.006+05:30

It was one of the term test times for Physiology.. Myself and archana were in Bierce in an effort to study for the tests.. It wasn’t long when my eye cascaded towards the pop-corn packet on the table.. Studying Physiology makes me hungry.. My eyes filled with hunger, I asked Archana if she could microwave it in the library cafeteria.. But she bluntly refused citing the obvious things – she was busy studying..
So I took up the task on my own hands.. When given a choice : food for stomach or food for knowledge, I’d prefer the former, anyday. After-all, everyone eats. But everyone isn’t keen to study. Even the statistics are in my side – I usually believed so. I hopped towards the cafeteria – left leg forward twice and switching, right leg forward twice with the pack switching in parallel in my hands. There weren’t many people in the library – being a sunday – just a Chinese girl who was drowning in whatever book she was reading.. and an afro-american guy watching some rap song in his laptop..
I went inside the cafeteria towards the microwave, but to my dismay, the buttons on the microwave looked unfamiliar.. They weren’t the IFB ones which I used at home nor the Sharp one which I had used here in US. Their keys were a little different. I tried to figure out how it would work – but the progression of time was more than the rate at which i was gathering information just by looking at it. I even thought of going back and asking Archana but I know her answer – Don’t you even know how to cook a pop-corn??.. So giving that thought little importance, I prepared myself to go ahead with it.
I placed the packet inside and pressed ‘2’ (in the process of pressing 2:00), but the display showed :30 , :29 , :28 and it kept decrementing with time (remember I didn’t even press the START button).. So I pressed ‘2’ again.. The display read :56, :55, :54.. I pressed ‘2’ again thinking that a total of 1:30 would be sufficient. I remembered the instruction on the pack “Cook until the time interval between two successive cracking sounds is more than 2 seconds”.. Even at the dying time of 1:30 I could hear multiple cracking sounds within millisecond intervals. So I thought I’ll cook it for 30 more seconds and I pressed 2 again..
With one of the palms on my cheeks, I was gazing right into the transparent window of the microwave.. I could see the dreamy clouds filling inside the microwave hindering my view of the bloated pack.. Sensing something is wrong, I pressed the STOP button. And I opened the front door and there was a sudden gush of smoke out of the microwave. I took the pack out and figured what went wrong – the pack had bloated, burst open and the pop corn inside were getting burnt and that has produced the smoke. Should I say I was quick in figuring this out ;)
An elderly lady entered the cafeteria for a quick coffee out of the vending machine. She looked at me, I smiled at her as if everything was perfectly ok.. The smoke looked more like steam to the eye. She took her coffee and I guess she smelled the smoke now.. She thought something was wrong with her coffee and took it closer to her nose and sniffed at it. With some serious doubt in her mind, she marched out. And the smoke was spreading.. I pressed the pack , and even more thick gush of black smoke came out of the pack.. With my instincts guiding me, I waved my hand through that smoke to spread the concentration of the black smoke. I knew the pop-corn was no longer edible (so much for my hunger).. Throwing it in the trash, I walked out, as fast as I can, to the place were Archana was, told her everything as it happened.. She couldn’t stop laughing at the fact that I created a mockery out of a trifle thing.
We both walked back to the cafeteria to ensure that the smoke didn’t trigger any smoke alarms there.. But things didn’t look pleasant – as we were going, the Chinese girl had here arms covering her mouth and nose, eyes looking shocked, I knew from a distance that the smoke is spreading throughout the library. We went inside, and I showed here where the incidence took place - like a criminal showing the police on how he committed the crime.. I told her quietly – Lets run away from here before the alarm triggers and we being held for the damages. She urged me to go and tell someone incharge so that they don’t freak out when the alarm goes off.. But my instincts were in Plan A.. to flee the place. I couldn’t see the smoke but I could definitely smell it.. Just then I realized that the smell was coming from my hand – remember I waved through the black smoke – so I stepped out – The chinese girl wasn’t there – I walked quietly to the restroom and washed my hand atleast 5 times and when I was pretty sure that I don’t smell smoke I came back..
The cafeteria still had the smoke smell, but it wasn’t too bad as it was earlier. It was subsiding. But the missing Chinese girl sent shivers down my spine. Would she have gone downstairs to tell someone that an Indian guy is burning something inside the cafeteria, may be she just left the place, or did she fell sick because of the smoke ?? I didn’t know what to do.. “Lets go .. Lets go..” I told Archana.. She wouldn’t listen.. Never.. “I have a lot to study.. I can’t leave now.. If you want you go..” – She shouted back.. “Alright.. lets just change the place atleast..” – I suggested and she agreed..
After about half an hour..
S : Hey Archana, Can u do me a favor..
A: What ??
S: Can you get me a cool drink from the vending machine ??

Touch no-more..

2008-12-05T09:27:00.014+05:30

With so much of excitement I'm beginning to write this post. Reason being I found this amazing piece of software from the Apple website. Its actually the Magic Jungle's Fluid Tunes. It can be operated by just gesturing your hands in the air. (i.e) you don't need a keyboard or a mouse to give your input to the computer. It recognizes your gestures and it takes the input and the controls are activated accordingly. Stunning ! Isn't it.. Its more like a sci-fi movie - say the likes of Minority Report. Though it comes as a separate s/w that works on top of iTunes, it would be highly appreciated if it came as an addon for iTunes itself.

It stumps me to even think how people go about implementing things which were once just on a paper that would most likely end up in trash following a sarcastic laughter. It does work pretty well, given that you need to spend a little time fixing your position and taking care that your other body parts don't interfere with the controls triggering false inputs (highly likely).

But there is no reason to be disheartened. As this is just the beginning, I hope it doesn't stop here and this will definitely be one software that is going to see exponential downloads in the near future. It might not be the s/w you need, but its definitely something that you might want to try your hand at. I guess it works only on Mac (ha !). Requires itunes. Check it out !

FAQs - University of Akron

2008-12-01T02:30:00.007+05:30

Well, just to help a few students who are clueless on how to reach akron, whats in store for them etc, I thought I would write an FAQ on it..

1) Where is Akron ?

This link would show the driving directions from New York. Though its not recommended to drive - its just to give an idea on how far it is and to give a topographic picture.

2) How is the climate at Akron ?

The summer here is around 80-90 F, but the winter will be on the negative side, say 0 - 30 F.
Summer - June - August
Winter - Nov - Apr

You can purchase the winter clothes after landing at Akron. Its not advisable to bring it from your home country as it might just add to the weight of your luggage. Its fairly cheaper to purchase it here.

3) Is there chances of aid at Akron as nothing is mentioned in my I-20 ??

Getting a TA/RA from the department depends on which one you are going for.. But you might get a GA from your part time job or if you are lucky enough you might get a desk job. There is a good chance of getting an aid but that doesn't rule out the fact that you need to come here with sufficient money atleast for your first semester fees (Safety first). Let getting aid be not the only consideration for coming here.. If you get admit from a better university, I would suggest you to go there.

4) When do I need to come to Akron ?

Its best if you come here atleast 1 week before the day of your orientation. The orientation day would have been mentioned in your I-20. It will give you sufficient time to settle down, find a new house, roomies and get to know the place.

5) Whom do I contact before arriving to Akron ?

It is good if you are in touch with 1 or 2 seniors from your home country before you plan your trip. It will be helpful for you incase you are in a fix somewhere. They might do their part in resolving the situation. Students from India - you can contact the seniors through the community in orkut, or contact them through the mail - isa.drishti@gmail.com

They used to arrange pick-up for the new students and the initial accomodation for them temporarily for 15 bucks. I'm not sure whether the scheme or pricing has changed now. You'll know it when you contact the seniors.

