blah blah

Live like your grandparents

2011-07-13T00:53:00.003+02:00

And you will be fine. I was thinking of logging something on these lines for quite a while. After some thought on this for past couple weeks this seems like a plausible idea. Live like your grandparents and you will be fine.

Most of us see our grandparents at the time when we are completely new to the world--like a blank slate and they on the other hand have seen all the ups and downs there are to see in their lifetime.

There are just so many good reasons living like our grandparents would really do so many good to us. They may not be perfect during their lifetime but by the time they interact with you it would be more likely that not only they have surpassed their 'imperfections' thay might have come up with some wisdom from experience to deal with those imperfections.

Likely the grandchildren are the dearest people they have in their life and they would only give their best in any conversation they have with them. This is something that even the most honest and dedicated teacher might not be able to give you.

I do not say do exactly what they have done. If your grandparent had invented lightbulb, you do not have to go ahead and reinvent it. However, what you can definitely follow is the rigor he might have undergone during the whole invention process.

Unfortunately, not everyone has a chance to see all their grandparents but most are lucky to have had seen one of them. I was lucky enough to have seen 2 of my grandparents, both maternal. While I learned so many things from them by directly watching their actions and trying to place them in context as I grew up, I also kept hearing about their past lives and ups and downs they have seen. The same for my paternal ones. I haven't ever seen them but learned quite a bit about their life.

Someday, I will try to word the lessons and principles of life I have learned from their lives.

mohabbat jinhe ho gayi ho kisi se; mohabbat ka anjaam kab sochte hain

2010-08-20T15:25:00.003+02:00

This is last line of the song "tumhe apna saathi banane se pehle..." from a superhit Bollywood movie "Pyar Jhukta Nahin" released in 1985. I was just a small kid then with an elder brother and an elder sister both in their teenage. And I hardly understood a thing from the movie. But still I so damned loved to watch those in those small-town movie theatres. In fact for a long time I thought the name of the movie was "pyar joota nahin" and wondered why would it called so and never bothered to even ask anyone what the hell is the meaning of the name.

Still. There are times today when the music of this movie brings so many memories back right in front of my eyes. So much so that my eyes get wet every single time I listen to them. The lyrics and music is extraordinary no doubt about it. The thing that touches me most is the associated memories with it. Those rainy grey days. We were allowed to watch only one movie in the cinema hall per month. Thats it. It would be mostly some Sunday of a month. And that day was so glorious. The only agenda of the day was to reach the theatre well in advance, stand the queue and manage to get the tickets. The fact that we had tickets on our hands made us so proud. Ahh such were those days!! I know, I know, I am being nostalgic and all that. Still.

Making a Minimal Vegan Sandwich

2010-07-27T20:45:00.002+02:00

Most people including me agree that veganism goes hand in hand with minimalism. I will argue in a later post why vegetarianism is pointless for me without veganism. Recently, I experimented with and tried to prepare a minimal vegan sandwich. So, today, I present the ingredients to a tasty vegan sandwich

.Bread

.Peanut Butter

.Tomatoes

.Resins

.Sesame seeds

.Olive oil (optional)

.Dried banana (really optional, omit if you do not like it to be too sweet)

I will not go in detail on making the sandwich itself as it is a fairly simple recipe. Except that do not put too much oil on the bread as the Peanut butter itself might be oily depending upon what type you have. And finally, the important thing is that the sandwich is vegan, nutritious, easy and quick to make. Hope you like the idea. I will put up a post soon on how to prepare peanut butter at home. So, two upcoming discussions are: Vegan vs Vegetarianism and Preparing Peanut Butter at home.

Cheers!

A Hypothetical Conversation With Sachin Tendulkar

2010-07-17T15:55:00.004+02:00

me: Hello Sachin, how are you?
Sachin: Fine thank you!
me: Would you save thousands of lives if you are in a position to do so?
Sachin: Yes, sure!
me: Then, go ahead and be vegetarian, many lives will thank you and your millions of fans who follow you!

Typical Spring Sunset in Sophia Antipolis

2010-04-11T18:38:00.002+02:00

First International Trip!!

