I love this Nescafe song ! Today I started out my day
putting this song in repeat mode. Not only its a
refreshing tune, but being designed for an
advertisement, its lyrics also makes sense !
=====================================================
"Open up !"
You can be rich with no money to spend,
you can be everything when you understand,
you can be mother when you are a man,
open up - you know that you can.
Open your eyes, open your mind, open your thoughts
- Don’t stay behind!
(Open up, open up, open up, open up)
Nescafé
(Open up, open up, open up, open up)
The key is inside you to open your mind,
you know what is out there - your heart can’t be blind,
open your eyes and open your mind,
open your thoughts - Don’t stay behind!
Open your eyes, open your mind, open your thoughts
- Don’t stay behind!
(Open up, open up, open up, open up)
Nescafé
(Open up, open up)
You race all the boarders and start in your head,
open your mind to thoughts seldom said
open your eyes and open your mind,
open your thoughts and don’t stay behind.
Open your eyes, open your mind, open your thoughts
- Don’t stay behind!
(Open up, open up, open up, open up)
Nescafé
(Open up, open up, open up, open up
Open up, open up,
Open up, open up)
Nescafé
(Open up, open up,
open up, open up,
open up, open up,
open up, open up,
open up, open up)
Nescafé
=======================================================
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Lateral Thinking
(Thanks to Nachiket for this amusing real
life story. The boy in this story is
actually one of the family friend of
Nachiket's family.)
There was a boy at IIT, Kharagpur. There
were a lot of mosquitoes at IITKh so he had to
set up mosquito net before he could sleep.
Once unfortunately, this mosquito net
got a hole. Mosquitoes used to enter the
net through that hole and trouble the boy.
He simply made another hole in the
net and connected a flexible tube from
one hole to the another.
Poor mosquitoes, they did not know who
they were pitted against !!! :D
life story. The boy in this story is
actually one of the family friend of
Nachiket's family.)
There was a boy at IIT, Kharagpur. There
were a lot of mosquitoes at IITKh so he had to
set up mosquito net before he could sleep.
Once unfortunately, this mosquito net
got a hole. Mosquitoes used to enter the
net through that hole and trouble the boy.
He simply made another hole in the
net and connected a flexible tube from
one hole to the another.
Poor mosquitoes, they did not know who
they were pitted against !!! :D
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Coming of age
He was 60 years old.
He had retired as top exec.
He had two children, doing well.
A top investment firm managed his money.
His wife (still) loved him.
He reclined on his chair, sipping tea.
And he thought,
What was the purpose of my life?
He woke up.
He was only 60 years young.
He had retired as top exec.
He had two children, doing well.
A top investment firm managed his money.
His wife (still) loved him.
He reclined on his chair, sipping tea.
And he thought,
What was the purpose of my life?
He woke up.
He was only 60 years young.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
The One
I often hear or read about people seeking the ultimate
truth. They speak with a sort of fantasy in their eyes.
To be one with the universe or to be in sync with the
universe, to experience that deep sense of unity with
the universe where there is no subject or the object,
just the one.
I do not want to speak about what that state might
bring about. I have a question about the ultimate
truth. Does it exist? And I want to present a
different point of view on this.
Human beings need to make sense of what they see.
They need to make abstractions in order to store
information and use. They need to make abstractions
of abstractions to simplify things. They tend to
seek invariant patterns in everything they see,
everything they do. It is perhaps necessitated
by how our brains work, tending to remember
patterns and attributes.
So humans are compelled to make a ladder of abstraction
chain. Perhaps the notion of the ultimate truth
which is the highest abstraction originates from
this tendency. It is the way we think, the way we
hypothesize that has created this hypothesis and
so it does not guarantee that such a concept exists.
It may be just a by-product thought generated
because of the way our brains work.
It does sound crazy but who cares !
- Onkar
truth. They speak with a sort of fantasy in their eyes.
To be one with the universe or to be in sync with the
universe, to experience that deep sense of unity with
the universe where there is no subject or the object,
just the one.
I do not want to speak about what that state might
bring about. I have a question about the ultimate
truth. Does it exist? And I want to present a
different point of view on this.
Human beings need to make sense of what they see.
They need to make abstractions in order to store
information and use. They need to make abstractions
of abstractions to simplify things. They tend to
seek invariant patterns in everything they see,
everything they do. It is perhaps necessitated
by how our brains work, tending to remember
patterns and attributes.
So humans are compelled to make a ladder of abstraction
chain. Perhaps the notion of the ultimate truth
which is the highest abstraction originates from
this tendency. It is the way we think, the way we
hypothesize that has created this hypothesis and
so it does not guarantee that such a concept exists.
It may be just a by-product thought generated
because of the way our brains work.
It does sound crazy but who cares !
- Onkar
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Of food etc !
I went to a supermarket (actually it was a general commodity store) this Sunday after many months. AndI just stood looking at the prices, totally stunned ! It must not be a news to many peoople. Tur-dal Rs 110/kg, Mung-dal Rs 90/kg, Udal-dal Rs 85/kg, Rice Rs 40/kg (standard and non-exotic), Sugar Rs 40/kg! What a menace. One of my friends recited the story about buying Tur-dal. Three times he went to buy Tur-dal in few weeks time, and he heard rates of Rs 55,75 and 100. Crazy stuff !
According a not-so-recent govt survey, on average, per capita Indian expenditure on food was Rs. 440, for the duration of 2006-07. For a four member family, it amounts to Rs. 1760. Considering the spiraling rates this year, it must have crossed Rs. 2000 per month. I really am stupefied how poor people manage to have four meals a day. Here most BCom people or even BA people, hardly get salaries above Rs. 8000-10000. Considering some of the major expenditure channels like food, rent, travel, telephone, healthcare; I really cannot imagine their plight making both ends meet.
Government cannot provide jobs to all. Thats OK, in my opinion, the government should only foster the growth of employment. But food? As a touted superpower-to-be, we should at least succeed in providing food to people. This is the least you should do as govt.
Not that I did not know of the rates, but going to the shop this Sunday made me acutely aware of these rates. Just a glimpse of reality shocked me to the core.
If we are depriving poor of the food, we are doing them no good by the fake austerity drive. Austerity is a virtue, not a showcase item. I am not really against the leaders but against this showcase politics. We lament Shashi Tharoor's comments without understanding the English meaning and connotations of "cattle-class". Not only demonstrate our lack of maturity by flogging Shashi Tharoor, we also show lack of sensitivity by transforming the real issue into a totally unrelated one. We attack Shashi Tharoor for the so-called-meaning of calling them cattle but do not try to improve the conditions of cattle. In fact, we want to make them stay as hungry cattle so that we can feed them at the time of elections and get votes, then forget about them till the next election.
I am aware that as Shashi Tharoor issue was a superficial one, so are possibly my comments too, as I do not know a lot about theoretical government efforts. Still, you can get a feeling from the local news, local mess rates and from speaking to common people like auto-drivers, bus-conductors, hawkers. I also believe that if a politician has enough will power, he can definitely do most of the things in his scope.
Anyway thats the end of gibberish about the inflating prices. A small story to add a positive note at the end : Few days back I went to a State Transport bus ticket reservation center. And they were using Linux for booking tickets online! Yes, we can ! :)
According a not-so-recent govt survey, on average, per capita Indian expenditure on food was Rs. 440, for the duration of 2006-07. For a four member family, it amounts to Rs. 1760. Considering the spiraling rates this year, it must have crossed Rs. 2000 per month. I really am stupefied how poor people manage to have four meals a day. Here most BCom people or even BA people, hardly get salaries above Rs. 8000-10000. Considering some of the major expenditure channels like food, rent, travel, telephone, healthcare; I really cannot imagine their plight making both ends meet.
Government cannot provide jobs to all. Thats OK, in my opinion, the government should only foster the growth of employment. But food? As a touted superpower-to-be, we should at least succeed in providing food to people. This is the least you should do as govt.
Not that I did not know of the rates, but going to the shop this Sunday made me acutely aware of these rates. Just a glimpse of reality shocked me to the core.
If we are depriving poor of the food, we are doing them no good by the fake austerity drive. Austerity is a virtue, not a showcase item. I am not really against the leaders but against this showcase politics. We lament Shashi Tharoor's comments without understanding the English meaning and connotations of "cattle-class". Not only demonstrate our lack of maturity by flogging Shashi Tharoor, we also show lack of sensitivity by transforming the real issue into a totally unrelated one. We attack Shashi Tharoor for the so-called-meaning of calling them cattle but do not try to improve the conditions of cattle. In fact, we want to make them stay as hungry cattle so that we can feed them at the time of elections and get votes, then forget about them till the next election.
I am aware that as Shashi Tharoor issue was a superficial one, so are possibly my comments too, as I do not know a lot about theoretical government efforts. Still, you can get a feeling from the local news, local mess rates and from speaking to common people like auto-drivers, bus-conductors, hawkers. I also believe that if a politician has enough will power, he can definitely do most of the things in his scope.
Anyway thats the end of gibberish about the inflating prices. A small story to add a positive note at the end : Few days back I went to a State Transport bus ticket reservation center. And they were using Linux for booking tickets online! Yes, we can ! :)
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
show me!