6) How do I bring the money ?

Bring it in the form of Demand Draft or cheques. Also carry with you travellers cheque, instead of arming yourself with loads of cash. It isn't safe to carry a lot of cash. Just have around 30 to 40 bucks in cash. You might not even spend that much during your transit. Again for safety reasons (In case you are lost in the airport).

7) How is the job scenario at Akron or US in general ?

Obviously its bleak right now due to the financial situation. But you needn't worry much about it because hopefully it'll recover in a yr or yr and half. People are getting placed even now, so its just a matter of time that things will change positively. Just be positive about it as we are.

8) What are the things that I need to do after landing in Akron ?

a) First, you need to get adjusted to the time difference. Get out of your jet lag.

b) Then, you need to go on a house hunting. Take care that you enquire about the house from the people who stayed there earlier. There had been cases of bed-bugs for a few people.
c) In parallel, report to the OIP saying that you have arrived, fill out a few forms and carry out the procedures that you are asked to do.

d) You need to open a bank account here, choices being Fifth-Third, Chase and Key bank. Its best to open it in the fifth third bank as it is situated within the university campus and its easy to contact them. Good customer service and i can guarantee that much.

e) State ID - Though this is not mandatory, it is highly recommended that you get a state id as it might serve as an alternate id in places that require it, the other being the zip card that the university provides. (It is not recommended to carry your passport everywhere - so this pretty much helps). They charge around 9 bucks for this.

f) Search for an on-campus job - Take care that you are being given a GA by the employer. In that case, your fees will be taken care and you just need to pay only a meager amount. The earlier you come to Akron, the more choices you'll have for an on-campus job.

g) SSN - This is the social security number. It'll be given in the federal office in downtown. Free of charge and highly mandatory. Can be done after a month or so when you have the letter from the OIP that you are being employed in the university of akron. You need to take your passport, I-20 and the letter to the office, fill out a form and you are good.

The Karate Episode

2008-11-17T02:19:00.011+05:30

Sachin had belted the Aussies at Sydney by scoring an impressive 138 and thereby steering India to victory. And expecting the healines to be flashed in SunTV, I turned on to SunTV to see something very disturbing. It was the John David case. Hope no one would have ever forgotten it. I don't. When it became a huge question mark on every parent's mind whether to send their loved one to the college, my parents didn't think about that. Rather they wanted me not to succumb to ragging by the seniors.

Next day, me and my bro were taken to a Karate Federation near our place.
Incidentally I was a big fan of Jackie Chan and hence I really loved this decision of my parents. Little did I know that the path would be very tiring and exhaustive. Our Master, Renshi. Vijayakumar was a man in his mid 40s, with a charming smile. He wasn't all that strict is what I observed during my association with the Kummah Budokan Karate Federation. I had my classes on Thursdays and Sundays everyweek.. Thursday was a bit easier as I need to be doing the exercises only from 6 - 830 AM , whereas Sunday was the bad part 6-12 AM continuously without any break. Years passed, and my belt colours changed from white -> Yellow -> Green -> Blue -> Orange -> Purple -> Brown I II III IV -> Black (Yes, BLACK !!)

But the part I loved about Karate was the Shiai part. Shiai meaning Endurance, wherein you will have to fight an opponent and there will be points for the kicks, punches etc. Who doesn't like kicking people ? I don't. Ofcourse there is a flip side of getting kicked.. I didn't know it until my first tournament. My master suggested me not to go for the Shiai event, but for the Kata event. Kata is just a basic formation that you need to do with kicks and punches. They are predefined. The more perfectly you do, the more chances of you winning. I didn't like that. I was adamant to participate in the Shiai event. Finally my master with a bit of reluctance, agreed.

I didn't know I signed up for a Southern India Level tournament.. Was really surprised to see around 100 people in my category alone (26-30 Kg category!!) ;).. [I was in my 8th std) The opponents were made to sit opposite to each other and the shiai would happen in the center space. I was counting who would be my opponent and he was looking to be a very calm guy with vibuthi in his forehead and all.. I was smiling inside saying to myself "I will finish that banana in may be 2 mins".. And our time came. With no fear nor nervousness, I stepped into the ring, and the Shiai began. He didn't try to kick/punch. He was just retreating from me.. My thoughts confirmed that he was a banana. With a broad smile I galloped forward just to receive a severe blow to my ears, with his leg ( I seemed deafened by that kick).. Shocked, shuddered I fell back.. That was 1 point for him. Now I knew how wrong I was, in not taking my Master's advice and taking him too lightly.. The Shiai resumed and I was able to score two half points with perfect punches to his ribs. We were leveled. Just then, I received a blow again to my face with his wrist this time. It wasn't a punch. But he had just swayed his arm over my face. He was given a fowl. Thats -1/2 point. I was in the lead. I desperately wanted to kick his face as he had hit mine twice. I tried for a slap kick on his spine, and received his elbow on my foot. God ! That hurts.. I was limping for a minute within the ring.. I scored another 1/2 point with a thrust kick on his chest and he scored another half point with a punch. And then it was time-out. And I won the first round :) . But he had taken half my stamina and filled me with twice the anger. I hate it when anyone hits me on my face or head. And I was angered by the fact that I didn't repay it. The subsequent rounds were not worth mentioning, it was like a cake-walk when compared to the guy I fought with in the first round.

The fourth-round was the significant round in that tournament for me. I didn't give my opponent anytime. As soon as they said Go, I pounced on him with a thrust kick and scored 1 point within a fraction of a second. Thinking that he might not expect it again and with very good intentions of getting another 1 point, I pounced on him again. I was right. He didn't expect it. I didn't expect it either. He gave a strong elbow on my right knee. It was injured already when i fell down during a cricket match the previous week and his elbow just teared out my wound again, and blood started oozing out from my knee.. My karate pants were soaking in blood (ok, not as bad as it sounds.. ) The referees were concerned now, and they asked whether I wish to quit or take rest. I gleefully said No, I will continue fighting. No probs, don't worry. They were kinda surprised to see a young kid not giving up (Actually I wanted to, but I have this problem that I won't say that in public) And somehow I managed to win that round as well. By the end of the round, my right leg below my knee was almost drenched in blood. One of the referres took me for first aid and he was really happy seeing my spirits and he congratulated me for staying on. But eventually I lost the quarterfinals and I had to see the rest of the tournament as a part of the audience.

As one of my other friends was getting a prize in the kata event, I went for the prize distribution function. One of the referees of my bloody match came up to me and said that they are giving me a prize as a consolation and for continuing the fight even when I was injured (They were thinking that I sported that injury during the fight.!!).. And I was just letting them think so. :)

And I 'won' the consolation prize in that tournament. My master was all praise for me and he even appreciated me in front of all others on the following Sunday class. He had received appreciation from Masters of other Budokan as well for training a kid like me, it seems. See, my silence proved to be golden for many people :). And thats not it, there was a second tournament the next month. And this time, it was National Level. And the fun continued..

Itunes 8 Visualisations

2008-10-25T00:13:00.009+05:30

When the audio players are concerned, I guess Itunes have revolutionized the entire interface experience, something that WMP has failed to do in its 12 versions so far. A glaring thing that i had noticed about itunes was its visualizations in itunes 7 and previous versions.. It didn't quite match the style and quality of Apple. Whereas these ones have not only catchy to the eyes, they would be best suited in Disco party or dance fests conducted in places where they don't have proper DJs or lightings but yet they can still get that experience.

If only Apple could get itunes to play movies of .avi and .mov formats, it would even more boost the publicity of Apple among movie-mongrels like me :)

These Visualizations were taken from Itunes 8 (Windows version).