2009-04-10T20:53:00.005+02:00

Here is a mail I wrote to my wife Archana, a day after I reached Amsterdam, hope you find it amusing:
hi.
now i m relaxed and can write a detailed story till date. Once i went in the lounge after checkin at ahmedabad, i had to wait for getting on board. from ahmedabad to mumbai, things went nice, i had lime water, fruit and juice on board. from up in the night the city lights were looking beautiful. particularly when plane weas over mumbai...jet airways did
not charged anything for extra baggage. even when the flight was in time i reached mumbai local terminal at 10:05 pm. There was heavy rush of people to reach international terminal by the airport vehicle so i asked jet staff what shd i do. they said i should take a taxi and reach the int terminal, they said that the luggage will automatically be transferred, and i just need to transfer my hand bag. so i took a taxi. taxi wale ne raste me bataya ki voh 250\- charge karega to mein utar gaya ;) aur vahin se rixa pakad li. he took me safely and was a nice guy. charged 50/- but i gave 100/-. i was well in time to reach the international terminal. went to the swiss staff, they gave me a new boarding pass for the international flight, then went to the immigration center and filled up an immigration form and gave it to an officer there. he asked me some question related to my purpose of travel etc. then he put a stamp on it. i was to pass to the security check again. which they finished in 10 minutes. then i tried to call you but i couldnt so called ilmudin on the coin phone and asked to inform you that i have reacxhed mumbai safe. soon we got a call to climb on board the international flight. they gave me a new luggage pass. It was a huge plane. there was a video screen on every seat. it took off sharp at 1:15 am. one marathi businessman uncle was beside my seat. they served vegetarian south indian food(mendu wada,chutney and namkeen sevai). i also had apple juice. later i felt cold so asked for beer. it was nice and i felt warm. after that tried to sleep but the seat was not sleepable. i thought our trains are better. on the way i saw many cities and beutiful lights from top. in the morning it was like a race between sun and the flight. all the way i just saw saffron lining on the horizon but no sun. finally landed zurich. local time 6:20am. here i really had to rush for the flight. from zurich airport i climb down a big escalator to the basement and took a train to domestic terminal. my boarding time for zurich amsterdam flight was 6:50am!! mushkil se terminal par pahucha to dekha security checking me bahut badi line hai. security walon ne shoes bhi khulvaye as there was a steel cap. main shoes haath me liye apne terminal pe bhaaga..really..it was like catching an amts bus. finally i came to know that i was the last passenger to come on board and they were waiting for me only. checked my passport and allowed me in. this was a better flight as the seat was comfortable. reached amsterdam in 1hr and 30 minutes. while on this flight i saw sun rising. and a bright day down. they served jam roll and juice on board. they also offered coffee but i didnt took. i saw so many planes flying by while i was on this flight.
at amsterdam airport they have an escalated walk way with which i came out in the luggage room. was also looking for elise. waited a lot for luggage.(ek baar to khayal aaya ke kahin ye log luggage bhool to nahin gaye...). finally luggage aaya. aur mein bahar nikla. elise was waiting out. then she helped a lot in finding things for me. we went to housing company and got the key for my flat and made the necessary payments. then got to the appartment. the appartment is really worth 295 euro per month. its great. i will write you further details in the next mail. aaj itna hi. mein thak gaya. Thats all for now.

List of vegetarian things available in France (out of Paris)

2008-11-19T18:10:00.004+01:00

Dates
Cookies
Banana
Apple
Grapes
Milk
Bread
vegetables
rice
popcorn
canned corn
corn flakes
muesli
wheat flakes
honey
beans
Figs
Oat Meal
Olives

100+ French Words and their meaning

2008-10-04T09:37:00.018+02:00

Here is my hundred plus strong French vocabulary so far ...

salut=hi
bonjour=hello,goodday
bebe=child
nuit=night
demain=tomorrow
au'jour'd'hui=today
soleil=sun
luna=moon
terrain=earth
solo=single
conjoint=spouse
femme=wife
fille=daughter
garcon=son
bon=good
bien=nice
bienvenue=welcome
merci=thankyou
beaucoup=a lot
bureau=office
rouge=red
jaune=yellow
juan=young
l'eau=water
lait=milk
soir=evening
au revoir=bye
etat=state
portable=mobile
disponible=available
cafe=coffee
lundi=monday
mardi=tuesday
mercredi=wednesday
jeudi=thursday
vendredi=friday
samedi=saturday
dimanche=sunday
noir=black
blanc=white
moteur=engine
lecture=to read
jeu=game
plus=more
dernier=previous
prochain=next
deja=already
nom=name,surname
prenom=firstname
homme=gentleman
cordialment=regards
votre=your
vous=you
sortie=exit
yaourt=yoghurt
nous vous=we
voyage=journey
ami=friend
petit=small
dejeuner=meal
anne=year
mois=month
semaine=week
poid=weight
pomme=apple
banane=banana
poivre=pepper
vert=green
miel=honey
horaire=schedule
carte=card
mangue=mango
ecrit=write
parle=speak
batiment=building
maison=house
contrat=contract
travail=work
etudiant=student
s'il vous plait (svp) = please
il'y a=here,there
magnetoscope=VCR
montagne=mountain
ognon=onion
bonbon=sweets
gateau=cake
resole=sorry
moi,mes,ma=my,mine
plage=beach
promenade=walk
coer=heart
soer=sister
frere=brother
pere=father
mere=mother
oef=egg
un,une=one
musee=meuseum
bas=country/land
monge=food/eat
apres=after
chien=dog
cheval=horse
sucre=sugar
venir=coming
monnaie=change (in the sense of money, coins)
fromage=cheese
vin=wine
meme=even,same
aussi=also
sondages=polls
le main=hands
la bas=there
ici=here
l'argent=money

Rolling a Chapati!!

2008-08-15T14:48:00.000+02:00

Firefox 3 blues

2008-06-20T22:48:00.002+02:00

I recently upgraded my fedora core from version 7 to version 9 and firefox 3 surprisingly came with this version. Surprise because it came way too early then its hyped release date. However, I found it was far from being stable. It just crashed all of a sudden without any apparent reason and also frozen occasionally. I wish they release a stable version in the first place by spending more time on testing rather than releasing a fragile one. That will earn them more users. Guinness records can wait.

5 things to take care of while walking on an urban street

2008-06-13T23:30:00.002+02:00

So, here I am trying to pen down important things you need to take care of while walking on a busy urban street ...

Know your Ground : Thats very basic. You must be aware where you are on the road? on right side? left side? on the footpath? in the middle of the road? on the edge of road? on the parking space of the road? On a one-way street?
Control your Thoughts: Do not wander in your thoughts while you are on the road. This distraction may prove very expensive. If you are an always-thinking type guy then think something relevant. say the about the cars on the road? about how the traffic is less/more then the other day. something relevant.
Behave Predictably: Drivers usually take a cue from your movement and anticipate your next move on road. So behave in a predictable way. If you are walking do not suddenly start running or stop. keep walking. If you are showing an intention of waiting and the coming driver 'saw' it please do not change your mind.
Do not make Assumptions: On an urban road, please do not make any assumptions. Check on both sides of the road. You never know when that teenager decides to break a law or two. Apart from that there could be a police van, an ambulance or a fire-truck might appear suddenly from nowhere. So, keep an eye on every direction.
Start Early: Most of the times we rush while on the street. This may be the root cause of all problems. So make sure you have enough time before you reach your destination. Better start 10 minutes early and enjoy the walk rather then rush and stress yourself.