These are lyrics of "Show me" from my fair lady! Wow, the words rhyme, chime
and sing and resonate. I haven't listened to the song yet but the words
themselves are enough to produce magic!
========================================================================
Words! Words! Words! I'm so sick of words!
I get words all day through;
First from him, now from you!
Is that all you blighters can do?
Don't talk of stars burning above;
If you're in love, Show me!
Tell me no dreams filled with desire.
If you're on fire, Show me!
Here we are together in the middle of the night!
Don't talk of spring! Just hold me tight!
Anyone who's ever been in love'll tell you that
This is no time for a chat!
Haven't your lips longed for my touch?
Don't say how much, Show me! Show me!
Don't talk of love lasting through time.
Make me no undying vow. Show me now!
Sing me no song! Read me no rhyme!
Don't waste my time, Show me!
Don't talk of June, Don't talk of fall!
Don't talk at all! Show me!
Never do I ever want to hear another word.
There isn't one I haven't heard.
Here we are together in what ought to be a dream;
Say one more word and I'll scream!
Haven't your arms hungered for mine?
Please don't "expl'ine," Show me! Show me!
Don't wait until wrinkles and lines
Pop out all over my brow,
Show me now!
=========================================================================
and sing and resonate. I haven't listened to the song yet but the words
themselves are enough to produce magic!
========================================================================
Words! Words! Words! I'm so sick of words!
I get words all day through;
First from him, now from you!
Is that all you blighters can do?
Don't talk of stars burning above;
If you're in love, Show me!
Tell me no dreams filled with desire.
If you're on fire, Show me!
Here we are together in the middle of the night!
Don't talk of spring! Just hold me tight!
Anyone who's ever been in love'll tell you that
This is no time for a chat!
Haven't your lips longed for my touch?
Don't say how much, Show me! Show me!
Don't talk of love lasting through time.
Make me no undying vow. Show me now!
Sing me no song! Read me no rhyme!
Don't waste my time, Show me!
Don't talk of June, Don't talk of fall!
Don't talk at all! Show me!
Never do I ever want to hear another word.
There isn't one I haven't heard.
Here we are together in what ought to be a dream;
Say one more word and I'll scream!
Haven't your arms hungered for mine?
Please don't "expl'ine," Show me! Show me!
Don't wait until wrinkles and lines
Pop out all over my brow,
Show me now!
=========================================================================
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
religious riots
Recently there have been riots in southern Maharashtra. There
was some trouble with the scene depicting Shivaji killing Afzalkhan.
Somebody committed some mischief and then religious sentiments
took over. Then it was all riots, murders, damages to the property, attacks on religious places and so on.
One of my close friends messaged me on a social networking sites.
The message said things such as "Hindus, realize whats going on, if
you do not come together now then blah blah..."
We are so quick to draw conclusions. I just thought about alternate
hypotheses about how the mischief could have occured.
1. Some people thirsty of wicked social entertainment acted
as miscreants. Religion does not matter to them, only gore does.
2. BJP paid crooks to go for the mischief. After all this is
election time in Maharashtra and there is need to consolidate
Hindu vote bank.
3. Congress paid crooks. They wanted to malign BJP on the
verge of elections and consolidate their Muslim vote bank.
4. Possibly Shivsena/MNS paid the crooks.
5. It was all spontaneous. Perhaps hard to believe but there
was no political involvement.
Many other hypotheses can be formulated. But why should we wait?
We are quick to jump to conclusions. Yes, "X" religion was
guilty and "Y" religion must avenge it.
Someone once said to me that human beings in group are not much
different than a pack of dogs, let one begin barking and others
will follow. I do not know exactly but at least in religious
matters it looks to be true. Religion has such a blinding effect
on a person's mind. Perhaps this effect stems from the old maxim
of religion "don't question, just follow". When people listen to
some so-called authority speaking on religion, they just follow
it without raising even an eyebrow.
The makers of the game exploit this very fact. The real culprits
stay aside and watch the fun from outside the ring. Unfortunately
our government is such a weakling that it lacks the will to stomp
over the culprits. Perhaps the government too is one of the culprits.
Some of us were discussing few days before. A question was raised,
did we gain more or lose more because of religion. The fact that
one has to think for the answer evinces the fact that the concept
has not been entirely beneficial.
Perhaps religion helped human beings in the beginning of civlization
by giving them a set of rules. Perhaps religion will also help
humans with the end of the civilization.
(note: Of course the problems run deeper than discussed and are
more philosophical in nature)
was some trouble with the scene depicting Shivaji killing Afzalkhan.
Somebody committed some mischief and then religious sentiments
took over. Then it was all riots, murders, damages to the property, attacks on religious places and so on.
One of my close friends messaged me on a social networking sites.
The message said things such as "Hindus, realize whats going on, if
you do not come together now then blah blah..."
We are so quick to draw conclusions. I just thought about alternate
hypotheses about how the mischief could have occured.
1. Some people thirsty of wicked social entertainment acted
as miscreants. Religion does not matter to them, only gore does.
2. BJP paid crooks to go for the mischief. After all this is
election time in Maharashtra and there is need to consolidate
Hindu vote bank.
3. Congress paid crooks. They wanted to malign BJP on the
verge of elections and consolidate their Muslim vote bank.
4. Possibly Shivsena/MNS paid the crooks.
5. It was all spontaneous. Perhaps hard to believe but there
was no political involvement.
Many other hypotheses can be formulated. But why should we wait?
We are quick to jump to conclusions. Yes, "X" religion was
guilty and "Y" religion must avenge it.
Someone once said to me that human beings in group are not much
different than a pack of dogs, let one begin barking and others
will follow. I do not know exactly but at least in religious
matters it looks to be true. Religion has such a blinding effect
on a person's mind. Perhaps this effect stems from the old maxim
of religion "don't question, just follow". When people listen to
some so-called authority speaking on religion, they just follow
it without raising even an eyebrow.
The makers of the game exploit this very fact. The real culprits
stay aside and watch the fun from outside the ring. Unfortunately
our government is such a weakling that it lacks the will to stomp
over the culprits. Perhaps the government too is one of the culprits.
Some of us were discussing few days before. A question was raised,
did we gain more or lose more because of religion. The fact that
one has to think for the answer evinces the fact that the concept
has not been entirely beneficial.
Perhaps religion helped human beings in the beginning of civlization
by giving them a set of rules. Perhaps religion will also help
humans with the end of the civilization.
(note: Of course the problems run deeper than discussed and are
more philosophical in nature)
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Point
Why ?
What ?
What is life ?
Why do we live ?
Why do we breathe ?
Why do we think ?
What is the point ?
Why should there be not limits to what we think ?
Why should always be there something "higher" ?
What am I doing here ?
These are the usual topics of discussion with few of my friends.
Usually there is no outcome. Usually everything is just gibberish.
Staying alone, it gets over you. These questions will either be
your best friends or sworn enemies.
What is the point ?
Why should there be any point ?
You begin thinking that everything is pointless. You lose interest.
I found that every important question I face is ultimately connected
to "why am i here". For example, when I think of whether I should
go for a PhD, the actual question is different.
Probably it is like an axiomatic system. You may not be able to
question the axioms from within the aximoatic system. Perhaps there
may not be any point to life unless you give it. Different views
from different frames of reference.
I am just sick of it. There may not be something "higher". It may be
simply a consequence of biological needs of improving our skills
translated into the domain of thoughts. Perhaps life is just life.
Perhaps it is just like soil in a potter's hand. If he keeps thinking
about what is soil, nothing comes out of it but instead if he shapes
the soil, there comes the meaning.
I'm leaving it at that. Let us live.
What ?
What is life ?
Why do we live ?
Why do we breathe ?
Why do we think ?
What is the point ?
Why should there be not limits to what we think ?
Why should always be there something "higher" ?
What am I doing here ?
These are the usual topics of discussion with few of my friends.
Usually there is no outcome. Usually everything is just gibberish.
Staying alone, it gets over you. These questions will either be
your best friends or sworn enemies.
What is the point ?
Why should there be any point ?
You begin thinking that everything is pointless. You lose interest.
I found that every important question I face is ultimately connected
to "why am i here". For example, when I think of whether I should
go for a PhD, the actual question is different.
Probably it is like an axiomatic system. You may not be able to
question the axioms from within the aximoatic system. Perhaps there
may not be any point to life unless you give it. Different views
from different frames of reference.
I am just sick of it. There may not be something "higher". It may be
simply a consequence of biological needs of improving our skills
translated into the domain of thoughts. Perhaps life is just life.
Perhaps it is just like soil in a potter's hand. If he keeps thinking
about what is soil, nothing comes out of it but instead if he shapes
the soil, there comes the meaning.
I'm leaving it at that. Let us live.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
अथातो आम्रजिज्ञासा ||
I simply love Mango ! Recently while eating mangoes, some thoughts and revelations crossed my entranced mind. These are few chosen ones:
1) If genesis had been written in India, Adam would have got tempted to eat Mango in the garden of Eden instead of Apple. Is apple a fruit to get tempted for?
2) There is another theory that Adam intentionally ate Apple so that God punished him and sent to the earth. He wanted to eat Mangoes on the earth. How clever of him to fool the god into "punishing" !
