Jammu Kashmir... Jammu Kashmir...

This post is dedicated to Jakra- a friend, a Guide, a fellow porkibaay, and who is still very much alive...

To all my friends who wished that I'd not return from J&K [ 4 and counting] , I'm extremely sorry.
Well I'm back, and have lots to tell.
For starters, the reason why I was there , was to attend a national convention of SPIC MACAY.There were 10 of us, 5 boys and 5 of the chromosomally challenged types....
The unusual part os this journey was that the journey was longer than the stay, so we ended up inventing crap like Phase 1, 2, 3[ degree of boredom], arbit antakshari [start a song with any letter other than intended]. The Bolly-Tolly-Sandal-Tamil wood song database was thoroughly exhausted, to an extent that only the dreaded Himesh Reshammiya-Songs [ for lack of a better word], were left.
Boarded in Bangalore..Friends[ Sha, chappar, Soma, Srik] coming to send us off.. Well two surprise add-ons to our list of extra-ordinary travelers, was a welcome change.
So via the capital [ a much needed recharge point, cells and humans alike], we managed to board the Shalimar express to Jammu.The fellow SpicMacayiites were here[ including Kiran]. Jakra managed a hit [ IITG, if I'm not mistaken].
So on that fine morning we land at Jammu University, with excitement in our eyes, and wierd smells elsewhere.[ Three days.. not much for me, but an eternity for some].
The univ is beautifully set in the middle of the city, a lush green campus, with arbitly skewed buildings/departments,well set roads, and lots of history to draw upon [ I swear , I was not paid for this].
So Vivekananda Hostels for the baays, and Chandrabagha for others....A decent place to stay...
Cuisines served at the Gymnasium.... Decent food.
Jammu's people are really nice, especially the ones at the univ, met really friendly people here.
Me signed up for an intensive[ a.k.a workshop] titled Sankhavadyam, fooled by a keralian sounding name with images of sankhas, and mridangams floating about, made myself co-ordinator, etc etc, but I'm glad I made the mistake.How else could I meet such a brilliant man as Purushottam Muni Ji, a expert in his art, and a person who has taken heavily from the cup of life.How else could I make awesome friends, like Harikrishna, Rajesh, Poorva, and of course Jarul....
Dwelling a bit more into my intensive, this is a folk art from Orissa, has three major parts called, shankhabadan, ranapa, and chadeya. These artists could blow a conch for 20-30 minutes at a stretch, could dance and perform acrobatics on stilts, and perform a graceful dance. We could manage a 20 second squeal of a sound, couldn' t even stand on the stilts, and finished with what was perceived by the public to be a really good dance, and we were kinda happy that we did not create any major goof-ups. I even managed to give an interview to ETv Oriya regarding this,from an audience perspective.
About the concerts, I've lots to tell, since I'll cherish someof them forever. For the first time, I got to see, Balamurali Krishna , his youthful nature only enhances his musical magic[ he loves the tag 'bala' ]. Shiv Kumar Sharma, the first time I heard him in Jaipur, I was spell bound, this time was even better. The pristine purity of Santoor's music, coupling with Panditji's brilliant expertise of the instrument, makes it one of my best musical experiences.
The overnight was truly great. We were handling backstage, hence got to meet lots of artists in person[ giving them tea n stuff, still, in the presence of masters....], Concerts starting with the legendary T.N Krishnan on Violin, later Ustd.Rashid Khan Saab[ 99 not out] with a khayal rendition, followed by the vocalist extra-ordinaire T.M. Krishna[ His book with Bombay Jayashree- "Voices Within" , is out on the stands, Buy a copy today].The next was the pick of the lot. The concert by Ustd. Shahid Parvez, on the sitar, mesmerized everyone.