5 reasons why France is Better then NL

2008-06-11T20:19:00.003+02:00

Now, I have spent two years in Netherlands and almost one year in France. So, from a Foreigner's point of view, I am putting on some of my observations here ... reader should note that these are subjective observations even though I have tried to keep out a natural bias that comes with ones' individual experiences ... ditto for the next post ...

Diverse Climate: France is a big country with quite a good diversity in climate. The weather is calm and sunny in the south on one hand and rainy and windy in the center because of the Mistral winds. Its cold towards the north. This is not the case with the Netherlands (NL). The weather is same through the country. And most of the times it is not at its best. The Dutch are probably the most critical of their own weather.
Varied Geography: France has a diverse geography. Mountains and valleys, Rivers, Beaches, plains and forests. This is not the case with NL. The whole country is more or less flat and hardly any geographical variations. There are low profile beaches but does not compare to those of France.
Food: Definitely tastier, varied and rich then that of NL. You have all kinds of pastries, sausages, cheezes and breads. This is certainly not the case with NL. Infact there is nothing like 'Dutch Cuisine' exists. They have happily borrowed this from France, Italy and Asian/South American cuisines.
Wine: Though I am not an expert on wines, I am sure there are more Varities and better French wines then their Dutch counterparts. This I can say based on my experiences and general strolls across the markets in the respective countries. Infact, French wine shops are kind-of branded in NL and one can find them aplenty in NL.
Paris: Yes, Paris. There is only one Paris and it is in France. NL has Amsterdam but it just can't compare.

5 Reasons Why NL is Better then France

2008-06-11T20:19:00.001+02:00

Here are a few observations put in a casual, spontaneous style ....

Bicycle Culture: Yes, the Dutch are terrific bicycle lovers. On the street, bicycles makes for a serious portion of overall traffic and dedicated signals exists for bikers. Whereas in France bicycles are much rare and limitad to a few cities like Lyon and Marseilles.
Inter-Department Integration: I observed that all public departments are very well integrated in NL. So, if you update your address with the city council, for example, it gets updated at the Immigration department, the tax office and othe government offices local to your district. Information is pretty much consistent and leads to less chaos. This is certainly not a case with France. If you change your address you need to inform it separately with the proof of address to atleast 4 different departments including immigration office, social welfare office, social security office and the townhall!! And it is not guaranteed when the new address will really show up on their systems.
Tolerant and Practical Way of Life: The Dutch are famously tolerant as a society to the foreign culture.
Clean Urbanization: The whole country is urbanized. However, some observation through the countryside shows its much cleaner and healthier way of urbanizing. I once got stuck in the countryside for a few hours because of a railway fault. I found all facilities that one would typically see on Amsterdam street. These include a cybercafe, supermarket and neat parks. In France, I am now living is almost countryside in the middle of a tech park but I cant quite say the same about this place.
Flexible: Dutch speak Dutch and English. Minimal bureaucracy. Quick adoption to new technology. And a flexible lifestyle provided their tiny living space, the Dutch are probably the most adjusting people around.

gmail error

2008-06-09T17:29:00.002+02:00

I am facing this error with gmail while trying to download backups saved as messages with attachments.

Google has funny and strange way to document the error message, i.e. on top of the inbox!

Why "hello world!"

2008-06-03T18:24:00.001+02:00

Though it is obvious we write "hello world!" program when we learn a new programming language. I gave it some more thought and tried to compare it with the non programming language we learn. I would say the first thing we learn when we learn to speak is to say 'maaaa' or something like that which is intended to call on some caretaker, mostly mother.

However, the case is different when we learn a second language and it depends upon the age and situations we are in. Also depends upon our relative liking of that language!! So if we find the language very funny and learn it for fun our first expression might be something wierd!! Or if one is learning that language because one loves it, the scene might be different. may be one would say "i love this language".

So in conclusion, it essentially depends upon your exact emotions at the time of writing/learning a new language what your first expression could be...

thats it for the day.

bye.

why no plastic?

2008-05-25T18:40:00.001+02:00

A friend of mine gestured when i put a "say NO to plastic" punchline to my gmail chat title. And meant to ask why do i care so much? i too gave a lightweight answer, saying that i do not want my kid to carry oxygen cylinders on their back when they grow up...

And after a while I thought, how true.

The more plastic we consume

implies more plastic will be produced

implies more airpollution

implies we inhale more toxic gas

implies our lungs get week

implies we cant get our oxygen supply normally

implies we will need extra oxygen

simple. is'nt it?

Also check this out ...

they say big brother is watching, i say its not feasible

2008-05-23T16:36:00.005+02:00

i stumbled upon this webpage (that i do not have a link now) that says we are continuously monitored by our governments and law enforcement agencies about how we go about surfing on the internet. and this might be dangerous for us in case a government decides someone is a threat to the country because of his inclinations on the net.

However, its not easy given the sheer amount of information processing it would require. Both automated and human. And on top of all the existing things that police do analyze. I have a serious doubt if there is enough manpower to do so accurately.

Apart from this it is also important to filter out false signs from the real sign which is the most difficult thing to do. For example, people who watch crime thrillers does not necessarily have a criminal inclinations. People who read murder mysteries does not necessarily are motivated to commit one.