3) If Harry Potter would have got written in India, he would have remembered Mango eating sessions while casting a patronus to thwart dementors.
4) If Queen Mary Antoinette had known Mangoes, she would have said "Let them eat Mango" instead of "Let them eat cake".
5) If British had known Mangoes much before:
a) Alphabet would have started with "M for Mango".
b) The celebrated proverb would have been "A mango a day keeps the doctor away".
c) There would have been no color as "Orange". That color would have been named as "Mango".
6) But it looks like Italians and Spanish knew Mangoes. That is why Amerigo Vespucci was named Amerigo by his mother and Amerigo named America as America. Not many people know that Sanskrit name for Mango is "Amra". Thus Mango has been instrumental in founding the superpower. The Spanish and Italian knowledge of Mangoes also resulted into their names generally ending with the letter "o" to rhyme with mango. (Fernando, Fransisco, Alessandro, Figo etc).
अथातो आम्रजिज्ञासा ||
1) If genesis had been written in India, Adam would have got tempted to eat Mango in the garden of Eden instead of Apple. Is apple a fruit to get tempted for?
2) There is another theory that Adam intentionally ate Apple so that God punished him and sent to the earth. He wanted to eat Mangoes on the earth. How clever of him to fool the god into "punishing" !
3) If Harry Potter would have got written in India, he would have remembered Mango eating sessions while casting a patronus to thwart dementors.
4) If Queen Mary Antoinette had known Mangoes, she would have said "Let them eat Mango" instead of "Let them eat cake".
5) If British had known Mangoes much before:
a) Alphabet would have started with "M for Mango".
b) The celebrated proverb would have been "A mango a day keeps the doctor away".
c) There would have been no color as "Orange". That color would have been named as "Mango".
6) But it looks like Italians and Spanish knew Mangoes. That is why Amerigo Vespucci was named Amerigo by his mother and Amerigo named America as America. Not many people know that Sanskrit name for Mango is "Amra". Thus Mango has been instrumental in founding the superpower. The Spanish and Italian knowledge of Mangoes also resulted into their names generally ending with the letter "o" to rhyme with mango. (Fernando, Fransisco, Alessandro, Figo etc).
अथातो आम्रजिज्ञासा ||
Sunday, May 3, 2009
An Unforgettable Week
After a long time I am giving a non-fictional update with real names. The last week spent at IISc with my friends was one of the unforgettable ones. Perhaps it'd be one of the last things I'd forget if Alzheimer attacks me ever. This post is going to be an incoherent because I don't want to judge my thoughts but just go on writing them as they keep coming.
I had been to IISc, Bangalore from 25th April to 2nd May. I sorely needed a holiday to rejuvenate myself and I could have got nothing better. The idea was to be at IISc for a week in which three of us (25th-Prajakta, 1st-myself, 2nd-Mukta) celebrate birthdays and to grab this opportunity before junior batch graduates out. Once they graduate, there would be no scope for free stay, free food in IISc :). And of course there would be no one to chat with.
Highlights of my birthday:
1) Logically it began on 30th night with a treat from Pushkaraj and me for convocation. These people have extorted treats from me for all occasions - campus placements, farewell and now convocation. And no party in return ! I wonder whats more responsible for this - friendship or gangsterism. Anyway, I should check whether any insurance company could classify "partying" as natural calamity. This was the biggest treat I've given so far.
2) Some real birthday bums! All the past ones were mere caressing ! Madhumita wondered how I could be so silent during the brutality. I was actually lucky not to be silenced.
3) Most memorable gifts I ever received. To divulge it and to try to catch it in words would spoil it.
4) I taught all my friends some basic steps of jive after birthday celebrations at 2:00 a.m. in morning with cake in my hair. It was a real fun to give them orders after the ordeal of cake smearing and birthday bums.
5) In the following morning, I spotted a more than 5 feet long snake. I called up Vinay and meanwhile followed it for 20 min. Later some snaps and videos. It was such a terrific site with snake wiggling its tongue and slithering through the grass and trees. At times, we were as close as 5 feet. Later we came to know it was non-poisonous :(
6) It rained in the afternoon which reminded me of Mumbai rains. Kalpesh and I rode on bike almost all the IISc. The daring act was to bring down some tamarinds in faculty quarters and to eat while watching faculty pass by.
7) Evening movie in 9 rupees! Firaaq. The acoustics was so screwed up that I couldnt understand even 50% of dialogues.
8) It ended with Mukta's birthday at midnight, the theme for her being pink. It'd be better if Mukta uploads the snaps. I have never seen such an overdose of pink. They say on north/south poles your eyesight could get into trouble because of seeing white everywhere. Here it was replaced by Pink ! And yes, I avenged every morsel of cake she had smeared in my hair.
Some other things to mention:
1) I never imagined I could play Dumb-charades through the night till morning breakfast. This time it happened! Thanks to Pushkaraj, Mukta, Madhumita, Vinya, Vinya's-bro-Akshay and Swati.
2) We brought down some green mangoes one day and played catch-catch with it.
3) I managed to study for 30 minutes for 5 days even in this chaos. Its a feet well accomplished given that everyone had vowed not to let me open any book even for a moment.
4) I didn't buy a single book. Generally whenever I go to IISc, I make it a point to buy books as Tata Book House offers 20% concession on all books.
5) I wonder how my friends could keep aside so much time despite of their projects and research. It was mighty generous of them !
6) Darshan got into UIUC and its such a great news !
7) I didn't have to go to health center even once ! Generally the change in weather affects me quickly and the effect lasts for few days. My friends say it was their mistake that they didn't stretch me to limits.
I had been to IISc, Bangalore from 25th April to 2nd May. I sorely needed a holiday to rejuvenate myself and I could have got nothing better. The idea was to be at IISc for a week in which three of us (25th-Prajakta, 1st-myself, 2nd-Mukta) celebrate birthdays and to grab this opportunity before junior batch graduates out. Once they graduate, there would be no scope for free stay, free food in IISc :). And of course there would be no one to chat with.
Highlights of my birthday:
1) Logically it began on 30th night with a treat from Pushkaraj and me for convocation. These people have extorted treats from me for all occasions - campus placements, farewell and now convocation. And no party in return ! I wonder whats more responsible for this - friendship or gangsterism. Anyway, I should check whether any insurance company could classify "partying" as natural calamity. This was the biggest treat I've given so far.
2) Some real birthday bums! All the past ones were mere caressing ! Madhumita wondered how I could be so silent during the brutality. I was actually lucky not to be silenced.
3) Most memorable gifts I ever received. To divulge it and to try to catch it in words would spoil it.
4) I taught all my friends some basic steps of jive after birthday celebrations at 2:00 a.m. in morning with cake in my hair. It was a real fun to give them orders after the ordeal of cake smearing and birthday bums.
5) In the following morning, I spotted a more than 5 feet long snake. I called up Vinay and meanwhile followed it for 20 min. Later some snaps and videos. It was such a terrific site with snake wiggling its tongue and slithering through the grass and trees. At times, we were as close as 5 feet. Later we came to know it was non-poisonous :(
6) It rained in the afternoon which reminded me of Mumbai rains. Kalpesh and I rode on bike almost all the IISc. The daring act was to bring down some tamarinds in faculty quarters and to eat while watching faculty pass by.
7) Evening movie in 9 rupees! Firaaq. The acoustics was so screwed up that I couldnt understand even 50% of dialogues.
8) It ended with Mukta's birthday at midnight, the theme for her being pink. It'd be better if Mukta uploads the snaps. I have never seen such an overdose of pink. They say on north/south poles your eyesight could get into trouble because of seeing white everywhere. Here it was replaced by Pink ! And yes, I avenged every morsel of cake she had smeared in my hair.
Some other things to mention:
1) I never imagined I could play Dumb-charades through the night till morning breakfast. This time it happened! Thanks to Pushkaraj, Mukta, Madhumita, Vinya, Vinya's-bro-Akshay and Swati.
2) We brought down some green mangoes one day and played catch-catch with it.
3) I managed to study for 30 minutes for 5 days even in this chaos. Its a feet well accomplished given that everyone had vowed not to let me open any book even for a moment.
4) I didn't buy a single book. Generally whenever I go to IISc, I make it a point to buy books as Tata Book House offers 20% concession on all books.
5) I wonder how my friends could keep aside so much time despite of their projects and research. It was mighty generous of them !
6) Darshan got into UIUC and its such a great news !
7) I didn't have to go to health center even once ! Generally the change in weather affects me quickly and the effect lasts for few days. My friends say it was their mistake that they didn't stretch me to limits.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
bhOndOO celebrates Valentine's day
bhOndOO entered the premises of Advanced Computing Ltd
and headed straight for his cubicle in the Performance
Analysis section. Today he walked rather fast and never
looked anywhere else, especially towards Shami's cubicle
in the HR section. Today was the Valentine's day and he
had a right to be nervous. He wanted to tell Shami what
she meant for him but like any geek, he could never
muster courage.
He sat on the chair in his cubicle and switched on his
PC. Like any geek, he should have opened his mailbox
first. But today even his Team-Lead's mails didn't mean
anything to him, and the usual technical support forum mails
never meant anything to him. He just fiddled with mouse,
adjusted the speakers, again fiddled with mouse and
then switched off the PC.
