Early Morning
A sketch on the last page
The class goes on
Nothing to do
An attempt to write a haiku
Random and worthless
Divine
Is the beauty sitting on right
Caught yawning
The speaker
Words floating in the air
Nobody catches'em
The eternity
Experienced in finite time
Its all relative
Friday, August 27, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
An Amazing Quote
"It is not to be forgotten that what we call rational grounds for our beliefs are often extremely irrational attempts to justify our instincts."
- Thomas Huxley
- Thomas Huxley
Thursday, August 19, 2010
One more..
One more group of friends
One more philosophical discussion
One more feeling of nothingness
One more lonely walk to home
One more cup of tea
One more sleepless night
Tomorrow is another day.
- Onkar
P.S. Last sentence is how "Gone with the wind" ends. That line flashed across my mind for last sentence of the poem and it just got stuck there so much that I could not think of any other way to end this poem.
One more philosophical discussion
One more feeling of nothingness
One more lonely walk to home
One more cup of tea
One more sleepless night
Tomorrow is another day.
- Onkar
P.S. Last sentence is how "Gone with the wind" ends. That line flashed across my mind for last sentence of the poem and it just got stuck there so much that I could not think of any other way to end this poem.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
A thought experiment
Last night we had a debate after dinner. Before telling anything about debate let me tell the thought experiment Adarsh proposed -
Suppose you have been to fifty houses occupied by bachelors. Let us say that in all of these houses you have been offered a glass of water and you have found the glass dirty in all those houses. The next time when you will go to a bachelor's house and will be offered a glass of water, will you not be tempted to be careful?
The debate was about this - will you treat your experience with each individual as separate or will you connect dots and try to infer something from it? Let me clarify it further.
One of the thesis, lets call it "Thesis A", was this -
Don't conclude that generally the glasses in bachelors' houses are dirty. Keep the dirtiness of glass and bachelor status separate, don't connect them. Treat every individual separately and don't connect your experiences of different individuals.
"Thesis B", was this -
Be careful a priori about the glass of water when you enter 51st bachelors' house. This would involve a little bias. If you find the glass clean, weaken your thesis and reduce your bias to some extent.
In fact the debate actually revolves around two questions -
1. Should you connect the dirty-glass experiences?
2. Should you relate it to the bachelor quality of occupants?
As argued, pros and cons of Thesis A were -
Pro) It doesn't limit your actions when meeting an individual for the first time.
Con) Absence of bias increases chances of getting surprised (or hurt). If the person had acted according to your expectations, it would have less surprised or hurt you.
Pros and Cons of Thesis B were -
Pro) It reduces your chances of getting surprised or hurt. It will take time for you to make correct inferences about a person but eventually you might reach there without getting hurt.
Con) It will limit your choice of actions with that individual. You will be slow in reaching inference or sometimes may not even reach there because you are limiting your exploring.
As with most debates, it ended with stating everyone's personal preference.
Whatever my personal preference is, if I go by my instincts, I would be careful with the glass of water in 51st bachelors' house I visit. I think that might be the instinct of most people. (I am not necessarily saying that its the correct thing, but just commenting about my instinct.)
- Onkar
(Damn, this post has become too heavy. I would have left writing it midway had I not been listening to "Tere bina jiya jaye na", the old hindi song from movie Ghar) !
Suppose you have been to fifty houses occupied by bachelors. Let us say that in all of these houses you have been offered a glass of water and you have found the glass dirty in all those houses. The next time when you will go to a bachelor's house and will be offered a glass of water, will you not be tempted to be careful?
The debate was about this - will you treat your experience with each individual as separate or will you connect dots and try to infer something from it? Let me clarify it further.
One of the thesis, lets call it "Thesis A", was this -
Don't conclude that generally the glasses in bachelors' houses are dirty. Keep the dirtiness of glass and bachelor status separate, don't connect them. Treat every individual separately and don't connect your experiences of different individuals.
"Thesis B", was this -
Be careful a priori about the glass of water when you enter 51st bachelors' house. This would involve a little bias. If you find the glass clean, weaken your thesis and reduce your bias to some extent.
In fact the debate actually revolves around two questions -
1. Should you connect the dirty-glass experiences?
2. Should you relate it to the bachelor quality of occupants?
As argued, pros and cons of Thesis A were -
Pro) It doesn't limit your actions when meeting an individual for the first time.
Con) Absence of bias increases chances of getting surprised (or hurt). If the person had acted according to your expectations, it would have less surprised or hurt you.
Pros and Cons of Thesis B were -
Pro) It reduces your chances of getting surprised or hurt. It will take time for you to make correct inferences about a person but eventually you might reach there without getting hurt.
Con) It will limit your choice of actions with that individual. You will be slow in reaching inference or sometimes may not even reach there because you are limiting your exploring.