In the same way, people who search for the so-called offending terms like murder, kill, hijack etc. does not necessarily have any such intentions, motivations to attempt to do so.

Apart from this, let us try and guess on numbers ....
There are millions of internet users around the world and the number is growing continuously. Almost 70% must be surfing daily in their leisure times. Now imagine data about millions of user's hundreds of search terms and that too daily. So annually it just grows a few hundred times more. I really do not see as of now that any computing model can effectively give results about a possible real criminal intention.

What say?

see ya.

hindi movies i like to watch again and again

2008-05-22T16:14:00.004+02:00

so i am here, again, with a list of hindi movies i would like to watch over again and again. this list is in no particular order and i will not provide any explanation or description of why i like it etc. who cares to read those anyways if you are still interested you better watch the movie yourself and you shall know .... I will keep on adding to this list as I watch new movies and as forgotten movies flash into mind ... so lets jump in ..

Jab We Met
Hum Aapke Hain Kaun
Sholay
Sharabi
Lagaan
Lage Raho Munnabhai
Agneepath
Swades
The pursuit of Happyness
Gandhi

2008-05-20T14:35:00.006+02:00

i wanted to count the number of surveillance camera's i go through while going to work from home. but decided better of it as it might sound too much. still i can tell you they were about at least a dozen cameras i passed through on a 15 minute walk from my residence to the work. it seems at first that britons are obsessed with security and using cameras as means to it. yes, as a matter of fact, police cameras registers each and every car that enters the city of manchester any time of day and keeps the record for 5 years. amazing. crazy. or whatever you want to call it. on the fun side i was thinking if a similar system is there in india, it would be very easy for marriage processions, political rallys etc to get their videos. all they have to do is to tell the police or security agencies to give the footage of so and so street during so and so time. may be for some fees.
see what i found here!
apart from that i was thinking of making a list of movies that i would love to see over and over ... not for ever but for a reasoable number of times. will do this soon.

apart from that, i was thinking to try and document the dreams i dream almost everynight. especially those that involve me holding something and also those that involve that i am a part of a flight gone wrong because of some technical faults. both these dreams are mutually exclusive and has nothing to do with each other. probably these dreams are because i am still nurturing some grudge against a few people that i should not be. its high time i should make peace with this. only i am suffering.

one more news, now its fedora core 9 on my system. just upgraded from fc7 last night. Looks fine, though i am facing a few issues and hope will get stable in due course.

2008-05-19T17:09:00.002+02:00

ahh, seems i have been pretty much regular here now. actually i was reluctant earlier about blogging thinking that who will read it anyways ... so lets not blog. Now its the opposite.. i blog because i know who will care to read it ... so i can write whatever i want. actually in reality it could be in the middle of both these things. anyways .. i dont care in any case.

not a very exciting day

2008-05-19T17:04:00.003+02:00

it was certainly not a very exciting day. i am stuck on everything i wanted to accomplish today. i hope things will turnout well tomorrow. this reminds me i had to learn some more french. ok after completing this post i am upto it.
thats it.

nothing

2008-05-18T18:38:00.002+02:00

i have nothing important to write today. but it occurs that its a good idea to keep some track of where this life is going. so about today. it is a sunday. i am in manchester. no social life or friends to hang around with. so as usual i am behind my laptop. did some work related to my research and some work not related to my research. downloaded a simple design template and stuck it to my institute web space. thats it. as i am writing this it constantly occurs to me that i should learn some more french before i get back to sophia but am too lazy to start. may be tomorrow. :-p
Anyways, a lot of things to do tomorrow. have to write an email about my research direction here in manchester and also investigate a few more things about the Taverna workflow. Also would be interesting if i can come up with some sizeable research results as an outcome of this visit and can churn out a little research paper out of it.
thats it. bye.

In Manchester

2008-05-17T19:00:00.003+02:00

In Manchester since around 2 weeks now. Its a raining weekend. Nice in general. Last week it was quite amazing atmosphere in here because of UEFA cup soccer. I was almost part of a violent eruption in the center of the town. Just left the scene 20 min. early.
Of what I could observe, life in Britain is definitely more stressed then that of continental Europe. Everyone is running around. Just like a typical Indian town.

Thats it for the day. See ya later.

2008-05-16T12:41:00.001+02:00

one nice link. Its about a message a father wants to give to his 3 year old son. Here.

Jab we met

2008-05-12T18:00:00.002+02:00

Recently watched this movie "jab we met". I know its old but avoided earlier thinking low of a Kareena movie. But, contrary to all my expectations, the movie is very nice. As I like to call, its a "well made" movie. Very smooth flow of story. Some really strong but often ignored in real life messages.

The song, 'yeh ishq hai' is the one I liked the most. Very nice beats and music.

2007-10-10T10:53:00.001+02:00

पिया तोरा कैसा अभिमान,

सघन सावन लाई , कदम बहार,
मथुरा से डोली लाए , चारों कहार

नहीं आए , नहीं आए
केसरिया बलमा हमार
अंगना बड़ा सुन सान

पिया तोरा कैसा अभिमान

अपने नयन से नीर बहाए
अपनी जमुना खुद आप ही बनावे
लाख बार उसमे ही नहाये
पूरा न होई असनान
सूखे केस , रूखे भेस
मनवा बेजान

पिया तोरा कैसा अभिमान ?

