Father-Son Bonding; with a twist

I always feel that movies show an exaggeration of whatever father-son bondage they show, or may be my case is a bit different..

The usual way of projecting this is probably going together for a family outing, or may be a fun game at home.
Mine is not in that circle - our bonding is usually cleaning in and around the home, or arguing about some menial issue, competing to be the last one to take a bath on a holiday; accompanied by occasional scoldings !!

And in those dire situations - for instance when I am in Bombay, even our phone calls are very limited - maximum of 2 minutes (and so seems the fate of this post - going to be short!!)

But I am so used to him being subtle, that if he is oddly expressive - it feels weird :)

I wonder if I am running out of topics for this blog - or it seems that I am no longer observant about my surroundings as I claim in the blog note !!

Experience at "Alma Fater"(and what the term meant anyway...) CISCO

I was actually surprised that no one found out that the word Alma Fater was peculiar, may be everyone considered it either to be a spelling mistake for Alma Mater, or just ignored it to be yet another of my insignificant gags...

Anyway, lets get into the derivation of it - Alma Mater refers to the school you went into, where you gained significant wisdom and knowledge; and if I recall, it means second mother.
So, considering that your father is mainly responsible for providing you financial stance and exposure to the world, Cisco was a kind of "Alma Fater" to me, if such a terminology actually exists :-)

End of lecturing, back to narration(or more aptly 'reporting')..

Left home at 9 - and reached the campus at 12; call it nostalgia, or call it unchanging conditions, but it never improves!

Meet people within meetings - It was a day of meetings for most of my friends back there - team meeting, progress meeting, one-on-ones and what not.
I am glad they could make some time for me there.
I could relate most of their daily routines to that of my dad's split hours of work - it is seriously a bad thing to have you working in India, whereas a sizable chunk if your team working in US; you end up working half the day at office, and then attend calls in the late nights from the US!!
It was also awkward to sit there with a guest badge - and just watch people busy with their work lives, being the only "academician" around, (and sometimes searching for ID cards to get their names ;-))..

VTV delicacies - Had the opportunity to grace the occasion of gracing Shruthi's birthday celebration, and get a taste of the building's birthday mandate pastry.
Followed this up with Veg Biriyani from probably the same caterers, from the same canteen, with the same objectionable taste!
Alas, I realized much later that the main Cisco campus beside VTV had a brand new building, with a brand new, diverse and large food junction...
* VTV - Vrindavan Tech Village, the place where I did my internship

Building 16 - The new Building 16 is definitely a great add to Cisco, right from its food junction at the bottom, or the familiar games section, to the video games and self-massage chairs for stress busting, and the sitout/hangout area; it is certainly a nice place to explore.
If anyone happens to visit Cisco campus, do not miss out Building 16..

Climax - So was the whole day just about meeting busy people, and just a killtime ??
Not exactly..
It turned out that in the end, I got my much needed "enlightenment".

Final thought - I realized that its better to meet friends outside the corporate aura, specially if you are not a tekkie with a IT company tag hanging around your collar !!   

Yet Another Post Exam Realizations and Aspirations session

With the end of one more era of exams - time for yet another thought train on what went right, what went wrong, what could have been better, what could have been worse etc.

The very simplest of the realizations would be coming out of the three hour paper, and realize how you goofed it up completely!
And the most thoughtful of them would be to realize how you were complacent during the course - be it in classes, assignments, projects or exams - that has brought you into this stage..

Come to think of it - It amazes how fickle your mind is..
Just before exams, you try for futile prioritization of studies and revisions(if possible, and generally has a small success probability :D); but once you are done, you are so relieved that it did not matter much, you never had to do it :D

So here goes my list of resolutions for the coming sem, that have been in my favorite lists for quite some time:

• Concentrate more on studies, and reduce that careless attitude.
• Get motivated on things pertaining to coding and research.
• Spend less time online(Deliberately not specific here!!), and divert that time to something more productive - New favorite and Top 1 in the list !!
• Maintain regular wakeup and sleep timings(which I am not doing as I am typing it out *!)
• Get serious and focused on what next in life....
  <add any of your thoughts here>...
  .....
  .....