And the visualizations below were taken from a Mac..

Mac Vs PC

2008-10-22T00:59:00.004+05:30

Finally I get to do some "Muhahahahahaha" :D

The Change

2008-10-17T01:07:00.003+05:30

Ever since i stepped into the US soil, I'm starting to wonder what makes this place ultra-special. Probably my expectations of US were a bit too high or was I thinking of a more dreamy place. Hmm no.. My realizations aren't all that exciting or enticing for a person who wants to step here.

Yeah true. I don't even feel that i am in a country thats supposed to be foreign to me. Its very much like Bangalore. When i step out of the house i see more Indians on the road than others. I don't care to see who is driving the cars.. So that excludes the major portion of the Americans. And even when I see the Americans i don't feel any different. They don't look strange to me. And neither do i feel any different about myself.

Yeah, I should say, the one thing that I have noticed to have changed significantly is my sense of insecurity. Whenever i step out of the house, the fear of losing my possessions grips me. I start feeling the fear that had for a long time evaded me. Stepping out of any building isn't the best thing i want to do but with no better option I have to do it every day. Too many thefts and friends getting robbed aren't what you want to hear in the place you dwell.. I have no other option. Now the only thing i can think of is - In which way is the probability of my possessions being stolen less likely - 1) if i carry it out 2) Leaving it back at home. Akron seems to be a NOT SAFE zone. (Is AKRON an acronym for Always Know Robbers are Out & Near ??)

The geographical change. When i was in bangalore i used to go to my home once every month. Obviously i can't do that now. And I am not all that worried about that, it is what I knew i had to let go for the sake of my higher studies. I'm fine with that anyways. Since i call my parents every other day or they call me i am not feeling homesick yet.

Time zone - Friends - Though i have made a few friends after landing in Akron, the time zone difference and my laziness and the lack of proper internet connection at my home has made me lose contact with all my buddies back in India. Their perception about my attitude would have gone for a toss for sure.

Though there are other things that are worth considering, I chose not to discuss it here. Afterall i don't think I have much to be happy about here in US. I won't say it sucks.. but its close.

The travails of a single south indian guy

2008-10-12T23:13:00.008+05:30

A mail suggested that it was written by some IIMA guy, but google search throws a lot of links with the same content.. So, without much consideration to the source but with all due respect to the anonymous author, I would just like to bring it to your eyes. Sit back, relax and read on..

Yet another action packed weekend in Mumbai, full of fun, frolic and introspection. I have learnt many things. For example having money when none of your friends have any is as good as not having any. And after spending much time in movie theatres, cafes and restaurants I have gathered many insights into the endless monotony that is the love life of south Indian men. What I have unearthed is most disheartening.

Disheartening because comprehension of these truths will not change our status anytime soon. However there is also cause for joy. We never stood a chance anyway. What loads the dice against virile, gallant, well educated, good looking, sincere mallus and tams? (Kandus were once among us, but Bangalore has changed all that.)Our futures are shot to hell as soon as our parents bestow upon us names that are anything but alluring. I cannot imagine a more foolproof way of making sure the child remains single till classified advertisements or that maternal uncle in San Francisco thinks otherwise. Name him "Parthasarathy Venkatachalapthy" and his inherent capability to combat celibacy is obliterated before he could even talk.He will grow to be known as Partha. Before he knows, his smart, seductively named northy classmates start calling him Paratha. No woman in their right minds will go anyway near poor Parthasarathy.

His investment banking job doesn't help either. His employer loves him though. He has no personal life you see. By this time the Sanjay Singhs and Bobby Khans from his class have small businesses of their own and spend 60% of their lives in discos and pubs. The remaining 40% is spent coochicooing with leather and denim clad muses in their penthouse flats on Nepean Sea Road . Business is safely in the hands of the Mallu manager.After all with a name like Blossom Babykutty he cant use his 30000 salary anywhere. Blossom gave up on society when in school they automatically enrolled him for Cookery Classes. Along with all the girls.Yes my dear reader, nomenclature is the first nail in a coffin of neglect and hormonal pandemonium. In a kinder world they would just name the poor southern male child and throw him off the balcony. "Yes appa we have named him Goundamani..." THUD. Life would have been less kinder to him anyway.If all the women the Upadhyays, Kumars, Pintos and,god forbid, the Sens and Roys in the world have met were distributed amongst the Arunkumars, Vadukuts and Chandramogans we would all be merry casanovas with 3 to 4 pretty things at each arm. But alas it is not to be.

Of course the south Indian women have no such issues. They have names which are like sweet poetry to the ravenous northie hormone tanks. Picture this:"Welcome, and this is my family. This is my daughter Poorni (what a sweet name!!) and my son Ponnalagusamy (er.. hello..).." Cyanide would not be fast enough for poor Samy. Nothing Samy does will help him. He can pump iron, drive fast cars and wear snazzy clothes, but against a braindead dude called Arjun Singhania he has as much chance of getting any as a Benedictine Monk in a Saharan Seminary.Couple this with the other failures that have plagued our existence. Any attempt at spiking hair with gel fails miserably. In an hour I have a crown of greasy, smelly fibrous mush. My night ends there. However the northy just has to scream "Wakaw!!!" and you have to peel the women off him to let him breathe. In a disco while we can manage the medium hip shake with neck curls, once the Bhangra starts pumping we are as fluid as cement and gravel in a mixer. Karan Kapoor or Jatin Thapar in the low cut jeans with chaddi strap showing and see through shirt throws his elbows perfectly, the cynosure of all attention.

The women love a man who digs pasta and fondue. But why do they not see the simple pleasures of curd rice and coconut chutney? When poor Senthilnathan opens his tiffin box in the office lunch room his female coworkers just dissappear when they see the tamarind rice and poppadums. The have all rematerialised around Bobby Singh who has ordered in Pizza and Garlic bread. (And they have the gall to talk of foreign origin.)

Sociologically too the tam or mallu man is severely sidelined. An average tam stud stays in a house with, on average, three grandparents, three sets of uncles and aunts, and over 10 children. Not the ideal atmosphere for some intimacy and some full throated "WHOSE YOUR DADDY!!!" at the 3 in the morning. The mallu guy of course is almost always in the gulf working alone on some onshore oil rig in the desert.

Rheumatic elbows me thinks.
Alas dear friends we are not just meant to set the nights on fire. We are just not built to be "The Ladies Man".The black man has hip hop, the white man has rock, the southie guy only has idlis and tomato rasam or an NRI account in South Indian Bank, Ernakulam Branch. Alas as our destiny was determined in one fell swoop by our nomenclature, so will our future be. A nice arranged little love story. But the agony of course does not end there. On the first night, as the stud sits on his bed finally within touching distance and whispers his sweet desires into her delectable ear, she blushes, turns around and whispers back "But amma has said only on second Saturdays..."

Fusion of Reality & Reveries..

2008-09-03T21:47:00.004+05:30

Location : Court Room, Mumbai High Court

I am an accomplice to one of the upcoming Dada's in Mumbai and I am present at the court along with our lawyer Mr.Sunil Kulkarni, and everyone including the Judge were waiting the arrival of our Dada - KOJA.
As the wait was getting a bit longer, Mr.Sunil was already biting his nails wanting Koja to arrive as fast as possible to the court. Just then, the court room screeched with a loud ring of a bell. Furious, Mr.Sunil started bad-mouthing in the courtroom with words easing through his larynx. [Saving a few asterisks , i ain't typing them here..] Just then I realized that it must be Koja and i whispered to my lawyer - "Its better if we go and have a look outside.. I think it must be Koja.. May be.." Even before i could complete, there was a second ring of the bell. This time even more longer and louder. And everyone in the courtroom were anxiously gazing at the entrance of the courtroom.. But I was in a shock. Awaken.