As George Harrison of the Beatles' Fame once said on his tour to India," The Sitar is equivalent to a 11 member Cello Orchestra",It carries with it such amazing complexity, and only a true master can explore the instrument to the extent that we saw that day.Despite some grievances that he faced, as a result of negligent behaviour on the organizers part, on our part, He kept all that aside, and his performance was beyond par.
Next came the Chupa Rustum concert. We had all seen the list before, and Venkatesh Kumar- Hindustani Vocal, seemed an arbit choice.Here was a singer from Bellary[ Yes, Karnataka...], whom none of us had even heard of. But we soon were to realize that our ignorance knows no bounds...I'd the opportunity to interact with him, he was happy that he got a Kannadiga to speak to.I was amazed at this great artist's humbleness..
Here is the situation, It's neary 5 in the morning, half the auditorium is asleep, quarter of it is empty. and the rest are wondering which of the above options to choose from.Here comes this man, manages to instill the fervour within the rasiks in the crowd, to an extent that people can perceive the artist-rasik connection happening with each stage of the alaap, and by the end, people are glad they stayed back, and could witness this stupendous performance. Such was the intensity of the fan-following , that few Reporters and others came backstage to contact the artist, and he was more than happy to oblige.The joy on the faces of the fans told the story.
That was the end of the saga, in Jammu Univ.. Bid farewells to new found friends,took some arbit campus pics, and planned half a day of sightseeing.
Rain played spoil-sport, still we mustered our spirits, and set out in search of the famous Raghunath temple.The temple was an architectural novelty from what I'd heard. This temple had been under attack some years back. Set in the midst of the city [ the markets grew around the temple , ob], this temple has the kinda structure that can be witnessed throughout North India. A pyramidal Gopuram, with a dual pradakshina circle, usually square like, and the sanctum sanctorum with brightly coloured stone idols.
What was unprecedented was the security[ there were people with submachine guns on the temple roof], as well as the nature of blatant commercialism that has covered the premises.Guaranteed money offered you individual attention to the Great Lord, and a free arbit garland, but still, there are limits to which you test people.Adding to that are temple rooms for every Hindu God on the planet that merits a dakshinam, and a purohit seated for the transaction.Finally somewhere people would Yield [ : ) ] .
I was bleeped at by most of my friends for doing an extra round, it was certainly not out of devotion[ God or Goddess[ : ) , ok a bit here ] , but just pure inquisitive bliss.
Just when we thought we were swindled enough already, we came out and saw what the Jammu markets had to offer. I'd a great vision in mind. Will take some dry fruits, [ walnuts etc], and would be given a grand welcome back home, for this amazing foresight. I was blasted outright. 2 kgs of Akroots take ages to break, and it's frankly not worth the effort. I'm sure my friends would share the feeling.[ I'm sorry for the brilliant recommendation......]
The train journey back was a bit gloomy, but has to be one of my best train trips ever.The Jammu Tawi from Jammu to Chennai, probably one of the longest train trips I'll ever make,was one of the most peaceful trips too. Arbit pics, senti moments, and Jakra taking pics with future to-be celebs. Here I tried to mock Bernoulli by trying to take a pic of a moving train, somewhat Ghulam ishtyle, and having narrowly missed the pic, and moreso being squished into pulp, have to thank Jakra immensely.