Knowing that most of the above wont reach their expected fate, it does seem to be a lame exercise to even consider making a list - but well, it does use some brain cycles to do some 'useful' work...

Now looking at the other dimension - Holidays.
This is a whole new arena - you plan, chalk out a strategy and workout the best possible and fruitful way of spending it - meet friends, do some next sem planning, catch up with family events, learn something new, practice a hobby and what not; but more or less the scene would be ending up a couch potato at home!!

But this time, things seem to be different - so would be the holidays...
Time to forget all these rants, and Move On !!

Official Google Blog: The next stage in our redesign

Google new look - Looks better :-)

Official Google Blog: The next stage in our redesign: Six months ago we started rolling out a new look and feel for Search, News, Maps, Translate, Gmail and a bunch of other products. Our goal ...

My 5 dates..

Back to blogging after a real long time...

November has been quite hectic, quite tensive; but in a weird way thrilling; just like the good old college days..
Oh, actually I am still in good old college days :-D, just that I have evolved to hate the exams part of it!!

So let me rewind and talk about the 5 "dates" I had in this month..
It was these 5 dates that kept me busy and generally invisible throughout the month..


1. The first and a rather early date with Network security:
 The going was initially tough, and had lot of bumps along the way, but overall it went pretty good. Hopefully, the relationship continues in the next semester...
The experience was definitely different from the usual ones - it did have some welcome twists and turns.
Looking forward to considering it an option -_-

2. Next one was Algorithms:
Badly wanted to end this one!
Got tired with the first few encounters itself, just had to carry along till the end of the semester..
The results of the break-up came soon too, and obviously as expected - it wasn't very heartening to look at!
But now, the break-up is done; the bumpy ride is over; never again shall I consider this route !!

3. Next up - Networks:
Following the date with Algos was this one.
Had no time and mood to even prepare for it properly - and it clearly showed.
I fumbled along throughout the date, even though it wasn't supposed to be so.
But it was not over only at that, it was preceded by a disposition of affection* and followed by some affectionate letter writing**
The relationship status here is definitely in doubts o_O

4. The most weird one - Functional Programming:
This one was a total astonishment.
I was attracted towards this one in the beginning, because it was different - but turns out being too different can be acutely problematic.
After the first few happy days, there has been a stark downfall - but wait, its not over!!
Though I dont want to be with it any longer - it wont leave me so easily; demanding the mandatory disposition of affection....
I would for sure not suggest this date to anyone else
P.S: A totally personal opinion, there are lot of guys who find this one intriguing and awesome.

5. And the most grand one of them all - Software Lab:
Packed with variety - this one was expected to be the ONE.
But turned out its ONE TOO MANY!!
Those prolonged non-timebound dates were total put-offs.
They say too much is too bad - and that is exactly what happened in this case; leading to a total loss of interest.
The last date - the final nail in the coffin, is tonight, and past midnight (And I dont need any wishes for it - thats something that does not work much!!)
 

For anyone who were misled by the title for some seriously funny article; sorry for the disappointment - this one is rather a funnily serious article :P  

Getting Life Back on Track

Back to blogging due to statistically popular demand :-D

After coming back from Home, with a home-stay, no-crackers diwali; I have decided to make a few amends to my IIT lifestyle..

1. Sleep deadlines - Maximum sleep delaying until 1 AM only...
   No watching sitcoms or movies overnight!!
   Keeping the resolution for a week now :-)
2. Start working on projects - Resolution made, not yet implemented!!
3. No late night hogging - it really upsets the metabolism.
   So cutting down on past midnight crunchies or canteen parathas !!
4. When online, be visible - enough of the showoff !
5. Try shaving once in 3 days - should I really explain like a Nanny why :D ?
6. Stop being an all time cribber - make sure that it does not cross 50% of the total time ;-)

As I go through the writing - I feel as if I am kind of a 2 faced Martian; talking to myself :D :D

They say rules are meant to be broken, resolutions are made to be dropped - hope I keep up with atleast one among the above ones !!

Happy Life Folks :-)

Life in Bengaluru

Now that's a pretty contradicting title - concerning what the blog is about :-D

But being a Bangalorean, and being in Bangalore now - this post shouldn't be too off-track.
(And let me honestly accept - I don't have any other significant topic to blog as well ;-))

In one phrase - Its a slow pleasure...