The Reality:

It is 0645 AM.. And I need to be at work at 7AM.. I saw Lalit going out to open the main door.. I knew who it is and I know I am screwed today (also).. This isn't the first time I dozed off to my alarm.. But certainly the first time I dozed to the calling bell at our house early morning. Let alone two times.. Its distinctive, ultra decibel sound is capable of even waking up anyone in a deep slumber.

Hmm, seems to me my sensory nerve receptors were alert even when the processing region of my brain wasn't.. What can we call that.. A Dolphin's brain ?? There is enough evidence saying that Dolphins sleep with half their brain awake.. After sometime, the sleeping half of the brain awakes and the alert half goes to sleep.. Little do i know on why it does that and what will happen during the interchanging period.. And thats a little science FYI..

The S factor..

2008-06-21T16:40:00.002+05:30

This is nothing new.. People who had visited my blog earlier would have noticed that this was a part of my 'About me'.. I am moving it to a better place as this conveys very little 'about me'. :)

I recently (say, 2006) watched a movie "V for Vendetta".. Liked it for various reasons, particularly for the intro monologue and i was so much fantasized about it that i came up with my own monologue. Don't ask me if that depicts me.. I don't have an answer. Sometimes yes, sometimes No. Here it is -- "Often misled by the saturnine countenance, this sphinx-like salutary savant is often sequestered/secluded to escape the scoff and stricture from the stilted surrounding, satiating the expectations of those who just know the smattering semblance of this sacrilegious saboteur bearing a saccharine smile even in situations of being smirked by sophomoric sluggards. But deep down inside my sacrosanct heart, there is a stalwart stentorian cry to scourge these simian shirkers of responsibilities.Snickers, beware, the saga of this spry has just begun and has been rechristened 'S' "

muhahahaha :D

The dusk that dawned..

2008-06-17T21:05:00.006+05:30

"VISA ?? VISA done.." - A dialogue from the movie ‘Aayudha Ezhuthu’ when Sidd tells Trisha about his interview. I frantically wanted to have an ending to my visa interview in such a positive note that I had so many sleepless nights dreaming and answering to questions to the VOs in my dreams.

And finally, the all important day of VISA interview was to dawn the next day and I found myself waiting at the Bangalore Railway Station waiting for the 11’o clock Chennai Mail. Being a punctualist that I am, I headed to the station atleast an hour ahead of the scheduled departure, considering the traffic here. When I was done with my dinner, I thought I’ll better wait in the waiting hall for the Sleeper class passengers. And after roving across the different stalls I made up my mind to take a seat in the waiting hall. Just about when I was about to enter the hall, a stern voice echoed behind me “Oi.. enga pa pora.. enna venum.. inga ellam vara koodathu”.. I looked back to see that it was an old security guy sitting beside the entrance of the waiting hall. I showed him my train ticket and told him that I am boarding the Chennai train. Convinced, he let me in.. But I chose to step out, with my mind seriously contemplating on how I am going to convince the visa officer tomorrow that I’ll manage my funds by myself, when a guy here isn’t even convinced that I am worth a sleeper class ticket. I wasn’t all that badly dressed. Was wearing a pukka formal clothing, and I soothed myself saying that he might be having some problem in sighting things and I didn’t want to bother much about it. All that matters now is to be cool and confident.

The train choked its way into the station and boarding it, I wasted no time in going to sleep. And it was the movement of the fellow passengers that woke me up. I knew that I need to get down only in the final station. But after getting down from the train, I spent a good deal of minutes trying to confirm if that was the last station (since there were a couple of folks still sleeping inside). After strolling down the platform for a few yards, I saw the ‘Chennai Central’ board. Reviving my breath, I walked out of the station. And the autowalas gagged me, asking me to board their auto. I preferred to go to the pre-paid auto centre there. But one guy frenziedly didn’t let me go and kept on asking me to take his auto for a fare of Rs.160 to K.K.Nagar. I knew it would hardly be Rs.100 but then again I told him that I’ll come for Rs.150.. He laughed saying ‘inna sar.. pathu rubaaku poi beram pesureengalae.. vaa sar pogalam’. I became an angel then.. What mattered to me at that moment was that I should not earn a curse or bad words from anyone on a day when I want anything but those. So I accepted his fare, unfair though. I reached the guest house and didn’t have much problem in getting into the allotted room, thanks to my father for making the necessary arrangements in advance.

My parents came to the guest house, 1 hour after my influx. I began my last minute preparations on the financial documents and was trying to figure out some uncommon answers to the banal questions that I could find in various blogs and forums which the VOs usually ask. I got call from my Bro and Bamboo conveying their best wishes. And I was conducting a mock interview for myself. Felt like a MPD affected individual for a moment. After lunch, I was going through the financial docs for sometime just to make sure that I have the figures at my fingertips. And Bamboo called me once again with her words of wisdom and confidence. And was chatting with her for sometime just to keep myself cool. :) Curiously, my mom asked who it is, I told her that its her, and she said that more that me, she is very much concerned about my visa interview and I couldn’t do anything but blush in front of my parents. Never expected to be in such a situation anytime. :) Then had bath, refreshed myself and all of us left to the US Consulate.

Stepping out of the guest house, I realized that it was becoming cloudy and was about to rain. Defenseless without an umbrella or coat, all that I could was to pray to the heavens above to hold on their showers for another half an hour. We stepped into an auto-rickshaw and this driver was patience personified. Even on a free highway he was driving at 30km/hr. Wonder how he survives in Chennai roads. But I kinda liked the auto ride. That patience and the cool temperament from an auto driver, which is very much unlikely, gave me some sort of a positive feeling of things to come. Reached the Consulate and we were waiting there for the clock to strike 3.45.. Since my interview was scheduled at 4, the security guys allow us only 15 mins prior to the interview time. And the clouds were becoming darker and were getting ready for their reunion.

My thoughts kept wavering from ‘It shouldn’t rain’ , ‘What if I don’t get through??’ ‘What would I tell my manager and team folks again as they already know that I am applying for VISA??’ ‘What if he asks about my sister staying in US?’ ‘God plz save me’ ‘Poor parents.. they have come a long way for me. Shouldn’t disappoint them’ ‘Will she go alone ?’ ‘How’ll she manage’ .. As my pessimistic thoughts were seriously contemplating of the negative of the things to come, in my subconscious mind I was searching for the right words I should put while I blog this experience. When that subconscious feeling intersected with my conscious self, I shuddered for a moment… What’s this man.. I haven’t attended the interview yet, but I am already thinking about writing a blog about how I got VISA.. Then I felt, OK.. this is my day and everything from the morning has been very positive for me. And hence this cant go wrong. With this strong belief I entered the US Consulate.

After the pre-screening of my documents I was asked to go the interview office. There I was asked to wait in the snail paced queue. There was an LCD TV on one side and the interview happening in the other side. I chose not to get tensed seeing the interview, so I preferred to watch the TV. No audio, only visuals. TIMES NOW channel was screened and the headlines read ‘RUDE US GOVT DUMPS NUCLEAR WASTE IN INDIA’ , I was amused to see this in a US Consulate. And at 4.30, my time for the interview arrived. I was calculating who will be taking my interview by counting the number of people in front of me. Oddly, in that particular day, there were 3 ladies and 1 guy taking the interviews. And my calculations led me to one of the ladies. Just then, one other counter opened up and I was asked to go there. It was a guy, and I had no hesitation in saying a Hi to him and the interview began. Lets call him VO (Visa Officer).