The journey from chennai to Bangalore, on the really long train-bus, was memorable for it's own reasons.People suddenly finding irresistible attraction to the foot-board, and then being scolded at by the TC.This was a really senti-ful journey, with a really melodramatic end. With infinite Post-it's at hand, we created an instant autograph book/ send off gift/ crown to Jakra.
No NITKian send off is incomplete with a kick to the posterior[ make an excuse in my case], and so in the middle of K.R.Puram station, Jakra was given a sounding farewell.

Some highlights of the trip:-

Vk flaunting his Walkman phone, almost all our phones going kaput in Jammu, Amazing Concerts, People desperately trying to collect contacts to boost some fictional ++ ratings, Mech rocks, L[ with a wierd hand sign], Jammu Kashmir- A Boring play with a wierd neck twisting dance manoeuvre, Raghunath Temple [ Apparently Tirupati's not the only temple which shaves] , Jammu university, Indian Railways, New friends, Old arbits, Shocking taps, Do not spit- DNS, Mental Manja- a.ka Mangal moortie., Some flings+crushings[ : ) ], NITK Surathkal being bestowed the best chapter in all categories that exist, and so on and so forth.

To people who've managed to stay awake so far, to people who came along with me, to
Jakra, to the people of Jammu, to friends, to people who managed to land on my blog due to some wierd cosmic catastrophe, Here's me signing off..
Cheerio. Adios,Astalavista...etc etc....

P.S:- Fellow tripsters included Vinayak, Anup, Kartik.J, Saranya, Mahima, Asha, Surabhi, Revathi, Madhava.

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Allen Poe to the Rescue

The first time I heard Edgar Allen Poe's name was when I met the boy-genius Sunil Pai [ a.k.a Pi ] during one of our "interaction" sessions with the then final years, in the final block of NITK.

All I knew was that E.A.P was a O.H.P[ Over -head ] kinda author, with fantastic poems and stories to his credit, that only people like boy-geniuses mentioned above could comprehend... I'm happy that I was wrong..He reaches out to mere mortals like us too, though the effect might be a bit less. The highs that you get by reading his works are beyond comparison.

'My experiments with Poe' began recently, with his works rather[ : -) ].
This man is an absolute genius, with a command over the language to entice any literature lover, creating macabre tales, short stories, poems with equal ease.The style is succint when needed , and intricately descriptive otherwise, beautifully drawing allusions, and precise use of metaphors, thus illuminating or in some cases intensifying the very essence of that section of the plot.
Considered by many to be the creator of Science-Fiction genre, he has touched many genres, like horror, a bit of philosophy, you name it...

I started out with "The Black Cat and other stories".My journey starts with
"The Black Cat" , This is about an anonymous author, telling his transition from the normal, to a state of utter perverseness. Perverseness is a recurring theme with Poe, and he uses this primitive expression of man, as a tool to explore the extents of Human Behaviour. The cat is used first as an object of affection, an intense obsession, then moves to a state of annoyance, utmost irritation, ultimately the contempt for the " brute", as he calls it is beautifully rendered.

Poe , through an imaginary author, the narrator of this story describes the horrendous violence that he inflicts upon the poor creature, and the way he relishes it , the instant gratification that he gets out of it, the manner in which he savours those moments are told in great detail. A plot that is necessary for a short story, it is crisp and quick, yet making the reader stop and think for a moment the horror that is man...

I'm browsing through some more of this Genius's Master-Piece works. Reviews , when I enjoy them and understand them in the manner in which Poe wanted to express himself
[ Will take a long time, I assure you].

And - Pi, Those photos were awesome... Book - Con eh.... lucky chap...

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Fill Out CAPTCHAs, Digitize Books At The Same Time

For the uninitiated CAPTCHA is user input verification technology, an acronymn for
" Completely Automated Public Turing test " to tell "Computers and Humans Apart ", designed by the Carnegie Mellon university. Now what this complex test does is really quite simple. The task of the computer is to create a verification test, for which it knows the answer[ hence can verify], but cannot solve it on it's own. So,because a computer cannot solve the test, any correct response automatically
qualifies the client to be human[ in the physical sense, not ethical, moral and all that ].
One of the earliest uses that I remember was verification of genuineness of users while creating e-mail accounts. People using Yahoo might recollect.This was to stop a sudden rush of bots creating fake email accounts, for spammingetc. There was a small "thank you" to CMU also.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Captcha.jpg
An example of a text image, used as a CAPTCHA.
These have always been an accessory to the current password verification schemes.