He thought and thought and thought. Nothing !,
nothing came to his mind. He was numb, dumb and slow.
It was as if 64 bit processor was replaced with 8 bit
8085 processor.
"hey bhOndOO, are you there? Good morning",he heard
Gullu's voice. He got up and looked over the wall of
his cubicle. Gullu was waving with a gift wrapped
in pink paper in his hands. He never wishes me good
morning, bhOndOO thought and all of a sudden, 8 bit
processor worked magic to give him the answer.
Gullu had waved at him only to show the gift to
him, definitely meant for Shami.
This is it. bhOndOO decided to go to his closest
friend, philosopher and guru. He went straight to
benJi's cubicle. Hearing the footsteps, benJi closed
few windows with lightening speed. He wanted to retain
his spiritually superior status.
"Guruji, mujhe bachao! Yeh shishya aapke sharan me aaya hai!"
"Vats bhOndOO, daro mat, apne man ki baat saaf-saaf kaho."
bhOndOO told benJi his troubles.
"Ok, child, I got your problems. The root of problem
is your high G.Q. i.e. Geekiness Quotient. And this
cant be done away with because one is born with G.Q.,
woh toh bhagwaan ki den hoti hai. Because of high
G.Q., you can neither give her rose, nor gift her
some smart greeting, nor ask her for a coffee which
could have been indicative. In fact you cannot even hope
to talk to her on your own on Valentine's day. This is
all fault of high G.Q."
"Then what should I do, soothsayer? Please show me the light".
"Yes, there is a solution. You must write a poem for
her and post it anonymous. Post it before the noon.
If you have it in your destiny, she will know that
you have written it. Remember NOT to mention your
name. It can make the girl coming to your cubicle
and the geeks won't be able to handle the pressure
of further consequences on Valentine's day. Put the
letter in the incoming letter box of office so that
it quickly gets delivered to her. One more thing,
nobody should see you near the letter box. Don't ask
me why. Reason is limited, faith is not. Keep faith
in me. May the almighty bless you!".
bhOndOO bowed to benJi and walked to his cubicle.
He thought and thought and thought. Things started
working for him. With a flash of inspiration he
wrote few lines and drew a heart around it. Then
he carefully put it in an envelope and wrote
"Shami, HR Section, ACL" as address. He looked
at the watch. It showed 11:59 a.m. Only one minute
for noon ! He ran towards the office letter box.
It was three passages away. He quickly passed
first two passages and..
Wham Bam ! He had failed to notice that the floor
of the third passage was wet because of being
mopped few moments ago by the sweeper. He started
searching his spectacles. It was below the couch
but now it had only right glass. He put on
spectacles and looked at the watch. It showed
12:01 a.m.. Listless, he started searching for
the envelope which he never found.
Somebody else found it.
It had flew around the corner of the third passage
and came to rest in second passage outside the
meeting hall. Shami, having just slept through
the meeting, came out of the hall and saw a letter
lying on the ground and a glass beside it. Gem
of a soul, she picked the glass and the letter
herself instead of calling the office attendant.
To her surprise, she found that the letter was
addressed to her. It had a heart drawn with
following lines in it:
-----------------------------
Your beauty is like Einstein's relativity
Even the sun-rays bend towards you while passing by
Your innocence is like Ramanujan's conjecture
the truth of which the world can only hope to guess
Your smile is like Boltzmann's entropy
the radiance of which never ever decreases
Your presence is like Godel's incompleteness theorem
without which I can never hope to be complete
without which I can never hope to be complete...
----------------------------
She heard footsteps. She quickly hid the letter in her
notebook.
"h.. hi , did you find a let... no, no.. a glass?"
bhOndOO stood near the corner with one-glass-spectacles.
"Oh, yes, here it is, d.. d.. dear!" Shami gave him the
glass and tightened grip on her notebook. bhOndOO
pondered on the word 'dear' but soon discarded the usage
as one of the many phrases that girls have habit of saying.
It was not. Not at least in Shami's case.
bhOndOO never found the letter.
Someone else had found it.
As benJi had said, if you have it in your destiny,
she will know that you have written it.
and headed straight for his cubicle in the Performance
Analysis section. Today he walked rather fast and never
looked anywhere else, especially towards Shami's cubicle
in the HR section. Today was the Valentine's day and he
had a right to be nervous. He wanted to tell Shami what
she meant for him but like any geek, he could never
muster courage.
He sat on the chair in his cubicle and switched on his
PC. Like any geek, he should have opened his mailbox
first. But today even his Team-Lead's mails didn't mean
anything to him, and the usual technical support forum mails
never meant anything to him. He just fiddled with mouse,
adjusted the speakers, again fiddled with mouse and
then switched off the PC.
He thought and thought and thought. Nothing !,
nothing came to his mind. He was numb, dumb and slow.
It was as if 64 bit processor was replaced with 8 bit
8085 processor.
"hey bhOndOO, are you there? Good morning",he heard
Gullu's voice. He got up and looked over the wall of
his cubicle. Gullu was waving with a gift wrapped
in pink paper in his hands. He never wishes me good
morning, bhOndOO thought and all of a sudden, 8 bit
processor worked magic to give him the answer.
Gullu had waved at him only to show the gift to
him, definitely meant for Shami.
This is it. bhOndOO decided to go to his closest
friend, philosopher and guru. He went straight to
benJi's cubicle. Hearing the footsteps, benJi closed
few windows with lightening speed. He wanted to retain
his spiritually superior status.
"Guruji, mujhe bachao! Yeh shishya aapke sharan me aaya hai!"
"Vats bhOndOO, daro mat, apne man ki baat saaf-saaf kaho."
bhOndOO told benJi his troubles.
"Ok, child, I got your problems. The root of problem
is your high G.Q. i.e. Geekiness Quotient. And this
cant be done away with because one is born with G.Q.,
woh toh bhagwaan ki den hoti hai. Because of high
G.Q., you can neither give her rose, nor gift her
some smart greeting, nor ask her for a coffee which
could have been indicative. In fact you cannot even hope
to talk to her on your own on Valentine's day. This is
all fault of high G.Q."
"Then what should I do, soothsayer? Please show me the light".
"Yes, there is a solution. You must write a poem for
her and post it anonymous. Post it before the noon.
If you have it in your destiny, she will know that
you have written it. Remember NOT to mention your
name. It can make the girl coming to your cubicle
and the geeks won't be able to handle the pressure
of further consequences on Valentine's day. Put the
letter in the incoming letter box of office so that
it quickly gets delivered to her. One more thing,
nobody should see you near the letter box. Don't ask
me why. Reason is limited, faith is not. Keep faith
in me. May the almighty bless you!".
bhOndOO bowed to benJi and walked to his cubicle.
He thought and thought and thought. Things started
working for him. With a flash of inspiration he
wrote few lines and drew a heart around it. Then
he carefully put it in an envelope and wrote
"Shami, HR Section, ACL" as address. He looked
at the watch. It showed 11:59 a.m. Only one minute
for noon ! He ran towards the office letter box.
It was three passages away. He quickly passed
first two passages and..
Wham Bam ! He had failed to notice that the floor
of the third passage was wet because of being
mopped few moments ago by the sweeper. He started
searching his spectacles. It was below the couch
but now it had only right glass. He put on
spectacles and looked at the watch. It showed
12:01 a.m.. Listless, he started searching for
the envelope which he never found.
Somebody else found it.
It had flew around the corner of the third passage
and came to rest in second passage outside the
meeting hall. Shami, having just slept through
the meeting, came out of the hall and saw a letter
lying on the ground and a glass beside it. Gem
of a soul, she picked the glass and the letter
herself instead of calling the office attendant.
To her surprise, she found that the letter was
addressed to her. It had a heart drawn with
following lines in it:
-----------------------------
Your beauty is like Einstein's relativity
Even the sun-rays bend towards you while passing by
Your innocence is like Ramanujan's conjecture
the truth of which the world can only hope to guess
Your smile is like Boltzmann's entropy
the radiance of which never ever decreases
Your presence is like Godel's incompleteness theorem
without which I can never hope to be complete
without which I can never hope to be complete...
----------------------------
She heard footsteps. She quickly hid the letter in her
notebook.
"h.. hi , did you find a let... no, no.. a glass?"
bhOndOO stood near the corner with one-glass-spectacles.
"Oh, yes, here it is, d.. d.. dear!" Shami gave him the
glass and tightened grip on her notebook. bhOndOO
pondered on the word 'dear' but soon discarded the usage
as one of the many phrases that girls have habit of saying.
It was not. Not at least in Shami's case.
bhOndOO never found the letter.
Someone else had found it.
As benJi had said, if you have it in your destiny,
she will know that you have written it.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Shami goes to Salsa
Now this the version of previous post from Shami's eyes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I entered the premises of Advanced Computing Ltd and headed straight for bhOndOO’s cubicle in the Performance Analysis section instead of my own in HR. I was rather late today having spent an hour dressing myself up for today’s Salsa class. Oh! I just can’t wait to show bhOndOO new high-heels I bought yesterday for Salsa, he would be so happy to have a look ! After all, he likes me, though a seedha-saadha geek like him doesn’t have the guts to tell me that. But he doesn’t even know that I too like him precisely because this very simplicity he has.