VO : Where's your sister living in US?
ME : She is living in Houston, TX sir

[Actually i was a bit shocked to have this question as the starter..]

VO : Where is Akron located?
ME : Its in Ohio, roughly around 3-5 hours drive from NY

[Looks at my degree certificate.. reads 'First class with Distinction' aloud]

VO : What were you doing for the past 1 yr ?
ME : Working at Cisco Systems , Bangalore
VO : You are already working.. Why do you want to go back to school ?
ME : Sir, I would like to work in the field of Biomed Engg, but in India the job opportunities in that field are related to students with a post graduate degree. Hence I would like to study in the US and come back to India and establish myself in a good position here.

[Keeps typing something on his computer.. isn't asking anything to me..]

VO : Cool then, you will get your VISA in 3 days and it will be mailed to your home address. Best wishes !!
ME : Thank you sir.

I was a bit surprised that he didn’t ask me about the funding and who would be sponsoring me and all. So my preparations for the commonplace questions didn’t quite pay off. But that didn’t matter, as I cleared the VISA. I can’t describe that happiness in words. Though I cleared one major obstacle, I felt like winning one of the biggest battles in my entire life. Came out and my dad was eagerly waiting for me, his eyes filled with curiosity and eagerness to know my result. I didn’t want him to wait long, Even while I was just walking, I nodded my head big with a broad smile and he was a relieved man.
Had a chit chat with my mom and pa telling them on how it went and then called my bro, bamboo, ,my team folks and other well wishers. My brother was very much relieved and I actually owe him a big deal for visiting the VISA temple in Hyderabad for my sake. Bamboo was very happy to hear the result and I could practically visualize her jumping with joy.. That was indeed one of my recent happiest days. On our way back to the guest house, I got some sweets for my roomies and had a blueberry ice cream with my parents. I was very much relieved that day.. “Day that begins good ends good”.. I dozed off for sometime dreaming on the life to come.. :)

Akron - very promising..

2008-05-15T14:58:00.002+05:30

A couple of videos that i could find in YouTube about the City of Akron and the University of Akron. Its very promising, but have to really see how far these hold true only when I land there..

City of Akron

And the university of Akron

Job description : Biomedical Engineer

2008-04-01T17:42:00.005+05:30

When I first declared that I have chosen my field as "Biomedical Engineering", many were shocked or rather taken back. And quick came the reply - You ? Why ? Why not this and why not that ? And yeah, I was expecting that. Coz, in India, Biomedical is not a popular field, or rather its considered something on the same line as medicine and many (including me) consider it 'not a next step' after doing a UG course in Engineering, until i did a search on the various aspects of it before diving into it. Yeah ! its a bit obfuscating but they were always a part of my reveries. So what is the job of a biomedical engineer ? Here's a video that just gives an overview of it.

A cool simulation tool..

2008-04-01T15:41:00.005+05:30

There were times when i was skeptical about going to the US for studies.. I always believed that the education standards in India were on always on par with many institutions there. But time and again, I am being proved wrong by something or the other. Be it their innovation in teaching things and making the students understand it practically or be it coming up with something like the one here..

Synthetic DNA Genome

2008-01-25T15:14:00.002+05:30

Getting techie once in a while wouldn't be a grave crime !! With the hope that I am not driving you guys berserk, here's something that I had perceived to see in the near future and now a reality !

U.S. scientists have taken a major step toward creating the first ever artificial life form by synthetically reproducing the DNA of a bacteria, according to a study published Thursday.
The move, which comes after five years of research, is seen as the penultimate stage in the endeavor to create an artificial life form based entirely on a man-made DNA genome -- something which has tantalized scientists and sci-fi writers for years.
"Through dedicated teamwork we have shown that building large genomes is now feasible and scalable so that important applications such as biofuels can be developed," said Hamilton Smith, from the J. Craig Venter Institute, in the study published in Science. The research has been carried out at the laboratories of the controversial celebrity scientist Craig Venter, who has hailed artificial life forms as a potential remedy to illness and global warming. However, the prospect of engineering artificial life forms is highly controversial and is likely to arouse heated debate over the ethics and potential ramifications of such an advance. You can see the rays of light shining through the DNA double helix in the picture above.
It is one of the Holy Grails of science, but also one that stirs deep fears as foreseen in Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel "Brave New World" in which natural human reproduction is eschewed in favor of babies grown artificially in laboratories. This extraordinary accomplishment is a technological marvel that was only made possible because of the unique and accomplished team.
The researchers had dedicated the last several years to designing and perfecting new methods and techniques that we believe will become widely used to advance the field of synthetic genomics. The team had completed the second step in a three-step process to create a synthetic organism. In the final stage of their research which they are already working on, the Maryland-based team will attempt to create a bacteria based purely on the synthetic genome sequence of the Mycoplasma genitalium bacteria.
The bacteria, which causes certain sexually transmitted diseases, has one of the least complex DNA structures of any life form, composed of just 580 genes. In contrast, the human genome has some 30,000. The chromosome which the team has created is known as Mycoplasma laboratorium and, in the final step of the process, will be transplanted into a living cell where it should "take control," effectively becoming a new life form. The new bacteria will therefore be largely artificial, though not entirely, because it is composed of building blocks from already existing organisms.

It's a type of genetic engineering which would allow people to make much bigger genetic changes, which means that in the future you could create organisms with new gene sequences. Now, this is something that we all should watch for..

31:05:03 - WITHOUT SLEEP

2008-01-08T22:49:00.000+05:30

It was 31st December 2007. Five hours before the dawn of 2008, the 5 of us departed from the Cessna Business Park heading towards the DC office. Literally, it should have taken us just forty mins since we were taking the shortcut to the destination, but Abbs (the Geek) had other plans. Half an hour through, we started to doubt the route he was taking us through. We were traveling in all the directions – north, east and west before heading south. Finally reached DC after 1 hour and 20 mins after bracing our bikes with petrol keeping in mind the long route we need to take to return home the following day.

Parked our bikes at the DC office and we took a walk to the brigade road. The place which used to be one among the party zones in Bangalore and highly famous for Lathi charges by the policemen during the new years eve. Certainly, we didn’t want to be a part of that and hence planned to leave the place sharp at 11.30 P.M. Had dinner at McDonalds and we headed towards DC again. Should mention here, this walk towards the Brigade road and back took away considerable energy from my system as it was long back that I had walked 5 kms at a stretch. Thoughts of vitalizing myself on my way back to Abbs house on the bike were on.

The ride from DC to Abbs house was even more intricate. We had a feeling we were going beyond Bangalore borders, and just when we were thinking so, we reached his house. His mom welcomed us in, and we played TT for a while at his home and it was just then, the clock striked twelve. And very sadly, I had left my mobile at my home. Couldn’t call any of my dear ones. But my ever idle brain, turned active for a whisker and I grabbed my friend’s mobile to call them. We had fruit salad at Abbs’s house and that filled our stomach to a large extent, more than sufficient for us to trek the skandagiri hills.

Our journey started at 12.30 A M and the 6 of us packed ourselves in the Maruthi Zen, after pulling down the back seat of the car, so as to accommodate 4 of us on the rear. Just 5 mins after the start, we all knew how well Abbs could drive the car, thanks to his sudden jerks in the middle of the highway and speeding over the speed breakers. Barring the bangs our heads received, the journey was peaceful J. It was a 2 hours drive and we reached Skandagiri, just to find that it was not only the 6 of us who shared such a thought of adventure on the New Year Day.