Now for the central issue of this article. A recent post in Network world involved a awesome idea from a tech-writer called AlphaDoggs. The article can be read here.
It discusses the idea of using CAPTCHA's as a tool to digitize the vast sources of information that lies buried in our books. Sure , Google Books is doing a wonderful job.[ Recently they announced that they'd be scanning 800,000 Mysore university books for free( all gimmicks aside, this still is wonderful) ].
Before I wander off again [ Damn you Google, why are you so GooD?],
this project is the brain- child of a professor from Carnegie Mellon University [ this is kinda repetitive, monopoly I guess] . What he plans is on the lines of the SetiProject, Wikipedia etc..
Now, people got to fill captchas right.? Now instead of filling random computer generated data, why not give images from scanned OCR docs, that couldn't be recognized easily by the OCR algorithm. Luis von Ahn, is the man behind this. Hat's off, Ol' Dude.
In his own words," Instead of requiring visitors to retype random numbers and letters, they would retype text that otherwise is difficult for the optical character recognition systems to decipher when being used to digitize books and other printed materials. The translated text would then go toward the digitization of the printed material on behalf of the Internet Archive project " . Now this is really interesting,
I might be actually involved in a project translating Milton, Shakespeare, or even Gandhi [ji] for that matter.In my own small way,[ two words at a time], I'm part of a group , a community that devotes nearly
150,000 man-hours a day [ 60 million captcha's per day, you do the math], for digitizing age-old archives.If it'll not create new content, atleast it can be used to verify existing OCR'd stuff, and correct their mistakes.
This project is called Re-captcha[ how creative?] . You can be a part of it. Some of the immediate applications, even if you are not Yahoo, Google [ not again] , Intel etc, would be...

1. Email Address hiding. Prevents automatic web-crawlers from scanning email-id's. Sure some of you wizards might type dumbfool[at]dumbdomain[dot]com, but seriously ,
man that's two strcmp's away from decoding.
An example would be this.
Here's my email address, seemingly hidden in plain-sight. Click on the link and see what happens.
abhi...@gmail.com
[ If you've actually managed to read this far, please drop me a mail, after decoding my address]
2. Web-address spoofing [ not in the phishing sense] , just an innovative alias,
to keep bots and pesky servers away
3. Any means of verification, and some fun too [ I might get a chuckle from fellow cryptographic, turing machine enthusiasts here]

By the way, all you wordpress people, there are plugins already, Grab them.
There is also an audio version coming up for blind people.[ So if you are blind, and you are not reading this , then you'll have to wait]

Queries , can be asked at the email address mentioned above. I know , some of you might have an interesting obvious doubt. I choose to answer people who have Re-CAptcha'd my test.

P.S [ The 'B' will be leavin our college next month :( ] :-
Re-captcha is free, so you might want to put it up on your site.I don't have a friggin' clue what you'll verify, but just for kicks, try it.......

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Poetry in (loose) Motion

Life@NITK apart from other things, has added a new weapon in my armour, a new arrow in my quiver so as to speak.I'm talking about poetry of-course.
My alpha-testing of extempore humour poetry initially started off as a cheap way to mimic the awesomely talented "Whose Line is it Anyway " guys, and their superb Hoe-downs.
But then, owing to our esteemed faculty, especially the non-department ones, I've had a chance to hone my skills. With that faltoo phone in my hand,right in the middle of the class ( ok front bench-to be specific),I've succeded in creating limericks ad-lib.And guess what, most of them were actually good. A few samples some time later.
But now to the essence of this post, off-late I've been trying my hand at other things( ok folks , don't get perverted ideas now). I'm referring to a more serious variety of verse.What peeeple call "Poetry".
With two poems already, I'm growing strong. With esteemed critics supporting me
{ Takaal, Vk, and most importantly an experienced poet by the name of Rajaram Ramachandran[ this chap is 76 years old] } I'm hoping that creative juices will continue to flow , and create master-pieces, that generations will cherish for-ever. Ok, lets not get hopes too high.
Look out William Wordsworth. Here I come.
Let's see if my Words are Worthy enough. [ Pun definitely intended ]

P.S:- Check out my poems at Poem-Hunter
http://www.poemhunter.com/abhishek-upadhya/
Any comments, honours, awards,
(AND-OR) insults, "constructive-criticisms", kick-in-the-groin are most welcome.

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Thank You for Smoking !!!