I skilfully took a roundabout way to bhOndOO’s cubicle to avoid that sticky Gullu. He has this masterful art to barge in and to become kabab-mein-haddi whenever bhOndOO and I are alone for barely five seconds. I tapped lightly on bhOndOO’s cubicle. No response! I looked inside. Oh my God! bhOndOO is practising Salsa on his PC! Just look at him! One hand behind the monitor, another on the speaker and moving feet below the table. And there is a youtube video being played on monitor. Awwwww bhOndOO, you don’t have to do this to impress me. You always try too hard and mess up somewhere. On Valentine’s Day celebrations, you wrote such a romantic poem for me and while hurrying to letter box, you slipped on the wet floor. You don’t even know that it was me who picked up that poem. You will never know!
Wham Bam!! Something broke my reverie. Oh no! it was him lying on the floor with monitor on his face and wires entangled with his feet.
“How did you manage this!!” A scream escaped me and I stepped forward to pick him up.
“Oh, at least he managed something!”. Curse that nalaayak Gullu, he had to come here just at this moment! I stepped back and watched bhOndOO slowly get up. How embarassed he must be to find me here! Look at that poor lamb!
“h… h… hi”, he couldn’t manage more than this trying to recover from the severe shock. Oh somebody help this geek! I just smiled at him.
“I h… hear that we are having s… salsa classes t.. today”, he said.
I saw that he was yet to recover from the shock, stuttering at every other word.
“Oh I know… My boss told me yesterday.. See I am wearing new high-heels today.. How do I look?”.
Oh my god!! What did I just ask him! How do I look! This is too much for him in this situation. Just look at him, he is grappling for words. Honey, don’t say anything, you don’t have to say anything, your eyes are telling me everything you want to say.
“Oh, you look fabulous!”, Gullu took charge.
Gullu, gullu, gullu!! goddamn it!! Stickier than Fevicol!!
“Oh, you are a so cutie pie!”, I controlled myself from slapping him hard in face at the last moment my fingers touched his cheeks. You are going to get these very fingers permanently etched on your cheeks one day. Phir mujhe marte dum tak bhula nahi paoge, mere pyare Gullu!
“I hear that some interesting conversation is going on!” Oh no! that’s bhOndOO’s boss.
“Oh yes, just now bhOndOO was demonstrating to us some results he had got!”, Gullu the nosy-est parker. Tomorrow he is getting run over by my Activa. Yesterday he must have heard bhOndOO telling me that he is yet to get the results of some analysis of some improvement over something of a code segment.
I went back to my cubicle. Awww, today he will have to work whole day to get the results and how is he going to manage attending Salsa? Let him not come and I am going to stomp these high heels on Gullu’s feet. Gullu, just pray to god that you don’t have to sit on seats reserved for handicaps for the rest of your life.
“Let me check a Salsa video.” I thought. I checked a video and found out. Oh ok, so boys take left foot forward and girls take right foot backward in the first step. Gullu, you are dead. We’ll both take our left foot forward and soon you will be walking with your right foot in hand.
I peeped over bhOndOO’s cubicle while returning from lunch. He was still there working, he must have skipped lunch. Gullu, better memorize phone number of ambulance, it’s going to prove very handy.
Fiddling with my work, it was like ages before 17:00., the timing for the Salsa class. I went inside the hall. bhOndOO isn’t here. Gullu is smiling at me. Smile a lot, Mr. Fevicol, this is the last time you get to smile. When the instructor told us to pair up, I went and stood opposite to Gullu. Ab to sirf bhagwaan hi tumhe mujhse bacha sakta hai, mere pyare Gullu!
Gullu’s cellphone rang.
“Wait a sec, Shami, it’s a call from Hitler’s cabin, that’s my boss. I’ll be back soon”, Gullu went to his boss’s cabin. I wondered, How can his boss call him from his cabin? He had left a few minutes ago. Then I saw bhOndOO standing opposite to me. Oh my God! It must have been bhOndOO who had called him! Gullu, tum saat janam-me bhi mere bhOndOO ki baraabari nahi kar sakoge. bhOndOO held my hands in Salsa pose. I could feel that he was shivering.
“Ok, boys, take a step ahead with your left foot…”, the instructor declared.
“Ahhhhhhhh !!!”, bhOndOO’s cry pierced my eardrums.
Oh no, what did I do! How could I take my left foot forward! It was meant to be for Gullu, not for him. I just can’t watch him in intense pain. I’m so sorry bhOndOO, I’m so sorry.
“Oh no, no, that was for boys, not for girls”. the instructor said. I am not that dumb, Mr. instructor! I just hope that his foot is not fractured. The instructor took him to his cubicle and came back. And then I saw Gullu coming my way.
That’s it. Not anymore. No putting up anymore with that Fevicol. If bhOndOO isn’t dancing, I’m not and not evermore when it was I who injured him. I went straight to bhOndOO’s cubicle. I saw bhOndOO applying balm and heard him saying something-hundred-and-sixth-something-something.
“What !! You are talking numbers even when you are injured !! Oh, you are so.. so.. so.. what-to-say, so .. so a geek !!”, I just couldn’t contain myself. Speaking numbers now ! These geeks are incurable.
“How could I dance when you got injured because of me? Soooooo sorrry! Give me the balm, and say that you forgive me!”.
I saw that he was again unable to speak.
“Say na…… You geeky pie!!”
“yy..y.. yes”, finally he managed to utter.
I started applying balm. There were almost eleven months to go for the next Valentine’s Day.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I entered the premises of Advanced Computing Ltd and headed straight for bhOndOO’s cubicle in the Performance Analysis section instead of my own in HR. I was rather late today having spent an hour dressing myself up for today’s Salsa class. Oh! I just can’t wait to show bhOndOO new high-heels I bought yesterday for Salsa, he would be so happy to have a look ! After all, he likes me, though a seedha-saadha geek like him doesn’t have the guts to tell me that. But he doesn’t even know that I too like him precisely because this very simplicity he has.
I skilfully took a roundabout way to bhOndOO’s cubicle to avoid that sticky Gullu. He has this masterful art to barge in and to become kabab-mein-haddi whenever bhOndOO and I are alone for barely five seconds. I tapped lightly on bhOndOO’s cubicle. No response! I looked inside. Oh my God! bhOndOO is practising Salsa on his PC! Just look at him! One hand behind the monitor, another on the speaker and moving feet below the table. And there is a youtube video being played on monitor. Awwwww bhOndOO, you don’t have to do this to impress me. You always try too hard and mess up somewhere. On Valentine’s Day celebrations, you wrote such a romantic poem for me and while hurrying to letter box, you slipped on the wet floor. You don’t even know that it was me who picked up that poem. You will never know!
Wham Bam!! Something broke my reverie. Oh no! it was him lying on the floor with monitor on his face and wires entangled with his feet.
“How did you manage this!!” A scream escaped me and I stepped forward to pick him up.
“Oh, at least he managed something!”. Curse that nalaayak Gullu, he had to come here just at this moment! I stepped back and watched bhOndOO slowly get up. How embarassed he must be to find me here! Look at that poor lamb!
“h… h… hi”, he couldn’t manage more than this trying to recover from the severe shock. Oh somebody help this geek! I just smiled at him.
“I h… hear that we are having s… salsa classes t.. today”, he said.
I saw that he was yet to recover from the shock, stuttering at every other word.
“Oh I know… My boss told me yesterday.. See I am wearing new high-heels today.. How do I look?”.
Oh my god!! What did I just ask him! How do I look! This is too much for him in this situation. Just look at him, he is grappling for words. Honey, don’t say anything, you don’t have to say anything, your eyes are telling me everything you want to say.
“Oh, you look fabulous!”, Gullu took charge.
Gullu, gullu, gullu!! goddamn it!! Stickier than Fevicol!!
“Oh, you are a so cutie pie!”, I controlled myself from slapping him hard in face at the last moment my fingers touched his cheeks. You are going to get these very fingers permanently etched on your cheeks one day. Phir mujhe marte dum tak bhula nahi paoge, mere pyare Gullu!
“I hear that some interesting conversation is going on!” Oh no! that’s bhOndOO’s boss.
“Oh yes, just now bhOndOO was demonstrating to us some results he had got!”, Gullu the nosy-est parker. Tomorrow he is getting run over by my Activa. Yesterday he must have heard bhOndOO telling me that he is yet to get the results of some analysis of some improvement over something of a code segment.
I went back to my cubicle. Awww, today he will have to work whole day to get the results and how is he going to manage attending Salsa? Let him not come and I am going to stomp these high heels on Gullu’s feet. Gullu, just pray to god that you don’t have to sit on seats reserved for handicaps for the rest of your life.
“Let me check a Salsa video.” I thought. I checked a video and found out. Oh ok, so boys take left foot forward and girls take right foot backward in the first step. Gullu, you are dead. We’ll both take our left foot forward and soon you will be walking with your right foot in hand.
I peeped over bhOndOO’s cubicle while returning from lunch. He was still there working, he must have skipped lunch. Gullu, better memorize phone number of ambulance, it’s going to prove very handy.