We started trekking at 2.30 AM and it was definitely not the easiest of the treks. I had trekked Chamundeeshwari Temple at Mysore before, but I would call that nothing when I compare to this. Though we took periodic breaks inbetween, I was dying there. I was cursing myself for making this decision of agreeing upon this trekking idea. In each break we took, I was frantically gasping for air and I couldn’t even swallow the water I was carrying. We were prepared for that and I was playing the role of carrying all the water packs during the trek. In some places of the hill, there was no clear path and I was practically walking on four legs, and slipped at many a places and was about to faint even. Partly because of the tiring trek and majorly because I had never ever gone without sleeping past 3 AM at any point in my life, even during the board exams. And finally we reached the hill top at about 4.30 AM.

The chilling wind was both a boon and a bane.. Though initially the cold breeze was like a sunlight at the end of the creepy tunnel, as time flied by, I could see my arms getting frozen and we couldn’t bear it at all. Thanks a ton to Soma who lended his monkey cap to cover my head and ears. It gave me some warmth. We paid some 20 bucks to the trekking guide there to get some firewood and we set up a campfire and kept ourselves warm till early morning. We were expecting the sun to come out at around 5.30 A.M and were terribly disappointed to see the sun deceive us even till 6.15 AM. Neeraj said “Must be it (the Sun) has boozed the previous day and is still sleeping”. Though my lips curved, my mind wasn’t all that satisfied with the experience. Though our whole plan was to watch the New year sun from the Hill top, I thought it is not going to be anything worth the tiring trek I had come through.

It was 6.30 and there it was. We could see the red line dividing the horizon of the land and the sky. And little by little, we could see the colours of the rainbow slowly appearing on the horizon.. As the day lit up, the saffron horizon, the bluish grey sky and the mist made the entire environment awestruck. It was exquisite, exotic and an erupting silence filled the place. It was time to give the 8 MPixel 28x Zoom Camera some work. And we started taking clips of the new year sun. From the hill top, the view below was simply superb. Words cant mention the excitement I was feeling at that moment. I certainly felt that this is one of the best New Year day that I had ever had in my life.

After taking some snaps at the hill top, we descended down and then we came back in the car to Bangalore. Tired, worn down and wanting sleep we took our bikes from Abbs’s house to our place. Now it was Sriram’s turn to take us through some intricate routes to the outer ring road and thereby lead me and Neeraj to our place. Reached my flat at around 1.30 P.M and I had no energy to even go for lunch. Took a wash and laid flat on my bed. No idea on what happened till 7 P.M in the night. Had a complete sleep that noon.

For some who might wonder, who the characters I have mentioned are – They are the guys who joined along with my batch at Cisco during June/July

Abbs – Abhishek. The Geek that Cisco has discovered. He speaks only in Cisco keywords and phrases. And always begins his statement with “Ya man”
Sriram – The ‘mokka’ king. For instance, I will mention two of his instant jokes.
What is the version of Counter Strike that we are playing ??
It is 3.14 (Reason : it is a Pirated version )
Neeraj – He is the super coolest guy I have ever seen at Cisco. The guy who asked the Director to get out of sight when he is playing a shot in Carrom.
Soma – Somasundar. The simple guy with straight thoughts and who can perfectly decipher the codes that Abbs uses and can clearly see the blinders that Sriram delivers from time to time.

Guys, For those who had been expecting blogs from me for a while… I’m back !!!

A Forward - For a change, worth reading

2007-10-01T12:12:00.000+05:30

At a fund raising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: "When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?"
The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. "I believe, that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child."
Then he told the following story:
Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.
Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."
Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.
However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.
The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.
Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.
Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.
All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"
Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!"
As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! Run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.
"That day", said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world".
Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!
A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them. Please look inside yourselves and reflect upon how you treat not only the people around you with whom you interact daily, but the least unfortunate ones.

Please listen to what i am not saying

2007-08-30T14:52:00.000+05:30

Very recently i came across a book that gave me a totally different perception on life and how certain small things made a big differences in the life of common people. Its name - Chicken soup for the Teenage soul. Sounds very funny.. isn't it? Its a book that deals with fun , love , learning and pain. Certain pages left my eyes moist. I learnt a lot from it - though a bit late.. Planning to get the next book in its series. But before that, here is something for you -

Don't be fooled by me
Don't be fooled by the face i wear
For I wear a mask, a thousand masks
masks that I'm afraid to take off
and none of them is me.

Pretending is an art that's second nature to me
but don't be fooled
For God's sake don't be fooled
I give you the impression that i am secure
that confidence is my name and coolness is my game
that the water's calm and I'm in command
and that i need no one
But don't believe me

I panic at the thought of my weakness and fear of being exposed
Thats why i frantically create a mask to hide behind,
a nonchalant sophisticated facade to help me pretend,
to shield me from the glance that knows
But such a glance is precisely my salvation
My only hope and i know it

That is, if it's followed by acceptance
if its followed by love.
its the only thing that can liberate me from myself
from my own self-built prison walls
from the barriers i so painstakingly erect.

It's the only thing that can assure me
of what i can't assure
that i am really worth something

Each time you are kind and gentle & encouraging
my heart begins to grow wings, very small wings
very feeble wings
but wings,
With your power to touch me into feeling
you can breathe life into me
I want u to know that!!

A confusing composition - Isn't it??

The unconscious submissive mind

2007-08-16T12:16:00.000+05:30

Have you ever wondered whether u r submissive at some point of time to an unknown person in this universe? I haven’t quite actually thought of that earlier but until the last weekend. What happened was what we witness more or less everyday but none of us wouldn’t want to be on the side I was put in.

It was about 7 in the evening and I was taking quick steps to reach the bus stop soon as I had to travel for about 1 hour from there to my place and the bus frequency and crowd were a major concern. After analyzing all the pros and cons of the situation I concluded that it would be taking me atleast 10 mins to spot a bus that goes to my place. While I was even thinking about it , I reached the bus stop.

For once my guess worked. I spotted a bus but I would have been happy if I hadn’t seen it coz it was so much overflowing with people that the bus was almost running on 2 wheels. I didn’t want to give it a try as I am allergic to crowds. Keeping my fingers crossed I continued my waiting stance. Thankfully a bus came with some seats available. If u had been in Bangalore you would know that in certain buses only the driver gives the tickets and only the front door of the buses would be open and the rear door would be locked. This was one such bus. Since the rush for the bus had seldom reduced, I was waiting in the queue to get into the bus. Fortunately or unfortunately (depends on person to person) I was standing behind a girl (probably a new joinee in some company) . She was getting her ticket from the driver and I was standing behind her in the steps of the bus. But the situation started getting worse as guys from behind started to squeeze thru the distance between me and the entrance of the bus (which was obviously not sufficient for even a person of my stature) showing their bus pass.

I didn’t know what problem she had with the driver, she was taking unusually a long time to get the ticket from the driver. By that time some 3 to 4 guys passed or rather squeezed thru me (I was trying hard to maintain my stability not to fall on the person in front of me). But then it occurred. A big fat idiot pushed me from the back and walked like a king thru the entrance showing his bus pass to the driver. Poor me, I fell one the girl in the front of me. That’s it I thought. I started feeling that I should save my face from a slap that I might receive anytime now.

She turned back and said “y don’t u go inside” . I felt quite embarrassed. She felt as if I am standing there just to brush her. I felt so much insulted just standing there. Can’t blame her coz she doesn’t know what happened on her rear side. I looked her into her eyes and said “I am really sorry” and I got my tickets from the driver and went to the last seat of the bus even though there were seats inbetween. I sat there for sometime in silence, repenting as if I had committed a grave crime. Seriously, I don’t like people who tease or even talk bad about girls who pass by. I will simply avoid talking to those people and break my contacts with them just like that. And now, I am the convict. It burned like hell.