The smell of tobacco still lingers fresh in me,
Passive as I'm , it's still smoking, You see!
A Puff for me, A puff for you,A puff for the world to see.
A puff to hide reality.

So fresh, the whiff of Death
A symphony of Mozart,
A joint is all it takes,
to take your life apart.

Mary Jane smiles upon us,
the fools that we are.
Along with Bacchus,
Makes our lives bizarre.

'Tis is wrong,take a cue.
Bow down, and your days are due.
A joke it is, that's true.
A Butt at the end,the joke's on you..

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The HitchHiker's Guide to Udupi

One thing , being a LOCO@NITK, that I'm proud of, can boast of, can flaunt, etc etc, is that I can visit my house anytime I want.
After a Long period of hostelling, a bit of Home-Sickness started to seep in. This adding to the other obvious factors like shortage of paisa and seeing the dirty clothes stack becoming taller day by day, made it absolutely necessary for me to pay a small visit.
So I started off on what was to be a long journey; with Vinayak Kamath [ VK in briefs:)] . There was this strike. Protests against SEZ-Nagarjuna power project.The mob was headed by Ms.Manorama Madhvaraj .Noble thought, but we know that the elections are coming near, don't we? Noble , none the less.
The lifeline of DK, NH-17 was blocked. National Highway , and not a soul in sight.
A long stretch of beautiful bitumen.

The Hitch-Hiking Begins....
We boarded this tempo in full tempo. Much to our delight, the driver was tight.And he was driving Shhhteady. I sorta hoped that we didn't crash onto something before reaching Udupi.
Hardly had we warmed the seats, when the Police stopped us at Mukka, yes, Mukka; just 3 km from NITK.
So , we got down at Mukka , and seeing a long chain of trucks and some 20-30 constables , thought that it's gonna be a long day's wait.I managed to gulp down BABA's competitor- JOY Cola, and then we sat at the bus-stop waiting for some movement.
Just then , this friend of mine , messages me,"hi are u free". Here, I 'm marooned in Mukka, with no-where to go, arbit Tamil Officers [ from Rapid Action Force] telling,"they are burning vehicles in Hejamady", and so on,and I get this msg.. No wonder, I'm pissed off.So, I sent a sarcastic reply. Then I remember," Oh, she can't figure out sarcasm", so send a correction msg.
Meanwhile, things clear up.We climb aboard the same vehicle., and start off.As the pace picks up, I begin to get the whiff of burning rubber..For those of you, who're thinking , that he was going formula-1 fast, or something to that effect.... well, NO. It was from the burnt tyres on the road.
So, we landed in Katapady,and having paid monetary respects to the driver, stood there waiting/hoping for a bus.
I wonder whey they call Konkanis a minority.They're friggin' everywhere. VK started kutching, and got kutched in return by arbit three konketeers.
So, got a bus finally.It was Jam-packed.The conductor was literally overjoyed, and was a bit worried too, that he'd not be so busy the next day.He moved through the mass, making arbit jokes along the way.
As I stood on the foot-board, it reminded me of good ol' MGM times.On the way, I saw a beam of orange sun-light bounce of the river, and glide against the surface as we moved .
Man, That was stunningly Beautiful.

So, finally made it to Udupi, Safe, and without a sound.

To flick from Robert Frost...

The roads are empty,the cracks are deep.
But I have promises to Keep,
Miles to go, In the bus I'll sleep
Miles to go, In the bus I'll sleep.

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Try This....

I just came back from the class...at around 11.00 ... and, jobless as usual, put Tony [ my comp] to life...Thought to myself, 'will try something unusual today'
Created a playlist of the finest of ragas played by the maestro
Pt.Hariprasad Chaurasia.....
Raga Samanta saranga, Malkhaus, Hansdhwani etc...
Was feeling a bit dopey[ sleepy] ..Put on the playlist.... and went off to sleep...

With the notes from beautiful Bansuri, in the room...
a piece of holed Bamboo creating ethereal music....
and me sleeping..... Man, that was a awesome combo..