बोल सखी कहे करी साजो सिंगार
न पहनी अब ....कांच न हार
खली चन्दन लगाओ अन्मा हमार
चन्दन गरल समान

cant believe

2007-01-17T13:27:00.000+01:00

cant believe i am working with 1GB memory. My system admin just upgraded it.
Still remember days when used to work with 32MB ... jaane kahan gaye vo din ...

year 5092, some where on Planet Earth

2007-01-15T20:23:00.000+01:00

Venus & Earth News Agency, 304th Earth day,
An astonishing discovery has been made on planet Earth some 2000meters below the sea bed on some prehistoric storage device. Some scientists claim it should be a primitive data storage device that used magnetic signals to store some paltry amount of data. Usually measured in 'giga bytes'. These are a couple of images of prehistoric human, who used to live on land. Please refer to our earlier article mentioning the nature of land and what it was to live on it before the water on polar caps cover it up in the estimated year 2030. There is still a great debate going on among the scientists of the Earth, Mars and Galaxy zeta about the antenna like small black extensions which are present in abundant in one picture and almost absent in the other. A specific group of scientist has identified them as being called hair. However, surprisingly enough, they are not able to explain its functions. It would be interesting to see more such 'samples' in the coming years. The two images below whose origin is supposed to be between a very small interval around the year 2006-2007:

two evenings in paris-ii

2007-01-14T13:39:00.000+01:00

two evenings in paris

2007-01-14T13:34:00.000+01:00

weekend means ...

2007-01-13T20:26:00.000+01:00

Laundry Backlog :)

hum punchchi ek pipe ke

2007-01-13T20:24:00.000+01:00

An Inconvenient Truth

2007-01-12T17:11:00.000+01:00

Just watched "An Inconvenient Truth". What to say about this beautifully made movie. If I say something which might not appeal to the reader because of my lack of communication skills, it would be a sin.
Well, just watch the movie and do what you can for the mother earth, all I can say.

the Pursuit of Happyness

2007-01-11T21:16:00.000+01:00

I watched this movie 'the Pursuit of Happyness' (happyness is misspelt deliberately, u got to see the movie to know why) last night.
if u_r_reading_this and u_havent_watched_it:
YOU_MUST_WATCH_IT

On a serious note, the movie is a true story about a brave heart struggler Christopher Gardner. After 24 hours, the movie is still fresh in my mind, something that hardly happens with me. The intensity of emotions is just amazing and leaves you thinking deep about 'the pursuit' of this eluding thing called happyness. The Oxford English Dictionary gives one of the meaning of the term pursuit as "The action of pursuing, chasing, or following, with intent to overtake and catch or kill, a fleeing object, as a hunted animal or an enemy". Just how amazingly this meaning is personified by the lead actor Will Smith. My salute to him for all the hard work and dedication to bring alive the character of 'Chris' Gardner. Almost every scene in the movie has a hidden, subtle or clear message about life. However, I think I would be able to give words to only few messages because of my literary incompetence ...

Adversity, what adversity? Let them come until they go bankrupt. I am not going to lose a single pie of courage. My goal is to win and I will make all odds homeless in pursuit of the same.
Belief, let belief alone be my rope to the other end, let the deep valley be more deeper beneath me, I have enough support to carry myself and my loved one all along.
Frustration? ha ha!! does this term have a meaning? who gave it a meaning? well, I will try to find him when I am done having enough fun at the end of my busy, fulfilling and stare-in-the-eye-of-life day.
Optimism! ahh, now you are getting close. You should have waited before giving this term a meaning. Never mind, a synonym could be 'gardnerism'.

On a more serious note, if you have lost a touch with life or you think you are vulnerable a bit in the distant future, go watch it and register in the permanent memory of your system.
On a side note, isn't there a message that the word happiness really has an 'i' and not 'y'?

grid is here to stay

2007-01-10T17:09:00.000+01:00

good news for grid enthusiasts, slashdot reports that the linux grids could be the correct answer to high procuring and maintenance cost for mainframes as they cut these cost by around 65% and get a 70% better performance. cool.

Picturesque Amsterdam ...

2007-01-09T16:30:00.000+01:00

A few pictures of Amsterdam on a misty morning of January 2007 ...

been there. done? nothing.

2007-01-02T14:20:00.000+01:00

Amsterdam, December 31, 2006.

raaga clone that works on linux

2007-01-02T13:56:00.000+01:00

hey ...
just happen to came across a new raaga clone. The music boon for indians abroad ... www.dishant.com
And it works on linux... straightaway. without wine. great. And no ads. and no popups. cool.

sometimes

2006-12-22T17:08:00.000+01:00

sometimes, when I am too much stressed, I just feel like i want to cry. Trying a lot but its just not happening. I am not able to cry. May be I need a reason? or a shoulder?
Or may be I want to laugh? like a small child... I dont know. But I am missing something. I have something going on inside right now that wants to come out. but how? and why, at first place? no answers. sometimes feel so helpless from within. whyyy? again.

future PMs

2006-12-22T11:34:00.000+01:00

Indiatimes.com reports here that Dr. Joshi says "there is no dearth of future PMs in BJP". Like what Dr. Joshi? Any names? A priority list?

Urban Amsterdam

2006-12-21T23:18:00.000+01:00

This is how a typical sunset looks like from my window. Its the only surviving classic windmill of Amsterdam. A lot of construction work is going on in the foreground. Amsterdammers trying to solve their acute housing problem. A typically busy evening this. Picture courtesy, my roommate Dhiraj.

world's first

2006-12-21T12:37:00.000+01:00

bbc reports today about a UK women who gave birth to triplets. They say ".. woman with two wombs is believed to be the first in the world with the condition to give birth to triplets ..." .
So exciting to be ...