No worries about what is coming ahead for the next day or the next week..
No hurries for each day - no marked deadlines for doing a task..

I just get into a total different mode when I get in - just sit back and chill, take life easy :-)
Of course - workload mounts steeply upon getting back, but as long as I am here, that seems to be the least of concerns!!

Talk about SLOW - the lifestyle, the people, the Internet, the traffic - name it and it is 'relatively' slow..
Caution Notice: Above view is completely personal and spatio-temporally biased due to my current life.
No offences intended ;-)

Its just meeting up with friends, sitting like a couch potato in front of the TV, relatively(again..) less use of internet, have some pointless but fun chit chat sessions with kith and kin(now thats a purely literary usage - Flag if inappropriate!)

But bottomline - I love it...
I dont see me telling 'Aamchi Mumbai' anywhere in the near future..

Now for a grand sentimental ending:
Bangalorean by birth, and Bangalorean at heart always!!

News Bulletin

Dedications: An early wake-up after many many days .....

1) A picture says a 1000 words:

Well, I dont think the above does :-D
One of the many pics from the Department Trek - perhaps the best "adventure" in my life of recent times..

2) Too much of Charlie Sheen these days:
      Roast of Charlie Sheen
      Two and a half men - almost all seasons
      Hot Shots
      Status updates about him..
I believe its time to cut down on this one!!

3) Trying to get back the old sleep pattern - Not very early to sleep and not very late to get up...
Success today - should see what awaits tomorrow..

4) Finally a named email id that proves I am an IITian( :-D ): Changed the roll-number id to sumanthj@iitb.ac.in

5) I am SINGLE ;-)
    .
    .
    .
    in terms of marks of mid-sems and quizzes of many courses :-O :-P
Its a never-before feeling that you dont want to experience!!

6) This one is rather complaining and intruding - Discovered that my roomie snores !!!
Shh, keep it a secret, don't let him know :D

7) Discovered that we guys are so reckless waste generators..
Don't read between the lines! - I mean that everyday huge bags of throwaways and unusable materials are dumped as garbage..

8) Crazy kids in the hostel - I dont understand the need for brutal birthday bumps at mid-night..
Poor guy would be wishing that his birthday would fall during the vacations!

9) Trying to showoff that I am IIT material and busy by being invisible online ;-)

10) Project time - A project in almost every course; indicating of the tough days that are to come ahead!

The title and the post just reminds me of the wiki days of PESIT :-/ :-)   

Evolution is the crux of Computer Science

Just trying a shot at a serious article..

Computer Science - A phrase that raises the eyebrows of many; afterall how can hitting a few keys and making some fantastic visual/financial/personal/medical aids in the form of a machine even constitute a science right ??

Though it has been a thoughtful debate of how and why it is a science or not - it is here to stay and make an impact!

And what better than the following awesome video by Prof. Kavi Mahesh sir that puts across clearly how it is indeed a Science:

Truly Computer Science has made a profound impact in the recent past( by the timescale of human existance - 50 years is recent past !!)

 Just like any of its competing and contemporary fields - the core that drives it is Evolution; more so - it manifests itself as a perfect example of Evolution!

Let us walk through some of these observations to prove the point:

1. Networks - Can anyone think of a disconnected isolated world today - the internet, world wide web, telephones, cell phones, wi-fi and more fancy names such as 3G, WiMax, Streaming etc etc. 
   Computers have been the backbone and scalability support for all of them!!
   'What about Evolution?' you ask - just imagine the big fat boxes that they used to call cellphones 15 years ago versus the current age of iPhones, androids, blackberrys, smartphones, tablet-phone hybrids...
   Or a simpler cases - emails; does anyone want to check their emails from the unix terminal using a set of commands, with tons of options, and limited space; or just go Yahoo or gmail or hotmail and have the graphical experience ?
2. Business - Its only in the good old classics that you see the 'Blue-eyed boy' of a company managing crates of files with just a telephone at his disposal, and a big brainy head that can helps him excel in his work and also please his girl ;-)
   Its all the different gadgets that gt him to do the work now - laptops, smartphones, tablets, connected networks and what not..
   And here too - there is a mutual evolution; the person evolves with these upcoming technologies, and these technologies continually improve and evolve to suit the needs of the business.
3. Softwares - Of course, there are tonnes of books on multitudes of aspects of softwares - building, maintenance, underlying hardware, software engineeriing, application software, system softwares, operating systems.
   That is a whole plethora of stuff - just proving the point - there is Evolution!
   Write some software, release it, find bugs, improve it, patch it, release a new and upgraded version..
   And over time, if the software is obsolete, scrap it and replace it with the better and improved alternatives..
   Its definitely a ground to prove 'Survival of the Fittest' here!
4. Personal Life - What would have been the typical answer for favorite timepass of a growing kid 10 years ago - surely would have been some sport, or a hobby like philately. Today there is a gen-x shift - its mostly a much awaited and talked about game with fantastic effects, or collection of trendy gadgets that make news everywhere.
   And how has this come about - the infiltration of the computing devices and miscellany into the consumer and entertainment industry; and within a span of year - there is an upsurge of new devices, better gadgets, funky cool stuffs...
5. Security, Defence and other Higher strata - No one can argue here about the need and necessity of super fast, super processing, super analytical beasts that are crucial for lives at stake scenarios.
   Better algorithms, better mechanisms, better tactics, better planning - its all about improve, advance, transform, grow, EVOLVE..

Now a final thought - What is Research ??

Research is what facilitates this evolution - ideates it, nurtures it, accelerates it, sustains it !!

Those sci-fi fantasies that prove life change are brought to life by whole bunch of brainy people researching on how it can be brought to life - formulating a pathway that leads it from imagination to reality..

And the whole 'Bettering' stuff - that takes detailed studies, careful analyses, performance tunings, replacing faulty constituents by the right ones; all of which is Research lingo!
Also the realization that Intelligent humanoids that can replace humans is impossible in the foreseeable future - is again from Research into dedicated fields of AI, Cognitive learning and aligned fields..

So Kudos to all those Researchers out there - you people are making the Evolution happen and spread across far and wide :-)

Life in the small

Here is a small entry in this small blog regarding the small things happening in my small life...

Starting from the small room(well, totally unquestionable and undeniable!!) to the small pleasures of life - the observant Me has found out how small things make it large..

Finding that small is found and applies everywhere :-
small quizzes,
small projects - from the professor's perspective :D,
small size day to day items - like toothpaste and soap powder,
small creatures - call me weird, but I have seen snails of the size of a matchstick - now thats small :D,
small time compared to the things out there you can explore,
small moments of fun,
small distractions - but those that multiplicatively consume time; e.g:games,
small weekends - this one is personal - sleeping late and getting up later does shrink the time,
small laziness - no comments :P,
small movies on small laptop,
small logins,comments and shares on fb and buzz
small marks - not the right adjective, but it sends out the meaning anyway :))
small degree - bazinga!!, just kidding ;-)
.
.

And thus an end to a small post :-)  

Mid-sem after effects - A tribute to the movies I saw during the week :-D

I guess I should have been singular and said only "effect", because there was only one effect - movies!!
Watched hell lot of movies - downloaded from the intranet via DC++

A comprehensive list??
Here it is - Harry Potter 7, Van Helsing, Back to the Future trilogy, Pancharangi, Mere Brother ki Dulhan.

The general schedule of the movies was past midnight - watch until 3 AM, sleep and wake up next day at 11 AM !!
And to accompany the joblessness was a lot of internet - chat, no chat, facebook, youtube..
All of it made me realize how I can clearly spend days together doing nothing!

And the best of them all was the finale - Transformers 3 in IMAX-3D
That was one hell of an experience :-)

Sunday was two of my firsts - First 3-D film, and first time travel in a taxi..
Other incidents that happened during the week dont find a mention here - to maintain 'sanctity' of the post ;-)
Good night Folks :-)

Half-Time

Time does run quickly, and you unnoticingly adjust to its pace..
Mid-sem exams are almost done - counting as the half-time !