Then I started thinking, whether I should have told her that it was not my fault. I plainly apologized to her not mentioning what happened. Y didn’t I tell her? Only these 2 reasons came to my mind.

1) Coz I just wanted to get away from that place of embarrassment to somewhere, where I would feel secured.

2) Reasons can’t justify any wrong actions.

Whatever be it, I felt I should have told her that it was unintentional. By stating her the reason I would have atleast got some peace of mind that I am not a convict in the eyes of anyone. But , its 5 days now and I am still thinking(repenting) about it. You think its meaningless to repent for it? Well I had been trying to think so for the past 5 days. Yet, I am trying still…..

An experience i would love to forget

2007-04-26T19:47:00.000+05:30

I came out of the room.. and guys who were seated at a distance of about 10 feet from me whispered in an audible voice "how was it??" , "easy?" , "y so soon da?"... my head pulled back and i closed my eyes for a moment and thought.. is it worth it?

It was one of my gloomy black days. Something that i don't wish to recur again. Why wouldn't i!!
It was half past 12 in the morning when i could faintly hear the the tone "BOLD" in my nokia handset in the background of my dream.. Something wasn't right coz the music didnt fit the scenario in my dream.. Not very late, i realized that its my mobile ringing. I had kept an alarm and as usual i pressed the snooze button and continued sleeping.. the dream was lost.. my utopian island couldn't be visualized anymore. All that crept through my heart and mind now was the Comprehensive Viva that i had to face today.
I sprung from my bed, had a quick face wash and came back to my senses.. Arranged the books over which i was rolling all night and started to assort my preferences of what to study first. i had covered 3 books the previous night and i had 11 more books to be done with and not to mention the enormous amounts of notes.. For those who dont know what i am talking about.. compre viva is conducted for the final yrs in our dept to test their understanding in the subjects they hav studied in all the 4 yrs at coll.. now coming back to my point.. it was 445 am .. i started reading one of my fav subjects - Biomedical engg.. "i remember these" i told myself.. it was a sitter for me.. one by one... i glanced through some 3 books, though they werent all that easy to recall.. i had to learn it again.. it was 7 am.. i had my cup of tea and sorted out the books tht i had to take to coll.. had bath and started to college.. i couldnt even think abt breakfast as i had loads of books to be studied.. i reached coll and i didnt waste much time and i started to discuss with my friends the various concepts and things tht were considered 'expected'.. little did i know i was in for a big surprise..
The viva was scheduled to start at 930 in the morning.. and 25 odd students had to go thru it in the second phase.. the first phase got over the day before in a span of 3 hours(make a note of this!) for the other batch of 25 odd students... the questions which were asked to them were mostly basics though some got bowled by a googly.. time crept by and the students who were waiting for the viva kept decreasing.. the time was also increasing at its natural phase..(obviously!!) Each time a guy comes out from the viva room, we gathered around him taking down the questions asked and discuss the answers for it.. it was somewht cooling our nerves down as our knowledge level kept increasing with each question.. On the inside i felt happy.. though the perspirations on my forehead told otherwise.. Got advice from Dar to keep my cool.. a saccharine smile was all that i could manage.. i hav to accept frankly that i am not the one who keeps my cool during the times like these.. the perspirations were an example.. it was 1215 when they declared "lunch session".. something which we didnt expect.. coz we expected it to get over for everyone by lunch.. We could do nothing abt it than to break for lunch.. the session resumed at 230 and the first guy to go was sent back in a matter of 5 mins.. it shocked us all since the guys in the morning had it for 15 mins.. and all this guy said was "Screwed".. Butterflies started flying in my stomach.. only 2 more guys were there now before me.. i closed all the books and kept myself calm and patient.. i was ready to face the situation.. i was confident tht i can answer anything in "instrumentation and control".. to a certain extent in electronics as well.. just before i entered the room, my friend who came from inside whispered "Screwed big time!".
the panel consisted of 4 members, and then i was asked my first question.. " it was an yorker.. i lost my balance.. i told him the answer with a little difficulty.. i told something which was taught in 3rd sem.. for which i was asked to draw the characterestic of it. it was a doosra and i didnt see it coming.. the next question was on DSP.. it was fairly simple.. though i didnt like it.. coz DSP had been one of my least preferred subject.. wen asked to draw the characterestics i dint remember the formula correctly and this was a googly.. i was clean bowled.. the examiner said "u can go". Shocked, but with no other choice i left the room.. i wondered how they decided upon my knowledge in ICE with those 2 questions.. it wasnt my area of interest even.. it wasnt even a part of Instrumentation and control engineering.. and further shocking was the time for which my viva lasted.. hardly 2 mins.. is this y i toiled all night and studied? or did i have ill luck.. or do i deserve only this? before my mind resolved to answer these... PC shook my shoulders and asked "how it was?"

P.S: 1. the average human brain cant store 4 yrs of information
2. the above blog is compiled only out of a sheer frustration and desperation so as to soothe my senses and its not directed to anyone for tht matter..

GURU - The superficial biography of the Legend

2007-01-21T13:38:00.000+05:30

GURU – With all expectations as a Maniratnam fan , it wasn’t long before I hit the Maris Theatre entrance (where the movie was screened in Trichy) . Expecting a huge rush a day after the movie was released, a pleasant disappointment was that there were hardly 10 people waiting to see the movie in front of the counter even though I reached there just 5 mins before the screening time.

Now lets come to the movie part.. The opening scene was simply great! Fabulous! If u had expected me to say that.. Im really sorry.. What is with manirathnam? Cant he picturise any movie without any flashback?? This movie is no exemption. Just to have one, he gives it.. As guru looks back and takes us with him along the path down his memory lane…

The Turkey episode where Guru spends his teenage working for a company selling SHELL products is well portrayed… the portrait of turkey in earlier days is an example of the director’s caliber. The item number done by Mallika sherawat will surely attract a part of the crowd to see the movie again (if they had arrived late to the theatre after tht song ;-))

Then finally Guru comes to India to start a new business and thereafter is what we all know abt Dhirubai Ambani…. Most of the characterization in the movie is incomplete except that of Nanaji.. Maddy gives an impressive performance as a journalist.. But when the audience are eagerly waiting to get a glimpse of maddy he is lost.. It wasn’t fair.. Vidya balan is very cute, homely and yet ravishing.. She tops the performance chart next to Abishek..

A special mention that I should make is about ARR.. He simply rocks rocks rocks… If u don’t believe me.. just listen to the audio in any website.. its amazing.. He is back in form .. the movie’s re-recording is great! The bg score for Guru. “Gurubhai gurubhai vandhaachu.. dhoom dhamakka guru aachu..” is just great.. See the film to experience it.. Almost all songs r good.. esp “venmegam” , “paisa paisa” , “maiya maiya” to say the least.

5 reasons y u should see GURU..

1. ARR’s background score
2. Rajiv Menon’s cinematography
3. Ravishing vidya balan
4. To know about the Legend – Dhirubai ambani
5. Scenes where Maddy & Abhishek encounter.