Fiddling with my work, it was like ages before 17:00., the timing for the Salsa class. I went inside the hall. bhOndOO isn’t here. Gullu is smiling at me. Smile a lot, Mr. Fevicol, this is the last time you get to smile. When the instructor told us to pair up, I went and stood opposite to Gullu. Ab to sirf bhagwaan hi tumhe mujhse bacha sakta hai, mere pyare Gullu!
Gullu’s cellphone rang.
“Wait a sec, Shami, it’s a call from Hitler’s cabin, that’s my boss. I’ll be back soon”, Gullu went to his boss’s cabin. I wondered, How can his boss call him from his cabin? He had left a few minutes ago. Then I saw bhOndOO standing opposite to me. Oh my God! It must have been bhOndOO who had called him! Gullu, tum saat janam-me bhi mere bhOndOO ki baraabari nahi kar sakoge. bhOndOO held my hands in Salsa pose. I could feel that he was shivering.
“Ok, boys, take a step ahead with your left foot…”, the instructor declared.
“Ahhhhhhhh !!!”, bhOndOO’s cry pierced my eardrums.
Oh no, what did I do! How could I take my left foot forward! It was meant to be for Gullu, not for him. I just can’t watch him in intense pain. I’m so sorry bhOndOO, I’m so sorry.
“Oh no, no, that was for boys, not for girls”. the instructor said. I am not that dumb, Mr. instructor! I just hope that his foot is not fractured. The instructor took him to his cubicle and came back. And then I saw Gullu coming my way.
That’s it. Not anymore. No putting up anymore with that Fevicol. If bhOndOO isn’t dancing, I’m not and not evermore when it was I who injured him. I went straight to bhOndOO’s cubicle. I saw bhOndOO applying balm and heard him saying something-hundred-and-sixth-something-something.
“What !! You are talking numbers even when you are injured !! Oh, you are so.. so.. so.. what-to-say, so .. so a geek !!”, I just couldn’t contain myself. Speaking numbers now ! These geeks are incurable.
“How could I dance when you got injured because of me? Soooooo sorrry! Give me the balm, and say that you forgive me!”.
I saw that he was again unable to speak.
“Say na…… You geeky pie!!”
“yy..y.. yes”, finally he managed to utter.
I started applying balm. There were almost eleven months to go for the next Valentine’s Day.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, April 13, 2009
bhOndOO-the-geek-goes-toSalsa
Dear all,
Rupesh (CSA, IISc) has created bhOndOO and his friends on his blog. From a long time, I'm an ardent fan of bhOndOO's adventures. bhOndOO in his stories is a simple PhD student in IISc with a lab and lots of friends and is in love with Shami, his labmate. Like all simple PhD students, he can never express his love for Shami but is in constant search of opportunities to impress her. Rupesh's blog is a beautifully written chronicle of bhOndOO's adventures.
Recently, I tried to dress up Rupesh's bhOndOO as bhOndOO-the-geek who works in a
company called Advanced Computing Limited. This is my meek attempt to describe one of his adventures. Hope you enjoy it. This is a story in which he tries to learn Salsa and of course wants to pair up with Shami. But will he be able to cross the obstacles? Read on.
-----------------------------------------------------------
bhOndOO entered the premises of Advanced Computing Ltd and headed straight for his cubicle in the Performance Analysis section. Like any geek, the first thing he did was to open the mailbox. There were new mails, most of those were technical support forum mails which he never read and the remaining from his Team Lead which he never wanted to read but was forced to do so. Scrolling the mailbox with chagrin he suddenly stumbled upon a non-techie non-geeky word. “Salsa classes beginning from today! First session at 5 p.m.”
He looked at Shami’s cubicle in the HR section. There was no Gullu (Damn him!) floating around her cubicle. It meant Shami hadn’t come so far. bhOndOO calculated that it was his three-hundred-and-ninety-sixth opportunity to impress Shami since he had joined company. Thomas Edison was one of his role models, though the number of 9999 failed attempts sent shivers down his spine.
Quickly bhOndOO went to Youtube, typed salsa and downloaded first five videos logging into a proxy server. He didn’t want today’s opprtunity to go wasted. He started watching the first video. It looked quite easy to him. He quicky grasped that it was a “modulo 8″ beat. Just a simple rhythmic movement of hands and feet… And hands in hands… with Shami… He closed his eyes, put his right hand behind the LCD monitor imagining Shami’s shoulder and held the speaker in the left hand and started moving his feet under the table.
Wham-Bam !!
The intricate mess of wires of speakers, mouse, webcam, monitor and UPS had betrayed bhOndOO. He feared that the monitor on his face could have done irreparable damage to his spectacles which could be absolutely fatal to his salsa plans.
“How did you manage this!!”, he heard Shami’s voice.
“Oh, at least he managed something!”, he heard Gullu’s voice.
With the help of office boy, bhOndOO got disentangled from the web. Meekly smiling, he could say “h..h..hi” to Shami. He tried hard to ignore
somebody-help-this-geek smile on Shami’s face.
“I h.. hear that we are having s.. salsa classes t.. today”, he was yet to recover from the shock of being found in monitor-on-face situation but could manage saying this.
“Oh I know… My boss told me yesterday.. See I am wearing new high-heels today.. How do I look?” Shami asked adjusting a dangling fringe of hairdo. bhOndOO gulped. His best friend in graduate school had told him the geekometer law. According to the law, the attraction between a geek male and a female was directly proportional to non-geekiness-quotient of the female and “How do I look?” question denoted infinity in non-geekiness-quotient. bhOndOO was no exception. With sudden urge, he started grappling with english to find the best word to describe Shami.
“Oh, you look so fabulous!”, Gullu had seized the opportunity. He had to, bhOndOO thought, bhOndOO’s mothertongue being C.
“Awww, you are a so cutie pie!”, Shami slapped Gullu lightly on his cheeks.
bhOndOO always converted his lost chances into learning. He decided to google-search “fabulous” and “cutie-pie”.
“I hear that some interesting conversation is going on!”, bhOndOO heard a gruff voice, which he hated the most, which belonged to his Team Lead.
“Oh yes, just now bhOndOO was demonstrating to us some results he had got!”, Gullu grabbed another opportunity.
bhOndOO cursed Gullu as a “dangling pointer”, he had no new results.
“Ahem, Thats interesting! Let us have a look and”, bhOndOO’s TL stopped short noticing the mess of wires, monitor and mouse behind bhOndOO’s back.
“Ok we will meet tomorrow. I hope this time your simulations would match our analytical results.”
Damn ! So non-stop simulations today till salsa classes! He thanked god for the mess of wires. It had avoided telling hundred-and-sixty-ninth excuse to his boss that he had deleted the plots by mistake.
bhOndOO didn’t have lunch. He wanted to complete simulations as well as look at the videos. He didn’t go to Shami’s cubicle even once. He was all determination now! Let Gullu have his time with Shami till the evening but later it would be me, me and only me. He sniggered.
Linux panel showed 17:00:00. bhOndOO rushed to the company terrace. He was late. The girls had formed inner circle and the boys had formed the outer circle, the pairs were exact, on top of everything Gullu was standing with Shami. With a sudden rush of inspiration, bhOndOO rushed to Gullu’s boss’s cabin, whom he had just seen leaving and gave a missed call on Gullu’s mobile. He saw Gullu making move for the cabin apparently with killing instinct. bhOndOO quickly managed to exit from the cabin, he was expert at this, thanks to seminars in his graduation days and took Gullu’s place. The instructor told him to put his right hand on Shami’s shoulder and hold Shami’s right hand with his left. bhOndOO started shivering. No, I won’t let this opportunity to go, he told himself and pulled himself together in a moment.
“Ok, take a step ahead with your left foot…”
“Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!”, bhOndOO’s cry penetrated the surroundings.
“Oh no, no, that was for boys, not for girls”. The instructor was telling Shami. The high-heels had served their hidden purpose and bhOndOO was barely able to walk. How could she do this, she always moves like like a feather… aaahhhhhh, more than the pain, it was the thought of Gullu dancing the rest of the evening with Shami, that made it unbearable. The instructor helped him to his cubicle. “Three-hundred-and-ninety-sixth opportunity wasted”, bhOndOO whimpered and started applying the balm from first-aid box.
“What !! You are talking numbers even when you are injured !! Oh, you are so.. so.. so.. what-to-say, so .. so a geek !!”. Shami was standing beside bhOndOO.
“How could I dance when you got injured because of me? Soooooo sorrry”,
she was saying. Everything is fair in love and war, bhOndOO thought, and Shami was too fair for a war.
“Give me the balm, and say that you forgive me”. bhOndOO gulped.
“Say na…… You geeky pie!!”. bhOndOO managed “yy..y.. yes”.
Shami snatched the balm.
Geeky pie.. Ah, that sounded better than everything else in the world, even than the level-3-optimized-C-code, bhOndOO could feel the feathers moving on his foot.
Rupesh (CSA, IISc) has created bhOndOO and his friends on his blog. From a long time, I'm an ardent fan of bhOndOO's adventures. bhOndOO in his stories is a simple PhD student in IISc with a lab and lots of friends and is in love with Shami, his labmate. Like all simple PhD students, he can never express his love for Shami but is in constant search of opportunities to impress her. Rupesh's blog is a beautifully written chronicle of bhOndOO's adventures.