Some news:
* Broke the lock of the trolley bag - had to do it coz it refused to open even on putting the right combination!
* Mid sems - Well, they had to happen; they happened - Nothing special there..
* Fun of open endedness - A 2 hour lab exam went on for 5 hours !
* Cleaning happening around hostel - looks a lot better now..
* Writing blog entry after a span of time(oh, just 4 days :D)

Halfway through - seems a lot has changed, and a lot has not.
But overall - now I certainly feel its not a bad way of life; just that it could have been a lot better if I had more insight and more preparation.

And seems my degree is in a sort of tumult - 15 more days to the deadline, and I am still not sure about the T.C!
Its amazing how a single sheet of paper decides what can go right and what can go wrong in your life :-D

And also it seems like I am at a loss of thoughts and words while writing here, may be an indicative that I should be extending this half-time and get serious about two things - life and studies !!!

No pics for the day - Signing off....

King of Sub-optimal choices

Ok, this is going to be yet another boring post..
So for those who dont want to continue and find something more interesting, go to StumbledUpon

Oh, so you want to continue ??
Let me warn once again - this is going to be one more self-complaining yet contradictingly complementing post; and perhaps reaching no conclusion..

This is not an of-late finding, but I have frequently observed myself making weird choices and decisions, that are more often than not second to the best !

Taking for instance the new phone  that I selected for my mother - had seen a decent camera dual sim phone, but on the verge of purchasing; changed to a non camera dual sim querty phone !
Going back a little - the choice of pursuing MTech  immediately after my undergrad seems so very sub-optimal now; considering that I had a very good job offer in hand !
And even further back - switching over to computer science  for B.E, when my passion was electronics then was a similar scenario - though it has not turned out to be a total blunder...
And this conscience crops up in things big or small  - right from insignificant grocery purchases to life changing decisions(if any taken until now)

I have reasoned out two main things for such happenings:
 - one is the more than needed trust I place in the words of others who speak in favour of the "second-best thing" when making the choice.
- second is the inherent indecision that rests within me; that probably gets amplified when taking a decision.

One thing about such choices is that they dont turn out to be totally useless or less beneficial - but they do leave a small glitch about not being best of best; that surfaces time and again..

How many of you have had such similar experiences ???

More on Mumbai-Bangalore-Mumbai

Travelled to and fro in buses - and as earlier said; had a serious problem while coming back !
But all is well that ends well :-)

The most notable point about these travels was perhaps the movies that I watched - apart from the really long distance sitting in the bus.
Here is a list - Dhamaal, Thank You, 3 idiots, BodyGuard, Singham, Double Dhamaal and probably one more half film...

Coincidentally, the journey started with Dhamaal and ended with Double Dhamaal :-D :-D

And perhaps more striking was the Overdose of Superheroism in the return journey - Bodyguard and Singham back to back !!

One had an unrealistically realistic climax, and another had a realistically impossible happy ending !
Lesson learnt - Travel in VRL to watch well known films in good quality, Travel in National Travels to watch the newest films, of not so great quality!

Had a glimpse of Chitradurga while going during the lunch break..
Should visit the fort sometime in life..

While coming back - came across a hotel with a peculiar but suited name - Hotel Park( no available pics to post :D)
An old and dilapidated hotel that is(or should I say was..) based on a park theme; but now is just yet another road side dhaba - with all the park-like environment rusting away; and reason unknown !

And I just got pro-Metro for Bangalore; after travelling back to IITB campus - took me 20 minutes to reach from Sion(alighting station for tourist buses) to Kanjurmarg(nearest local train station to IIT) by local train - distance of over 12 kms; but 40 minutes to reach campus gate from there - distance only 2km !!

And a final saga - dont know whether this is typical of IIT, or I was just crazy - but went and sat rightaway for the NetSec class after I stepped in, instead of going to my room a.k.a Kottige :D

Bangalored, Graduated and Back to IIT world..

Using the cliche "I am Graduate now!" - Yup, officially given a provisional degree at college on the Grad Day..
Funny one that - "I, as the Founder of PES, declare myself graduate ;-)"
It was yet another funday with Friends at college - specially with those gowns, chit-chats, M.R Doreswamy making us Founders of PES while giving us the oath...
And most importantly - no BisibeleBath for Lunch !!