First person in the recorded history with something like this.
in the odds of 1 in 25 million.
with 3 kids all of a sudden!!!!

Good luck mom!

Gandhi

2006-12-20T21:31:00.000+01:00

Ahh! In the last 2 months or so ...
+Watched Gandhi (Richard Attenborough)
+Read "The Story of My Experiments with Truth"
+Watched "Lage Raho Munnabhai" twice

Already a fan of him. Can write a lot but only would like to say 2 things.
+ At core, we all are Gandhi. We only need to shed off the outer layers and we are Gandhi. Gandhi is Bare minimum. In all respects.
+ Heard few people of accusing him of responsible of partition. Very painful. Sometimes discussed so carelessly, shamelessly, and irresponsibly. As if, one fine morning he went to the Viceroy's office, drew a line on the map and we had partition. Only Gandhi knows the pain. Yes, only Gandhi himself knows the pain of it all.

Open-Source well said

2006-12-20T21:28:00.001+01:00

Open source movement can dramatically speed up the development of software and the software industry. This hypothesis is brilliantly exemplified by Diomidis Spinellis in his book Code Reading: The Open Source Perspective.
What he says is goes more or less like this :
Closed source context, if compared to English literature (or any) is like Shakespeare owns a company (say) Shakes' Plays corporation limited(;-)) and all the Plays written by him(or people working for him) could only be read by the people working with that company. Others can only pay and see their plays and make out(read guess) from them, the original script of the play.
Now reader can imagine such companies like Tolstoy industries limited, Dickens corporation, Keats associates :D and the growth of literature.

Brilliant! Well said!!

Kabul Express

2006-12-20T12:47:00.001+01:00

I was reading this review of the latest bollywood blah called Kabul Express. Essentially, Kabir Khan, the director shows, how Afghanistan was ruined post 9-11, post Pakistan abandoning them. Quite a few statements struck me.

Kabir, thankfully, doesn't take sides and gives due blame to bring the current situation to light. America is named as the reason for every ruin you see in the film.
... that in the end all these wars are about digging up oil and selling Pepsi and Coke ...
... makes you think that Pakistan and America have been the best of friends. Today if this is the state of Pakistan, what about India?
We are going to bed with a monster with no heart. Are the ruins of Afghanistan a mirror to the future ruins of a country called Pakistan? A country called India?
And the ultimate ... Are we just fuel pumps on a global map selling oil and Coke?

Got to think, dear friends.

spam cancer

2006-12-20T12:35:00.000+01:00

I don't know who is encouraging them? Even if its little effort in spamming, are they really getting any business by doing it, I wonder. My god, so many spams i am getting of late

"be the best lover, get our ViAgRa"
"buy OEM software with a massive discount"
"be millionare win lottery"

and many more ....
Also, now every time I open some site(even sites like indianexpress or indiatimes) I get this dialog box saying "your registry might be corrupted, would you like to check your system?(recommended)" recommended -- ha ha ha. oye bhen de takke -- tere uncle Linux use karte hain. Wonder they claim to be system cleaners and dont even bother to detect the operating system itself.
Hope the world gets rid of this spam cancer sooner then later.

How bloody true

2006-12-20T12:28:00.001+01:00

Engineer kaun hai???

ENGINEER WOH HAI JO AKSAR PHASTA HAI INTERVIEWS KE SAWAAL MAE
BADI COMPANIYON KI CHAAL MAE
BOSS AUR CLIENT KE BAWAAL MAE

ENGINEER WOH HAI JO PAK GAYA HAI MEETINGS KI JHELAI MAE
SUBMISSIONS KI GEHRAI MAE
TEAMWORK KI CHATAI MAE

ENGINEER WOH HAI JO LAGA RAHTA HAI SCHEDULE KO FAILANE MAE
TARGETS KO KHISKAANE MAE
ROZ NAYE-NAYE BAHANE MAE

ENGINEER WOH HAI JO LUNCH TIME MAE
BREAKFAST KARTA HAI DINNER TIME MAE
LUNCH KARTA HAI
COMMUTATION KE WAQT SOYA KARTA HAI

ENGINEER WOH HAI JO PAGAL HAI CHAI AUR SAMOSE KE PYAR MAE
CIGERATTE KE KHUMAR MAE
BIRDWATCHING KE VICHAR MAE

ENGINEER WOH HAI JO KHOYA HAI REMINDERS KE JAWAAB MAE
NA MILNE WALE HISAAB MAE
BEHTAR BHAVISHYA KE KHWAAB MAE

ENGINEER WOH HAI JISE INTEZAAR HAI WEEKEND NIGHT MANANE KA
BOSS KE CHHUTTI JAANE KA
INCREMENT KI KHABAR AANE KA

Taken verbatim from vijeta_jemini's post, www.desitorrents.com

cool python

2006-12-20T10:47:00.000+01:00

Now I am trying to unify all my blahs back because of several reasons ....

I get too less time and motivation to populate all those categories.
its convenient for my readers(only very few) to go through only one blog.
A switch from blogger to beta blogger (why the hell does both of them exist) has caused some confusion too.

So here we go ...
In an earlier article, I mentioned of having started with python and found it cool on first look. How very much correct was I. It has made me so effective as a programmer. I dont have to think program and then think algo and then think implementation, I just have to think python, if you know what I mean. Some cool features ...