Recently, I tried to dress up Rupesh's bhOndOO as bhOndOO-the-geek who works in a
company called Advanced Computing Limited. This is my meek attempt to describe one of his adventures. Hope you enjoy it. This is a story in which he tries to learn Salsa and of course wants to pair up with Shami. But will he be able to cross the obstacles? Read on.
-----------------------------------------------------------
bhOndOO entered the premises of Advanced Computing Ltd and headed straight for his cubicle in the Performance Analysis section. Like any geek, the first thing he did was to open the mailbox. There were new mails, most of those were technical support forum mails which he never read and the remaining from his Team Lead which he never wanted to read but was forced to do so. Scrolling the mailbox with chagrin he suddenly stumbled upon a non-techie non-geeky word. “Salsa classes beginning from today! First session at 5 p.m.”
He looked at Shami’s cubicle in the HR section. There was no Gullu (Damn him!) floating around her cubicle. It meant Shami hadn’t come so far. bhOndOO calculated that it was his three-hundred-and-ninety-sixth opportunity to impress Shami since he had joined company. Thomas Edison was one of his role models, though the number of 9999 failed attempts sent shivers down his spine.
Quickly bhOndOO went to Youtube, typed salsa and downloaded first five videos logging into a proxy server. He didn’t want today’s opprtunity to go wasted. He started watching the first video. It looked quite easy to him. He quicky grasped that it was a “modulo 8″ beat. Just a simple rhythmic movement of hands and feet… And hands in hands… with Shami… He closed his eyes, put his right hand behind the LCD monitor imagining Shami’s shoulder and held the speaker in the left hand and started moving his feet under the table.
Wham-Bam !!
The intricate mess of wires of speakers, mouse, webcam, monitor and UPS had betrayed bhOndOO. He feared that the monitor on his face could have done irreparable damage to his spectacles which could be absolutely fatal to his salsa plans.
“How did you manage this!!”, he heard Shami’s voice.
“Oh, at least he managed something!”, he heard Gullu’s voice.
With the help of office boy, bhOndOO got disentangled from the web. Meekly smiling, he could say “h..h..hi” to Shami. He tried hard to ignore
somebody-help-this-geek smile on Shami’s face.
“I h.. hear that we are having s.. salsa classes t.. today”, he was yet to recover from the shock of being found in monitor-on-face situation but could manage saying this.
“Oh I know… My boss told me yesterday.. See I am wearing new high-heels today.. How do I look?” Shami asked adjusting a dangling fringe of hairdo. bhOndOO gulped. His best friend in graduate school had told him the geekometer law. According to the law, the attraction between a geek male and a female was directly proportional to non-geekiness-quotient of the female and “How do I look?” question denoted infinity in non-geekiness-quotient. bhOndOO was no exception. With sudden urge, he started grappling with english to find the best word to describe Shami.
“Oh, you look so fabulous!”, Gullu had seized the opportunity. He had to, bhOndOO thought, bhOndOO’s mothertongue being C.
“Awww, you are a so cutie pie!”, Shami slapped Gullu lightly on his cheeks.
bhOndOO always converted his lost chances into learning. He decided to google-search “fabulous” and “cutie-pie”.
“I hear that some interesting conversation is going on!”, bhOndOO heard a gruff voice, which he hated the most, which belonged to his Team Lead.
“Oh yes, just now bhOndOO was demonstrating to us some results he had got!”, Gullu grabbed another opportunity.
bhOndOO cursed Gullu as a “dangling pointer”, he had no new results.
“Ahem, Thats interesting! Let us have a look and”, bhOndOO’s TL stopped short noticing the mess of wires, monitor and mouse behind bhOndOO’s back.
“Ok we will meet tomorrow. I hope this time your simulations would match our analytical results.”
Damn ! So non-stop simulations today till salsa classes! He thanked god for the mess of wires. It had avoided telling hundred-and-sixty-ninth excuse to his boss that he had deleted the plots by mistake.
bhOndOO didn’t have lunch. He wanted to complete simulations as well as look at the videos. He didn’t go to Shami’s cubicle even once. He was all determination now! Let Gullu have his time with Shami till the evening but later it would be me, me and only me. He sniggered.
Linux panel showed 17:00:00. bhOndOO rushed to the company terrace. He was late. The girls had formed inner circle and the boys had formed the outer circle, the pairs were exact, on top of everything Gullu was standing with Shami. With a sudden rush of inspiration, bhOndOO rushed to Gullu’s boss’s cabin, whom he had just seen leaving and gave a missed call on Gullu’s mobile. He saw Gullu making move for the cabin apparently with killing instinct. bhOndOO quickly managed to exit from the cabin, he was expert at this, thanks to seminars in his graduation days and took Gullu’s place. The instructor told him to put his right hand on Shami’s shoulder and hold Shami’s right hand with his left. bhOndOO started shivering. No, I won’t let this opportunity to go, he told himself and pulled himself together in a moment.
“Ok, take a step ahead with your left foot…”
“Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!”, bhOndOO’s cry penetrated the surroundings.
“Oh no, no, that was for boys, not for girls”. The instructor was telling Shami. The high-heels had served their hidden purpose and bhOndOO was barely able to walk. How could she do this, she always moves like like a feather… aaahhhhhh, more than the pain, it was the thought of Gullu dancing the rest of the evening with Shami, that made it unbearable. The instructor helped him to his cubicle. “Three-hundred-and-ninety-sixth opportunity wasted”, bhOndOO whimpered and started applying the balm from first-aid box.
“What !! You are talking numbers even when you are injured !! Oh, you are so.. so.. so.. what-to-say, so .. so a geek !!”. Shami was standing beside bhOndOO.
“How could I dance when you got injured because of me? Soooooo sorrry”,
she was saying. Everything is fair in love and war, bhOndOO thought, and Shami was too fair for a war.
“Give me the balm, and say that you forgive me”. bhOndOO gulped.
“Say na…… You geeky pie!!”. bhOndOO managed “yy..y.. yes”.
Shami snatched the balm.
Geeky pie.. Ah, that sounded better than everything else in the world, even than the level-3-optimized-C-code, bhOndOO could feel the feathers moving on his foot.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Valentine's day test
Mario, a role model of infinite energy and patience.
Nero aka Niranjan, a role model of human iceberg.
These both fellas clog Idea operator's network services
about 10 p.m. on 13th Feb (Friday the 13th is always ominous)
and decide to ruin my plans of spending Valentine day at home,
dozing all the time except only when I need to have food.
Dozing all the time would be ideal but I have to abide by the
lessons learnt in my primary schools, viz, food is a basic
necesity for survival. And I want to survive.
So these fellas decide to go trekking to Fort Purandar (पुरंदर)
and order me to obey issued commands. I need to report at
6:15 a.m. on bus stand the next day. I manage to make
it at 6:45 a.m. in a kind of stupor. They decide that
this stupor is not good for World Peace (no reason
can be as good as World Peace!) and bung me into the famous
Lal Dabba (red S.T. bus) to wake me up. I firmly believe
that medical researchers should try Lal Dabba as a
potential candidate for pulling people out of coma.
After an hour or so we are walking the road which leads
to the base of Purandar. We see a car coming along. Mario
decides to demonstrate magnetism of his personality. He just
thinks we should ask these locals for information. He doesn't
wave his hands at all but the car stops near him as if it was
stopped by an invisible barrier. Hail Mario ! The car takes
us directly to the point where we start climbing up.
Nero has a point to prove. He doesn't crib, he acts. I
compensate for the void of cribbing he creates. Nero starts
picking up wafers' empty plastic pouches thrown by mortals
on the way and puts them in a bag he is carrying.
I start cribbing about irresponsible behavior that results
in these plastic carpets. But Nero lives up to his reputation
of being a role model of human iceberg and manages to hide
the irritation caused by my high voltage cribbing.
Mario decides that the plain route is no good for intellectual
consumption. Lets take short cuts across the serpentine good
old plain route that leads to the fort. I manage escaping first
short cut alive. Then he decides that not only we ought to take
short cuts but also where there aren't any, make new ones. At
present, he decides to make a new short cut as he can't see
any. I start trudging and ouch !! A species of thorny bushes
proves its existence to the world by means of a red dot on my
finger. Based on this fundamental proof, other species prove
some more corollaries and lemmas on my forehands and feet.
But I manage to stay alive the way I managed it in my
IISc graduate courses and go undeterred against this barrage
of proofs, corollaries and lemmas.
We arrive at a tank and now these fellas decide to test my
patience. With full knowledge, they turn right instead of left,
the route which goes only round and round and round the fort.
I fail the test after trying hard for 30 minutes and we turn
back, these fellas telepathing a wicked laughter to each other
at my glaring failure. Then we take the good old left turn
and after going some distance futher, these fellas decide
to test my energy. Now they turn left instead of right. This
path, with just enough width for a shoe, with valley on the left
and a steep rocky cliff on the right, again starts going round
and round and round the fort. Finally again after 30min or so,
I fail this energy test. We again turn back. Now their wicked
laughter on my failures becomes public and even more vicious.
Finally we take the correct route. How similar it is to
research ! Only after you are done with your patience and energy,
you find the correct route. We reach the well hidden gate after
some time and subsequently start walking towards the temple
far off which is at the highest point of the fort. Surprisingly,
we reach it quite earlier than our expectations.