But could not meet everyone(and take pics with :-D) I have known throughout my B.E life - all of us being in college itself !

And of course - how can I not mention about Ganesh Chaturthi - after all I went back home for the festival..
This time it was special - mostly for the much awaited change of food - Home Sweet Home; and Food Good Food at Home :-)
Also it was great to be back at home - to be with the family after a long(relativity!) time !!

And following the graduation was a Day Out with Friends - at Maiya's.
Good and affordable food :-)
And drank Grape juice from Silver utensil as starter- unaware that its not healthy to do so !

And left to Mumbai on Monday evening - spending the morning in my typical Bangalore mode - lazy, couch potato and happy...
That journey was after a comedy of error - Had booked tickets for 5th of October, instead of 5th of September - one full month later !
Thankfully - the person at the Travel agency helped me make alternate arrangements !

And had a short stint with SMSing and Tweeting - two of favorite passtimes in my early life :-) 

Intermission !!

Yes, an intermission - for this blog and for IIT life; although a small one of a week..
Going back to Bangalore :-)
This is going to be the last post before the intermission :D, terming it intermission because quite unsure of going to home again in diwali due to some probable TA work !!

Waiting ahead - Ganesh Chaturthi, Graduation day, Friends and Family. Looking forward eagerly to that now..










And just like the intermission is preceded by an unended suspense and thriller sequence - so will be mine; with 2 back to back tests in Functional Programming and Crypto..
Just squeezing in some time when I am bored of studying for both to write this blog entry..
Anyway, lets just talk good and positive things here, and drop this topic !

ITS OFFICIALLY HERE - LAN BAN: And big news of the week; IITB has finally imposed its all famous lan ban for this acad year - so no more chatting, being online, using internet beyond 12 AM !!
In a sense, it is good; because it might mend my sleep late, get up later habit :-))
 
And people may laugh at listening to this again and again - But no mood to study o-O !!
Now that the test sequence is over for a while, it does not even matter ...

Another important highlight of the week was yet another series of group chats with friends - never get tired of those..
And these days - I am often the one leaving last; hence encountering an empty group chat box - chatting with myself :D


Bye for now, see you after a week Mumbai :-)
And Hello Bengaluru - I am coming :-)

Quizzical 8-O

Blog post after a considerably long time - thanks to the quiz series thats happening; and didnt feel too bloggish in writing about the same academics, assignments and quizzes again...

But have to mention one thing in that regard - the taste of zero seems close in some of those quizzes :D

Kannada Ringtone - Forgot to mention this in my previous entry; saw a Mumbaikar put the tune of the all famed Sonu Nigam's kannada song(should I name it :P) as his ringtone; and was even on to utter a few words of the song because he totally loves it!!

Each day of Quiz has ended with a movie screening on my laptop - notably Ready, Transformers...
And perhaps had a headache in the morning due to overstaining of the eyes - not definitely by reading; but due to watching the movie until late night..

Have to say the Best part of Ready -> Pee Break/ Coffee break :D

And nowadays phone call interval to home has gone up to 3 days - seems unreasonable, but cant find time to call home o_O

Ordered 2 books from Infibeam - got the book that I did not need immediately, but still waiting for the book thats needed for Tuesday's test to be shipped by them...
Should try Flipkart next time !!

Time now to go offline and watch another movie..

The Journey is better than The Destination...

This week started out just like any other, but ended in what probably is a good note..

Had a partial 2 way skype with my cousin - and well, it was a Deja Vu of my skype chat with Prashanth.
Still in the lookout for a proper skyping !!!

And Independence day was quite special - I woke up early that day !

Not to lighten up the sanctity of the day, but I felt sort of regular and punctual for atleast a day in my independent living..

It was as always patriotic to witness Flag Hoisting and recital of the national anthem :-)

And most of the week went heavy on the academics, with the Profs announcing when they are planning to take the quizzes and all; with me still in search for the inspiration to study !

Chinese effect - Looks like there is something special happening between me and chinese food. Whatever sounds interesting in the canteen happens to be Chinese; and I end up eating it for over an hour :D

Last time it was Chinese Bhel, and this time it was Triple Rice o_O !