A function can return more than one values - this is something I always wondered why not possible with other languages. A friend suggested you can do that with c procedures. But then it wont be natural. Say I want to swap two elements and return them to their new values, I should simply write a swap funtion and call it like "a,b=swap(a,b)" and thats that.
Obligatory indentation - really cool feature, you get your program right and dont have to worry about structuring it for readability.
Better loops and no magic - for-loops just got better with python, in that you dont have to write a long syntax for looping across an array or a range just write 'for num in array: print x" and you are done. Or write "for i in range(1,5): print i" and you are done. By no magic, I mean, it never tries to convert between types automatically. I believe that saves the programmer a lot of debugging efforts.
Command line - Ok, now you are not sure if a particular syntax would work or not and would like to test it against the python interpreter. No, you dont have to open an editor and type all the preamble and postamble for just one line. just say python on the prompt and an iteractive shell is there for you to test any syntax against the interpreter.

And this is just a tip of the iceberg tip, its much much much more then that. But all simple. And beautiful. And graceful.

Strange Dreams

2006-12-14T09:57:00.000+01:00

Sometimes, i see strange dreams, in fact a series of dreams back to back like a video tape. it mostly means nothing but i see a lot of places and ppl in dream. and they are so intense that even if i wake up for a while and again sleep it continues ... what does it mean?
Most of the time i see familiar ppl and places. but they dont have any logical connection between them. For once, I saw that there is this religeous place high in the Himalayas. Do not remember the name but it was some "kund"(for the holi bath). And when we reach there the actual kund could only be reached by going downstairs through a small hut. I went downstairs and could see some sadhus sitting along the way asking for daan-dakshina. Then finally I reached there and suddenly also saw one of my uncle besides me. no idea from where he came from as i have nt seen him for at least 4 years now. Now the interesting thing is that I saw black statues moving around in water as if some electric motor is controlling them, because they were moving back and forth regularly. A remarkable statue was of a woman and a distant one of a man. These statues looked like they were made up of black marble. Also high water waves were generated. My uncle also went inside the kund and he could walk in as the water was not very deep. I almost wanted to go but still i did not find myself in. This uncle and aunt live in Pune now and we ocassionaly visit their place. I have good respect for them.

Another dream was something like this ... Now this is a really strange one ...
I know one of the guy say M, who is not a very close friend of mine. Just that we know each other. He is in the U.S. for some years studying. Now I saw in my dream that he has been arrested in the US and he died in the prison because of some accident, i recall that it was because of some problem in the shower that his throat got hurt and he died of bleeding.
Now back home there is a growing concern for his widow(yes, somehow he had a wife who is now widowed). I also saw that this lady is very sweet and pretty(never saw her before). She happens to visit our house often and talks to my mom a lot and also plays with children in my house. And kind a feels good there. I emphasise here that there is no filmi kind of chakkar here.
ppl around are now criticising authorities in the US and also talking about not sending boys abroad etc. I also see a lot of scenes like boating etc where M was present and suddenly he gets disappeared. Also, one more guy is missing in the US who is part of this group on the boat. This I come to know of later.

First Anniversary, of a horrible Experience

2006-12-11T21:08:00.000+01:00

So, now that cuckoo and mridula woke me up to nourish my babies, I am on a spree of giving full nourishment to my babies. The incident i am going to narrate is a horrible experience I had here in Amsterdam around a year back. So here we go ...
I registered for a course at the Vrije Universeteit in Amsterdam and was my first day to the class. I figured out from the map how to reach the place. However, as I was relatively new to this city and country, was totally innocent of finding way using maps. Still I gave it a try and noted down my milestones.
Started off on the bicycle(yes, its common to ride bicycle in here) and slowly moved past these milestones. Now the horror starts. Somehow, I managed to overlook a patch of expressway on the map and found myself really on the expressway. poor me. Initially, I did not quite notice that this is an expressway because of relatively less traffic and also there was a line on the shoulder of the road which I thought to be the bicycle lane. Now after getting quite ahead, I realized that I am the only one on the bicycle and cars and trucks and buses are zooming past by me at a speed of more that 100 kph, i am sure. Ans also heard quite some horns from behind. Now I realized am in deep shit. Still moved on slowly. It was very cold and now started to feel it more.
Soon a police van stopped me with the cops discussing something, laughing themselves and looking at me(i am sure they were laughing at my foolishness). One of them asked about my details and checked my papers. Thankfully, I was carrying my id in my backpack. And also managed to make an innocent face. Somehow he got the message, gave a strict warning for not showing up again on this way otherwise will fine me. I agreed innocently. Poor me. Now comes the funny part. They actually helped me to get off the expressway by following my bicycle and guiding me which way to go while i was dragging it. Although, it was safe for me, I became an object of fun for the cops and on lookers.
Thanked the cop and god.
Somehow managed to reach the class, but it was over by then.
But, learnt my lessons, already.

Blade Pakoda

2006-12-11T12:32:00.000+01:00

No wonder an unassuming reader would surprise himself/herself no end with this title. Lemme explain. Pakoda aka Bhajiya is an Indian delicacy best to have on a typical monsoon evening with chai(tea). Now, as a friend of mine pointed out somewhere in his blog, we should not call it pakora or any english name (as in calling rice pudding to kheer). How very much true. There is a certain association of this name with the thing and all the sweet(rather hot) memories associated with it. Great. So far so good, but then what the heck is this blade pakoda? I dont know if some other great has discovered this name concurrently with me, I could claim this is the term I gave to a special form of pakodas that have blades of potatoes in them. Just a thin coating of besan gaar around the potato blade. They are abundantly available on any typical Indian railway station.

It was a Sunday and so lots of time to prepare something special for special guests.