Note:-
There is a comedy scene in the film that lasts for 4 mins and 30 secs… those who saw the movie will know it. Others see it for urself. [the Thapar Commission]

The Hyd Project - The Prologue

2006-12-22T19:31:00.001+05:30

It was our sixth semester vacation.. When most guys in our coll were busy preparing for their placements and a few doing their internships in certain MNCs.. i felt tht i shd hav some good project under my belt so that it would be an added adv in the interview.. Since Dikki also felt the same way, me and Dikki ventured into the search for a good(!) place to do the project.. Finally our search ended in BHEL,Hyd (as it was said they r doing a good research on embedded systems)
We booked our train tickets and we started to Hyd.. it was a day and a half travel from trichy to hyd.. We reached chennai with no prob at all.. Spent the evening in Dikki's uncle's home.. As we boarded the hyd train at around 6pm , out of curiosity, i chked into the ppl who r boarding our compartment in the name list.. luckily all of them were boarding at a station referred as NYP.. Dikki said there is no such place in TN and so we were happy tht they r not going to board until we exit tamil nadu border.. Tried asking a couple of ppl in our coach abt wht NYP stands for.. unfortunately they didnt know..
Along the journey , we were busy SMSing our friends abt our departure from Chennai towards Hyd tht we failed to notice tht we hav already travelled one and half an hour.. Then arrived the NYP station.. NYP standing for "Nayudupetai".. It was more like a village station and we didnt expect any english speaking person to board our compartment.. Our respective faces showed the resentment.. Boarding our compartment were a middle aged lady , a couple who seemed to be in their early thirties and their kid (10 yrs old i guess).. all of them from the same family..
As the clock was 10 already, we "tried" to get some sleep.. i mean it.. we really tried.. but the noise they were making was too much to even close our eyes peacefully for a min... So we were just lying on our resp upper berths... just then we realised tht the fan was switched off... and looking down we could see those NYP ppl busy having their dinner(fish kulambu or something.. i hate the very smell of it).. Thinking that they might hav accidentally switched off the fan , i asked Dikki to ask to them to switch it on..(as he knows telugu)
I am translating it in english here...

Dikki: Aunty, Plz switch on the fan
NYP: Y son?
Dikki: We r feeling very sultry here... So can u plz...
NYP: No son, then we wont be able to hav our dinner hot.. It will become cold..
Dikki: ???? (Puzzled!)
Me : What r they saying da?? (as their conv was taking place in telugu)
Dikki : They wont switch it on it seems as they want to hav their dinner hot...

We couldn't help but laugh.. Now i could see ppl who r having their dinner at 1030pm and they dont care abt ppl sleeping but busy consuming their dinner.. We couldnt tolerate the smell of it. hope atleast they liked it :-)

Somehow their noise slightly faded away and we slept around 1130pm.. the msg count kept on increasing from my mob tht i didnt notice the battery draining.. We got up around 630am.. and were supposed to get down at secunderabad.. Not bad, the family in our compartment too got up even after their late night sleep.. The small kid (10 yr old) had already wetted his pants and the compartment too... So only Dikki was able to sit in the lower berth..(the side opp to where the kid had did 'it') i gladly remained in the upper berth..
The kid wasnt thru yet.. He started his quota of his breakfast a 'bit' early(haha).. At 630.. He was soiling the compartment with the snacks he was eating .. May be only 40% went inside his mouth.. The entire compartment had become messy and i hated for just being one amongst them.. At 730 the Secunderabad station arrived and we got down with our luggages just to find the person who was waiting to pick us up.. The rest of the fateful day and how our project progressed and ended is another comical flick to be unveiled in my next post...

The distinguishing similarity factor !!!

2006-12-14T18:41:00.001+05:30

The undistinguishability between me and my twin brother in our childhood days made almost anyone go mad.. Coz thinking that they are talking to him , they were actually talking to me.. and vice versa. To put an end to this, many suggested various solutions asking me to wear a cap always or something like that.. But then came the day that gave a permanent solution to this never ending problem.
We were in our 1st std class... as the class gets over by 3.50pm for us, we were waiting outside our house for our sister (the BIG BOSS) to open the door as only she had the keys.. her school gets over at 4.00pm... so until then both me and my bro were playing 'running and catchin'..As being the youngest one in my family, i said to him "u being elder to me, only u shd catch me... i am the thief.. u r the police.. ok come on" and i started running.. and he gladly accepted (!)..
we were running around our Old model FIAT car that was parked outside our home..
With all the giggles and laughter that he could not catch me yet... i was just running without even noticing tht he had stopped chasing... i turned and looked back to see tht he was no-where.. Ok i got his plan.. i thought he is slowly creeping beneath the car to catch me.. i slowly bent down to see if he was there.. but just then, he suddenly sprung from behind the front tyre of our car which was a bolt out of a clear sky for me.. a sudden shudder.. (though im not a person who fears darkness or devils, these types of sudden shocks sends shivers down my spine) i started running in the opp direction before i could even make out if it was him or something else.. just few steps did i take before tht happened..
The civil workers of our township were laying a new ditch in front of our houses to drain the rain water.. so they had unloaded huge stones for this purpose(these stones are usually used for making foundation) ... In those few steps i took, i tripped over a pot-hole on the road and fell on these stones (which were beside the ditch)... turning back i saw my brother standin long away.. he had not moved from his place after he sprung at me.. now i was relieved... a happy smile on my face.. but seeing the people around me gave me a feeling tht something wasnt normal..
Then our neighbour aunty came rushing to me.. she took my hand-kerchief and pressed against my forehead.. thats when i felt the real agony.. My head was busted open due to the fall. Until she pressed my head i didnt realize that i was hurt.. (May be, only if we notice or see that we r injured , we feel the excruciating pain!!) Then i was rushed to the hospital. casualty.. there this 6 yr old kid received 10 stitches on his forehead,... A mark that is more than sufficient for people to identify us.. "Scar stands for Sandy.." this was the manthra thereafter... Though, the fact that the scar is now almost gone is a different story...

Why am i here??

2006-12-12T09:15:00.001+05:30

This being my first post in my blog page, lemme tell u what brought me here..
As the semester ended (the end of all frustration , formulas, piping diagrams, PLCs ) i had to relieve myself of all those stored up things in my head. The best option - going out for movies and treats with friends.. but doesnt tht need an ocassion?? but incidentally there was one.. it was my birthday. the week after the semester.. So had a nice time freaking out with friends yogi and dobber as we went for 'varalaaru' (earlier christened GodFather).. though this movie was nothing related to the GodFather versions of English, it was an entertainer.
what else should i do.. i was pondering..
Flash of light, i felt i can give TOEFL during this vacation.. As it doesnt need tht much preparation its definitely not going to take a toll on me...(i felt) then i registered for it and this weekend im givin it..
Since most of my school friends were busy with the club activity (TRINITAN) supposedly meant for the day scholars of our coll, i was just sitting lonely at home most of time playing CS or watching some movie on TV.. wasnt a good time pass though.. my thoughts were just roaming here and there.. had no clue on wht to do..
Dobber was trying to get his driving licence.. I had got mine already ( or was i too fast in doing things?? shd hav i waited for this 7th sem leav to do all those stuffs??.. a thought just crept thru my mind just now) Dobber is known for his time utilization. but he just studies all the time.. giving his GATE in feb.. sure he is gonna be a topper.. he had been rocking in his dept all the while.. no tough task for him..
As my interests were in MS rather than ME.. i wasnt tht much excited abt GATE.. anyway.. the time kept on rolling with yogi freakin us sayin the results of our sem wud be out by nov end... i was just chking the coll site every now and then... no use.. they rnt out yet.. oooofff.. total frustration..
As per the coll schedule it shd be out on dec 8.. As it goes with any organisation, they r put off until dec end.. who knows.. wht goes thru their mind..
a flash went thru my mind this morning.. i thought.. y shdnt i put it in writing . so i started this page the next minute.. and now busy writing.. ahha..
so this is my place.. ill keep u posted..