It wasn't sleep to be precise.... I was half-awake.....
I wasn't awake to be exact......I was sleeping....

Some People might call it a trance kinda state..... I'd like to agree...
My dreams were so descriptive.. surreal ...yet making sense.
I was writing poetry... and I could feel that this is a dream, all the while, constantly reminding myself to jot down the verses as soon as I wake up...
I don't remember the lines now, but on that day, I do remember that they looked good. Some arbit faces, some familiar ones, randomly appearing ,random scenes somehow connected like how a stage2 question finally reveals itself.

Try this sometime...The artist and genre are ur picks...Just don't pick something really loud..that's pointless.

Disclaimer: This is a random experiment conducted by an arbit professional. Please try this at Home.
And ya, it doesn't work the other way round...as in if sleep is what ur looking for, don't switch to classical....It's too captivating to let you sleep..
If a cure for Insomnia is what ur looking for, there's always Himesh Reshammiya,Anu Malik,and others.. [might have side effects though]

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To Every Man, His Own

This post is about individual opinions versus mass hysteria. Maintaining your own beliefs [be they right or wrong], Vs accepting some facts given at face-value.

This post is about Linux, and the linux movement in general.

Linux starts off in about 1991-92 by this guy name Torvalds, a modest beginning , just a small USENET boast to claim its existence. Warmly received by the developer community, the open-source elite, and the price-conscious [usually separate people].
Then , people start to realize that their good'ol UNIX skills , can be used to make tremendous improvements to the OS, the looks, the environment, and writing truck-loads of applications.Great Insight.C'mon , you've got the kernel files with you to edit. It can't get better than that.So Prophet Linus Torvalds got this step right.Absolutely Right!.
During all these times [84-2000 somewhere], there was only one famous OS in the junta's minds, comps, and in the universe[metaphorically speaking].No you Mac Losers,I'm speaking about Windows of-course.Hundreds of Faults, Thousands of Jokes, A Million Bill Gates Hate-Mails, and Billions of Dollars later, it still continues to grow strong[ economically speaking :-) ]
The main factors driving people away from the UNIX OS [ the best OS in the universe, no doubts], was the lack of a decent interface, and tougher to use than DOS [ despite what Ken Thompson said]. Sure there were some variants, BSD unix, Solaris etc, but seriously no comments about these, they are almost , if not tougher than UNIX itself, with their mindless self-modifications and needless jargons yada yada.

Fine , thousand points to linux [ the points don't matter,Please continue].

The main worry , the chief concern , this post's title is on a different plane altogether.

The main target[ worst word to use, but here goes] , of the open source community is the youth, with its new ideas , visions, zeal etc.Nothing bad about that. Fresh minds , Fresh thoughts. Cool!
The problem is that as soon as people become part of an initiative like this, they tend to impose their views upon people who are yet to see the entire perspective. Unix- Linux developers,and hackers in general, have always been associated with an air of academic/intellectual smugness.The feeling that they are the best is ok, tolerable, but to bluntly tell that others are hopeless.To tell that if you are on the other side , you must be reaaallllly dumb and so on is really not necessary. C'mon dude, give the man a chance to choose.
Then the whole issue comes up, WE ARE NOT LAYMEN! We can work with Linux in a more efficient way. It gives us more powers than Windows ever, ever did. Ok, Good For YOU.But please don't act like god-damn Linux evangelists. We've a lot of dumb prophets already.
And , if linux is good , say why its good. NO regrets.But don't cut a hundred wise-cracks about windows while doing so. It hurts. Even with the above-mentioned faults, it was still the first OS that we worked on [ lesser mortals like us, not Dennis Ritchie et al]. The emotional attachment, the nostalgia associated is really too much to shed over a small moment of ass-pride.
It's like a particular race telling we are superior compared to others.