As with most debates, it ended with stating everyone's personal preference.
Whatever my personal preference is, if I go by my instincts, I would be careful with the glass of water in 51st bachelors' house I visit. I think that might be the instinct of most people. (I am not necessarily saying that its the correct thing, but just commenting about my instinct.)
- Onkar
(Damn, this post has become too heavy. I would have left writing it midway had I not been listening to "Tere bina jiya jaye na", the old hindi song from movie Ghar) !
Monday, August 2, 2010
Journey to the battlefield
My grad school is situated at TROY. And I refuse to believe that the name is a mere coincidence. The future designs of the creator are difficult to decipher, and if there is no creator, its even more difficult.
But the journey to the battlefield was totally different than expected. No signs of impending battle.
1. I was well-fed in flight to Amsterdam and then to Boston. In fact, the food was too good compared to the horrible stories I had heard from people. Unfortunately I caught cold in the strong AC in the flight to Amsterdam so couldn't watch movies on the videoscreen provided in front of each seat. I missed a golden chance of watching Sherlock Holmes, The Hurt Locker and Alice in Wonderland in a single night. The plane from Boston to Troy looked more like a plane in Talespin cartoon series and was the only cause of worry.
2. A young lady tried to decipher the phone calling system for me at the Boston airport. When she couldn't do it, she made the phone call from her own cellphone. (She was real pretty and charming! You see a lot of pretty girls on airports but she did belong to a different class altogether.)
3. The security guards and the shopkeepers not only told the directions clearly but at times came along for some distance to guide to the destination.
4. At Mumbai airport, I could not immediately see public phones after I did complete security check. I wanted to see if I could make a phone call after checking in at Boston. The following exchange then took place at Boston airport -
Myself - Can I make a phone call after security check-in or should I do it before?
Security - (With a chuckle) That depends on how you like it, before or after.
5. At Boston airport, after making the famous call in point no. 1, I suddenly came across my friend at IISc - Nishanth Nair. To call it pleasant surprise would be an understatement, it was a shock. Killing four hours at Boston was a non-issue then.
The final flight kept both my bags at Boston. And my close friend Nikhil, who received it at Schenectedy is going to take all the pains to deliver those bags to me driving some 60 miles in total. Fortunately I had kept a spare set of clothes in my hand-bag. In fact, here it is possible to survive on only two sets of clothes for few days - the driers here dry out the clothes completely. It was known to me, but to actually experience it with only two sets of clothes available is more than a relief !
The details of the battlefield itself will be in the next post. At present, the graduate student's forum at RPI, Troy has provided a week of free accommodation near RPI. So the coming week will be spent battling for finding out accommodation. Oh while writing the last sentence, the hourly church bell sound echoed through the environment. The sound feels real good in this environment.
But the journey to the battlefield was totally different than expected. No signs of impending battle.
1. I was well-fed in flight to Amsterdam and then to Boston. In fact, the food was too good compared to the horrible stories I had heard from people. Unfortunately I caught cold in the strong AC in the flight to Amsterdam so couldn't watch movies on the videoscreen provided in front of each seat. I missed a golden chance of watching Sherlock Holmes, The Hurt Locker and Alice in Wonderland in a single night. The plane from Boston to Troy looked more like a plane in Talespin cartoon series and was the only cause of worry.
2. A young lady tried to decipher the phone calling system for me at the Boston airport. When she couldn't do it, she made the phone call from her own cellphone. (She was real pretty and charming! You see a lot of pretty girls on airports but she did belong to a different class altogether.)
3. The security guards and the shopkeepers not only told the directions clearly but at times came along for some distance to guide to the destination.
4. At Mumbai airport, I could not immediately see public phones after I did complete security check. I wanted to see if I could make a phone call after checking in at Boston. The following exchange then took place at Boston airport -
Myself - Can I make a phone call after security check-in or should I do it before?
Security - (With a chuckle) That depends on how you like it, before or after.
5. At Boston airport, after making the famous call in point no. 1, I suddenly came across my friend at IISc - Nishanth Nair. To call it pleasant surprise would be an understatement, it was a shock. Killing four hours at Boston was a non-issue then.
The final flight kept both my bags at Boston. And my close friend Nikhil, who received it at Schenectedy is going to take all the pains to deliver those bags to me driving some 60 miles in total. Fortunately I had kept a spare set of clothes in my hand-bag. In fact, here it is possible to survive on only two sets of clothes for few days - the driers here dry out the clothes completely. It was known to me, but to actually experience it with only two sets of clothes available is more than a relief !
The details of the battlefield itself will be in the next post. At present, the graduate student's forum at RPI, Troy has provided a week of free accommodation near RPI. So the coming week will be spent battling for finding out accommodation. Oh while writing the last sentence, the hourly church bell sound echoed through the environment. The sound feels real good in this environment.
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