So, I will explain here how I prepared them. Any task with a bit of complexity needs some planning and so did I. collect all the stuff you need. Bean. Masala. Oil. Kadhai. Plate with some kind of absorbing paper on it. Take potatoes and chop them to make blades(slices if you like to call it). Take some pudina(mint) leaves if available. Start making the gaar , add water, masala, some pudina leaves. be careful while adding water as it should not become too thin neither too gaada. Now an interesting thing that my sindhi neighbor Geetu told my mom when I was young but I took it well in my mind. Add a little bit of hot oil in the gaar and stir it only in one direction(no idea why so i take it as a mathematical formula), this makes the pakodas soft.

Ok I forgot to tell you to put the pan with oil to heat simultaneously and wont go backwards and edit it again. Now its time to start putting the pakodas into oil. Take a potatoe blade and dip it into the gaar and coat it well and put it to fry. Rescue your pakodas from getting stick to the surfaces of the pan. See to it that the dont get over fried and also see to it that they somehow dont have any punctures into them otherwise will become oily and soggy. Pull them out of the kadhai and put on the dish with absorbing paper. You are done.

Hot and steaming and sexy pakodas are ready to enjoy. My special guests who are enjoying there last days of bachelorhood liked them(hopefully).
Also cooked kheer, but thats a bit too trivial to make so no thrill.

Conclusion: Cooking is fun.
Benefits: Proud mom and wife.

of identities and aliases

2006-09-27T13:08:00.000+02:00

Originally belonged to dakus, goons, underworld dons. 'pappu alias ganja alias batli', 'dawood alias bhai alias D alias sarkar', 'mangal singh alias chambal-ka-raja alias blabla'. But now it seems they are made for cyber-roamers. They are ubiquitious. Everywhere. On tech forums, discussion groups, social networks, blogs, yahoo answers, you name it.

So. Do ppl like to blah under cover? or is it for fun? or just because others are doing it? are they losing their identity? or creating a new one?

Python

2006-09-26T11:57:00.000+02:00

Started looking into Python. Sounds promising. Pretty readable.
Just found that it was originally developed in the same building I am right now in. Amazing!
Very excited about it.

"Gods": Do we need them?

2006-09-25T12:42:00.000+02:00

"Cricket is our religion, Sachin is our God" was the slogan held by some fans sometime ago. But the question is why this 'God' doesnt click when we need him the most? Saying this painfully as I am a chronic fan (since his 1987 blitz against Qadir) of this God. Now, then what do we need. My assessment says we need mortals. Hardworking mortals. Like Robin Singh. Like Anil Kumble . Like Rahul Dravid.
Everytime we win, we forget the 'little' efforts of all these mortals and hail Gods. And expect those 'chamatkars' in the next game. We just forget the mortals, just to disappoint ourselves that these Gods are not really Gods.
If I were the selector, I would go for 11 Robins or 11 Dravids or 11 Kumbles rather. Let Gods be in their temples or Vaikunth and let mortals do the job.

geeks ... are they doing any good to the world?

2006-09-24T15:37:00.000+02:00

ppl r either afraid of being a geek or they be it and proud themselves into it. the question is, are they doing any good to the (rest of)world. my assessment says they are spawning curiousity by making straight things twisted and satisfying their mind of creativity.
they r smart. agreed. they r contributing to the development of technology. agreed. r they taking along others? /\/? This is my geek code to express 'so-so'....:D.

They would have done much better if they shunted unnecessary geekiness and made things simple, i think.

for example ... `geek code', perl, and all their blah blah.

for antiexample ... 'LaTeX', 'Assembly level language', 'Java'.

maro sona no ...

2006-09-23T16:15:00.000+02:00

Navratri. Such a sweet festival. Cant stop missing it a single moment. here is a sweetly sung garbo. The meaning doesn't makes much sense and it doesn't have to. The sweetness is enough.

O.....ho......

maro sona no ghadulo re
aa panida chhalke chhe ...(2)
hey ghunghat ni oar kor...
palav ni oar kor
goru mukhaldu malke re ....
aa panida chhalke chhe ... (2)

pachrangi paghdi vala ne bahu sohe raaj ....(2)
hey navrangi chundadi chatke ne man mohe raaj ....(2)

o raaj ghunghat ni oar kor .....
e maro sona no .....

ange angarkhu vala ne bahu sohe raaj ... (2)
e chamke te aabhla chatke ne man mohe raaj ..(2)

o raaj ghunghat ni oar kor .....
e maro sona no .....

reshmi chorlo vala ne bahu sohe raaj ... (2)
arre mashru no chaniyo chatke ne man mohe raaj ..(2)

o raaj ghunghat ni oar kor .....
e maro sona no .....

dalda ni deriye vala nu roop sohe ho raaj ....(2)
ambode phool e chatke ne man mohe raaj ...(2)

o raaj ghunghat ni oar kor .....
e maro sona no .....

perl

2006-09-23T16:14:00.000+02:00

just started hating perl! creators claim its very near to english. but i ask what is the point in making it near english. nobody will be helped by it. for example i cant write 'otherwise' instead of 'or'. better to stick or adhere(i can use synonyms here) to some basic structure rather then becoming too fancy about things that are never going to be perfect that is. And about the book written by larry wall et al. --- just crap. They are being too smart in the book. Seems just enjoin themselves but not taking the reader along.

strange! really strange!!

cricket blah

2006-08-22T12:03:00.000+02:00

Cricket is not a gentlemans' game and should not be considered like that. Its a competetive world and a sport has to be played competetively and aggressively.

The word 'gentleman's' is actually a misnomer and bringing more direpute...i think.

soon start my blah blah

2006-07-18T20:57:00.000+02:00

hi!
wonder how people write so much so interesting.
will try to attempt in the due course ...