By an independent analysis, I've come to the conclusion that , it's in the inherent nature of minorities to brag about their superiority, about the fact that they are the only ones worthy to occupy the top spot, about the fact they use propaganda to drive more minds, and make them sway to their thoughts. numerous examples in religion [ no more comments] , AMD [ vs intel], Motorola[ vs intel and nokia] and so on can be easily cited. I think you folks get what I'm trying to say.
A significant part of the open-source generation is treading on these lines.The wise have got to stop them. Stallman started off decently, GNU and other fundae were excellent ideas, a beautiful, well co-ordinated project. But now this prophet, speaks about Microsoft on terms of stupidity, about Bill Gates making references to SATAN. Is this all necessary? Can't these people spend their days just for the betterment of their brain-child projects, instead of wasting their time on such childish moments of small talk.The main intention of Open-Source , the freedom to think, the freedom to choose, the freedom to contribute, is being diluted by such meaning-less acts.
Even without all the monopoly issues, Microsoft still has carved a niche market for itself, thousands of developers who swear by it, millions of people who have got accustomed to it, and love to use it[refer MSDN ]. This is no small feat, and to deny it's capabilities outrightly is a LAYMAN's comment. Not something that you expect out of people whom you other-wise respect for many reasons :-).
So to sign off , I'd like to say that give people a chance. Boast about linux , no probs. Just don't ridicule others[ Users and OS included] .

To every Man, His own. :)

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What if ?

• What if Maria , in The Sound of Music had broken into song, like:-

Floyd, Grass and Vodka,
Soft -Po*n and Kafka ,
Violence, and Hitler's Swastika,
These are some of my favorite things.

[Hum it to this-> tune]

• What if words like Kappaax, Slogyard, Wastage, Flunkyard were added to the Oxford Dictionary:-

George Bush to Tony Blair:-Waazup!, See Maga, We bambooed that Wastage Saddam, Chill Macchi.I told you , I'd Jug something. Kappaax me, you ARbIt-ch !

• What if I get AIR -1 ,
  

naaaaaaaa, too far-fetched. 2 is ok.

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I came, I wrote , I went back

GATE, an entrance exam to get into Post graduate streams in Indian colleges , happened to take place in NITK, and I happened to write it.
I woke up , at 7.00 a.m sharp [after a long time] , full with vigour and enthu [ one of my nick-names], what with a don't-care-whatever-happens kind of attitude. When your aspirations are already set to mediocrity, anything better than that is a bonus.
We went to Mysore mess[some more on this mess, in another post] for breakfast. With Masala dosa in the stomach and emptiness in the skulls, our dumb-minds started making cocky jokes; About GATE , what else?
Joke:1- Ee varsha Capuu, Next varsha Recapuu. [ You may Laugh now]

Joke:2 - Rajkumar- If you come today- GATE Ishtyle:-

If u write this year; bamboooo
If you write next year; bambooo
You pick the time,
Aah, Pick Pick, Pick Pick, Pick Pick
Pick Pick, Pick Pick, Pick Pick.
[Chorus]

The main building was bustling with activity, what with 300 odd fellow- wastages, attempting the same exam, and the awesome Aradhana-07 second day just started, with innocent minds yet to see the horrors of engineering etc, coming to participate in a series of Fun-Lit events.
I got a window seat [as if that helps] , and sat contemplating about my future strategies,my old MCQ tricks and the usual morale boosting cheer-up.
The paper was easier than I had expected [hope this shows in my ranks] , I managed to get a few toughies also. It was 12.30 before I knew it. Alas , Time had played its part.
So I gave my paper,came out, ate, attended a intense, photography-workshop by AstroMohan. A beautiful flute concert some time later.
Overall , Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

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2. Am I leading my life to Become Blog-Worthy?

Everyday activities seen with perception, seen in a new light, leads to creative and beautiful passages, and definitely a good read. People like me , leading the kind of life which has very less to offer, nothing too exciting , nothing too exceptional, are perhaps, seeing solace in little things ,the "Choti Si baat" ( for the non-Angrezi ), and perhaps even turning them into splendid events , thus trying to get a feel of something that we never get to experience usually.