But anyway, found out that the canteen guys are from Karnataka, and speak Kannada too :-)

Eventful Friday evening -Had finally gone out after 3 long weeks(and had to walk a hell lot for that!)

School Nostalgia - Met school friends Pavan and Chhaya, marking the occasion of Pavan coming to Bombay..

Discovered the 'posh' side of Powai on the way - big huge buildings, gardens, magnificent Powai lake...

Bengaluru reloaded - Oh yeah, totally reminded of Bangalore. Bus travel, traffic over flyovers, lot of apartment constructions, tech parks and IT companies(didnt know there were any here...), slow moving buses in a sea of traffic jam, malls, window shopping :D

Destination: Infiniti Mall, Lokhandwala

Late by just 1 and a half hours, it was a definite change I needed; and speaking to old friends and all that nostalgia is always fun :-)

Midnight Lonewalker - Reached back IITB at 12.30 AM in the night ! - count that too as an experience..

Also noticed that Bombay operates 24/7 - buses, autos, trains - all run past midnight as well..

IITB Main Road - Beyond Midnight!!

Phonetastic - Had a lengthy conversation with Tabrez today - more than half an hour..

I think that is one of my personal records :-O !!

Had also called up my grandparents after a long time !

Last Note - What does the post title correspond to ??

Though it may seem referring to the Friday travel, it has a lot more..

.

.

.

Officially declaring now that since I am pretty much settled here at IITB(the destination); and this blog is all about my experiences(the Journey); you are probably going to see far few writings from now on..

I, Me, Myself - Am I ???

Just a big daunting question that has been bothering me - quite beyond the bounds of this blog; because this is not something that has cropped up after I have come to Mumbai..

Am I a "I, Me, Myself" guy ??

Not that I am a serious narcissistic or something - but for someone who is quite defensive of expressing myself, I feel that I have expressed myself quite a lot over the past few months!!
Now that is not something that I am really proud of - rather its something that I have turned into...

Looks like the preceding section went too abstract. Here is an interpretation of what I mean:
* Putting a personal view for most of the social networking comments
* Rather excessive tweets/posts of whatever interesting I do - movie, outing etc
* A "How are you?" chat often ends up in me enumerating a list of things that I accomplished - quite many of  those being insignificant, or irrelevant.
A return "How are you??" takes a real long time to reach the person who pinged :D !
* This blog - its title, its contents - Isnt it all about me ??
* General conversations - I always feel the urge to express "I did this", "I know this", "I have such an experience", "I" o_O !!
* Finally - this blogroll; notice how many I's and me's I have used !
And still more to follow..

So here is the question - Is it bad being this kind of a "I, Me, Myself" ???

Breaking Records !!

Yeah, totally breaking records - in lazyness, late sleeping, later getting up....

Slept at 3 A.M yesterday; and consequently woke up at 11 A.M today !

And also broke the Have Breakfast resolution - from the past two days, it has only been Brunch, preceded by a midday bath..

Downloaded an incorrect Aaraksan movie from the local lan - the film was indeed a documentary about reservations; but not the currently disputed movie...

Snakes in the Hostel - One more scare that has been disturbing people around, these days...
Heard that one creep was sighted in the bathroom, while one of the hostel inmate was taking bath !!!

And the newest of my hobbies - Games on Google+ !!!

Wishing all my friends of PESIT a memorable Alumni Meet :-)

One month Up !!!

Finally one month up...
And in those starting days, I never thought I would make it so far...
Guess it is yet another simple example of human endurance and acceptance.

Here is a look-back:

• Horrified at the look of the hostel and room !!
• Homesickness - want to run back home !
• Disinterested in classes and orientations..
• Some weird philosophical posts.
• Disoriented sleep hours.
• Advent of classes.
• Heavy Indecisiveness o_O !
• Peculiarities around.
• Finally making the cut :)
• Getting adjusted to the environment..
• All set and ready for action!
• ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಂಜೆ 
• I am Fine :-)

Just the reflection makes me feel that I have become slightly more independent, a bit of a different lifestyle, fractionally better in taking decisions, a bit more mature;and may be overall an improved individual...

Now the negative points(whats existance without critisism and negative entities??) - more lazier than what I was, no accounting and responsibility albeit the bare minimum, expertise in delaying action, heavily youtubed...