What a peace ! What a endearing calm ! We lie down in shadow
of the temple with a pleasant cool breeze around. No words
for those 15mins of dozing under the infinite clear blue skies
with an occasional chirping floating around. You can actually
feel the freshness lingering in the air. It kind of reinvigorates
you. Finally we contribute something to World Peace with our
peaceful naps and then start climbing down. After managing
it with fewer shortcuts and some more bruises on feet and
forehands, we reach the base of Purandar. There we have
"Zhunka-Bhakar" (typical rural lunch menu in Maharashtra)
and start off towards Pune. Fortunately after two failures,
Mario and Nero let me free from the torture. We reach Pune
by 7 p.m. with myself accounting for two failures and a feeling
of blissful peace.
What a Valentine's day to have !! In love with nature !!
Onkar
Notes:
1) The fort Purandar (पुरंदर) was one of the key forts of Shivaji
the great. It commands guard over a huge area. A number of memorable
battles were fought at this fort.
2) For information regarding the fort, trekshitiz website is
the best source
3) These are the treskshitiz photos photos of the fort
4) For some more photos, especially of the area it covers, visit
my orkut Purandar album
5) There is a wikipedia Purandarlink too, though the trekshitiz
is better. But you can find a lot of cross-references on wikipedia.
Nero aka Niranjan, a role model of human iceberg.
These both fellas clog Idea operator's network services
about 10 p.m. on 13th Feb (Friday the 13th is always ominous)
and decide to ruin my plans of spending Valentine day at home,
dozing all the time except only when I need to have food.
Dozing all the time would be ideal but I have to abide by the
lessons learnt in my primary schools, viz, food is a basic
necesity for survival. And I want to survive.
So these fellas decide to go trekking to Fort Purandar (पुरंदर)
and order me to obey issued commands. I need to report at
6:15 a.m. on bus stand the next day. I manage to make
it at 6:45 a.m. in a kind of stupor. They decide that
this stupor is not good for World Peace (no reason
can be as good as World Peace!) and bung me into the famous
Lal Dabba (red S.T. bus) to wake me up. I firmly believe
that medical researchers should try Lal Dabba as a
potential candidate for pulling people out of coma.
After an hour or so we are walking the road which leads
to the base of Purandar. We see a car coming along. Mario
decides to demonstrate magnetism of his personality. He just
thinks we should ask these locals for information. He doesn't
wave his hands at all but the car stops near him as if it was
stopped by an invisible barrier. Hail Mario ! The car takes
us directly to the point where we start climbing up.
Nero has a point to prove. He doesn't crib, he acts. I
compensate for the void of cribbing he creates. Nero starts
picking up wafers' empty plastic pouches thrown by mortals
on the way and puts them in a bag he is carrying.
I start cribbing about irresponsible behavior that results
in these plastic carpets. But Nero lives up to his reputation
of being a role model of human iceberg and manages to hide
the irritation caused by my high voltage cribbing.
Mario decides that the plain route is no good for intellectual
consumption. Lets take short cuts across the serpentine good
old plain route that leads to the fort. I manage escaping first
short cut alive. Then he decides that not only we ought to take
short cuts but also where there aren't any, make new ones. At
present, he decides to make a new short cut as he can't see
any. I start trudging and ouch !! A species of thorny bushes
proves its existence to the world by means of a red dot on my
finger. Based on this fundamental proof, other species prove
some more corollaries and lemmas on my forehands and feet.
But I manage to stay alive the way I managed it in my
IISc graduate courses and go undeterred against this barrage
of proofs, corollaries and lemmas.
We arrive at a tank and now these fellas decide to test my
patience. With full knowledge, they turn right instead of left,
the route which goes only round and round and round the fort.
I fail the test after trying hard for 30 minutes and we turn
back, these fellas telepathing a wicked laughter to each other
at my glaring failure. Then we take the good old left turn
and after going some distance futher, these fellas decide
to test my energy. Now they turn left instead of right. This
path, with just enough width for a shoe, with valley on the left
and a steep rocky cliff on the right, again starts going round
and round and round the fort. Finally again after 30min or so,
I fail this energy test. We again turn back. Now their wicked
laughter on my failures becomes public and even more vicious.
Finally we take the correct route. How similar it is to
research ! Only after you are done with your patience and energy,
you find the correct route. We reach the well hidden gate after
some time and subsequently start walking towards the temple
far off which is at the highest point of the fort. Surprisingly,
we reach it quite earlier than our expectations.
What a peace ! What a endearing calm ! We lie down in shadow
of the temple with a pleasant cool breeze around. No words
for those 15mins of dozing under the infinite clear blue skies
with an occasional chirping floating around. You can actually
feel the freshness lingering in the air. It kind of reinvigorates
you. Finally we contribute something to World Peace with our
peaceful naps and then start climbing down. After managing
it with fewer shortcuts and some more bruises on feet and
forehands, we reach the base of Purandar. There we have
"Zhunka-Bhakar" (typical rural lunch menu in Maharashtra)
and start off towards Pune. Fortunately after two failures,
Mario and Nero let me free from the torture. We reach Pune
by 7 p.m. with myself accounting for two failures and a feeling
of blissful peace.
What a Valentine's day to have !! In love with nature !!
Onkar
Notes:
1) The fort Purandar (पुरंदर) was one of the key forts of Shivaji
the great. It commands guard over a huge area. A number of memorable
battles were fought at this fort.
2) For information regarding the fort, trekshitiz website is
the best source
3) These are the treskshitiz photos photos of the fort
4) For some more photos, especially of the area it covers, visit
my orkut Purandar album
5) There is a wikipedia Purandarlink too, though the trekshitiz
is better. But you can find a lot of cross-references on wikipedia.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Gulmohar Marg
I owe my two years to you.
I can't forget Friday, July 14 2006. I entered the IISc gates with
nervously excited feet. Put my luggage in hostel room allotted to
me and started navigating with help from the maps I had printed.
Destination Dept. of ECE. I go to corner near the aeroplane, refer
map and turn to left. I see a never ending road. The map says
I have to walk until the end of the road to see the place where I
am to spend my most memorable two years of life. I start walking
the road. Somewhere on the way I see a board telling me
it is Gulmohar Marg (Mayflower Road).
I owe my two years to you, Gulmohar Marg, for you really are never ending.
I still walk on Gulmohar Marg, everyday.
You are the distance between the outside world and the dept of ECE.
You are the distance between the outside world and the real me.
You saw me frustrated with equations I fought hard to understand.
You saw me depressed with my disappointing first semester results
and relieved with second semester results. In moments when I had
nowhere to go, you showed me the way to Tata statue and you silently
stood waiting at the corner, watching me sitting near the Tata statue
or the entrance of institute building. After consoling myself I went
back to my room while you perhaps smiled with the age-old wisdom.
You took me to library. Somehow I always chose to sit at such places
from where I could always see you. I could see morning sunlight
seeping through woods, a blue mormon gliding, dry leaves falling
with evening breeze. In due season, you invited me out to walk on
the red carpet you laid for us.
You called me and showed the mehfil of red, yellow, orange and violets.
You called me and showed the celebration of fireflies,
sorry, the stars had come down to earth. At midnight, the moonlight
shone on you as if it would shine on the face of a rishi busy in sadhana
with its eyes closed.
Time and again, you told me that the road is never ending. You just
have to keep walking. You just have to keep looking around and
appreciate beauty of life. Sometimes the road traveled turns out
to be more beautiful than the destination reached.
I can't forget Friday, July 14 2006. I entered the IISc gates with
nervously excited feet. Put my luggage in hostel room allotted to
me and started navigating with help from the maps I had printed.
Destination Dept. of ECE. I go to corner near the aeroplane, refer
map and turn to left. I see a never ending road. The map says
I have to walk until the end of the road to see the place where I
am to spend my most memorable two years of life. I start walking
the road. Somewhere on the way I see a board telling me
it is Gulmohar Marg (Mayflower Road).
I owe my two years to you, Gulmohar Marg, for you really are never ending.
I still walk on Gulmohar Marg, everyday.
You are the distance between the outside world and the dept of ECE.
You are the distance between the outside world and the real me.
You saw me frustrated with equations I fought hard to understand.
You saw me depressed with my disappointing first semester results
and relieved with second semester results. In moments when I had
nowhere to go, you showed me the way to Tata statue and you silently
stood waiting at the corner, watching me sitting near the Tata statue
or the entrance of institute building. After consoling myself I went
back to my room while you perhaps smiled with the age-old wisdom.
You took me to library. Somehow I always chose to sit at such places
from where I could always see you. I could see morning sunlight
seeping through woods, a blue mormon gliding, dry leaves falling
with evening breeze. In due season, you invited me out to walk on
the red carpet you laid for us.
You called me and showed the mehfil of red, yellow, orange and violets.
You called me and showed the celebration of fireflies,
sorry, the stars had come down to earth. At midnight, the moonlight
shone on you as if it would shine on the face of a rishi busy in sadhana
with its eyes closed.
Time and again, you told me that the road is never ending. You just
have to keep walking. You just have to keep looking around and
appreciate beauty of life. Sometimes the road traveled turns out
to be more beautiful than the destination reached.
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