Purple flossy brushes oozing with toothpaste, messes with their colourful radio-active sambars, FM' singers with super-nasal powers are an example of that.
No offence to the respective writers. You rock! I just want to illustrate a general opinion that I share with myself.

The blogs that I come across usually exhibit this point, all are human afterall.

Unless of-course it's some lame-ass blog like this one. I hate you Abhishek, I really do.

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1 . Am I leading a Blog-Worthy Life?

When I see Lit-Gods around me , flaunting their skills and grey-cells , with their audacious blogs, describing their experiences like Brushing, Eating in our God-Damn Messes,Getting High, Travelling in Bangalore et cetera, with utmost gusto, reliving each and every moment of it in the most relishing, or cynical manner possible ;
I think to myself,

Am I leading a Blog-Worthy Life?

I mean, I know these guys are good. But are these small mundane moments ( ok, travelling is an exception), good enough to be web-logged?

Lack of Imagination , Perception and Grass , seem to hamper my writing abilities ( not that I'm too keen anyway).

This has been part-I of this post. Now for a different outlook.

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Ramblings of a Linux User

Some of the thoughts when using Ubuntu for a Day, for the first time.........

To quote, my dear friend, Abhishek Upadhya,

"My name is Abhishek Upadhya. I have used other distros before..And This is my first exclusive trial of Ubuntu. and it is good.. Infact it is so good that I haven't missed windows till now.
Infact it's so good that I'd rather lose windows and miss it forever. Alas, a pity. Bill has lost his chief banta.. "

Also, he writes, in an unrelated, review..........

"People say vi is bad, some even say it's eVIl, ( a foolish wordplay of sorts.). Let me fight back. it is fast,and has all the features that a good text editor must have. True it doesn't have some gay snake games, and a homo psychiatrist program that can be found in a editor written by the great stall-man.. but, seriously who cares!!!, Nothing against StallMan, He's the GURU, the leader, the GNU prophet,, but the man has his share of eccentricities, difficult to comprehend sometimes".

P.S:- I do not share Abhishek's views entirely. The Nostalgia, and the familiarity of Bill-Gates's world is tough to come out of.

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Chappar wing Photos. first in the series.

These are some pics from the illustrious chappar wing from 7th block. Amod asked me for a web collection/display for public appreciation. :-), So here goes,


1.This one is titled, Tronix super-heroes- Maggu Man and Nerd Boy, ( Though the exact order is yet to be decided). It captures the tronixites in their pre-exam frenzy( apart from other things of-course).

For the record, the names of the jumping-jacks have been changed for conditions of anonymity.
They are Sagar( To the left) and Vinayak( to the right)... Brilliant right!

Some more are to be published in this series of chappar-wing photos. Visit regularly.

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Linux Vs Microsoft , The battle continues

These are some of my views on the cold war between the two major OS's of the world , Windows and Linux ( All Flavors included).

1. Linux is trading its capability to get a share of Windows popularity( Not out of choice obviously). ( There are many new security concerns on linux too,which weren't there before).
2. Windows has realised this, and it is now adding features to keep its stronghold in the market

Moral of the Story:- Competition breeds development.

Further Developments/progress possible:-
1.Linux will increase penetration,
Microsoft will reduce costs.

2. Linux will increase publicity.
Microsoft will increase quality.

3. Linux will standardize development.( An organized method of Open -Source)
Microsoft has already started open source, de-centralized initiatives.

Concerns about Linux:
Many of the developments( GUI and tools wise) on LINUX are being inspired by similar ones at windows. Creating similar alternatives on LINUX to existing problems that windows applications face is not advisable.Also it is not a good sign for LINUX.Open-Source should also take on original ideas.

Taking some-one else's commercial idea, and making it free ( Not as in Free- Beer) is not the Copy Left Policy of GNU-GPL. It has much far-reaching ethical concepts than that. Ethics+original ideas= FREE Software.

And , Linux developers being on the same Boat as FSF, or GNU movement, should adhere to these core ideals, else the whole purpose is lost.


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