But well, these are small things(and hopefully remain so) that can be supressed!

Finally my first trip to home is confirmed - booked the tickets today; thanks to roomie Amit for that; because I have forgotten the password for my netbanking account :D !!

Looking forward for it....

I am Fine :-)

Finally I am saying that with full-heart to whoever asks me how I am, unlike whats below :-)

Day 2 of Sleep Early, Wake Up Early resolution - and I guess its going pretty well; sleeping at 1 instead of 2 (in the night!). Thats a 100% improvement :-D

One more practical resolution - Never miss breakfast; missed it once and had a horrible time in the class !!

They say Too Much is Too Bad - Realizing what it means; No Lan Ban until now; and the net is almost always up - I end up watching videos on Youtube; or watch movies live online !

Atleast foodwise I am improving - Honouring the note of "Food wastage is a crime! Dont waste food" signboards all across the hostel mess by finishing up whatever I take most of the time...

Had a meeting regarding my Teaching Assistantship again today; and got Sir gave a motivational analogy of how we should be at the lab - like the last man in a battlefield, ready to take charge and attack - not the students, but their fear and anxiety :D !!

The late evening was a funny Wiki day. Here is a chain of how I went through different articles on Wikipedia:

RSA -> Quantum Computing -> Integer Factorization -> Quantum_cryptography -> Emerging_technologies -> Far Future Timeline -> Big_Bang_to_Heat_Death -> Boltzmann_brain -> Doomsday_Argument 

Simple RSA algorithm lead me to Doomsday !!!

At the far end of the day, watched Delhi Belly - that crazy short movie could have been shorter !!

3 days of holidays coming up - with absolutely no plans whatever on what to do..............

First Quiz

Yesterday's post was more like a report/answer - short & precise :-D

Lets continue the form today....

Had my first quiz - based on paper reading; and I guess it went pretty OK..
Generally, opinions may change after results..

Nothing like a sound sleep just before the class - had a quick afternoon cat nap :-)

Got into a 6-team for the Network security project team; just wondering what would happen if a single person is asked to implement and test encryption schemes like DES, AES etc :-D

And finally I am available on public domain(other than social networking of course ;-)) - My home page @ IITB

For a change - sleeping early; in the hope of waking up early tomorrow!!

Assorted affairs

Yet another assortment of what I have observed and experienced..

One of the first things that I have seen after getting a new sim is that the problem of Mobile spam is huge here - every day I will be richer by $100,000 or ₤500,000 -  Just that I should go and claim them !!!

And heavily Youtubed - I end up watching videos and listening to music until 2 A.M; seriously addictive !

The undergrad labs are going from late to later - all the way upto 11.30 P.M :-/ 

Forgot to mention the most important thing - No more SMSing since the day I have been in Bombay..

So one less SMS freak in the world :-D
Some people might be heaving a sigh of relief on that !!

The paper reading mode has finally begun - for computer networks...

And my tagline is becoming "Sleepy days, sleepless nights" ...

End note: The blog description says something ! 

Peculiarities and Perils

Time for yet another directionless post...

With not so special events happening today, let me just talk about some of the pecularities and perils that I am either directly related to, and some that I am not so directly related, and some that make no correspondance with me as well :-)

1. Convocation to passing out batch of IITB - Well, whats peculiar in that ??
   The dress - Jubba and Pyjama; not the all-famous black overcoat symbolizing the English way of convocating...
   
2. Snake men and snake women at Railway stations - When you approach near a moving crowd in a local railway station, you can hear a distinct "Ssssss" "Ssssssh" sound encroaching you....
    No reason to freak out - its one of the prominent signals used by hurrying passengers to alert you to move away gracefully, and prevent getting toppled over :-D
   
   Crazy mind wondering if Mallika didi got inspired from all this Hisssssssing for her movie :-D 
3. Sabu Dana Saga - Our hostel is bent upon feeding us with this very special dish occassionally.
   Unable to track the taste on the first encounter, its the first thing I avoid; and many in company for that...
   But the dish preparation continues, and so does the piling up of plates with filled Sabudana at the wash basin !!
4. Bedless - This one is totally personal ;-)
   Didnt take the bedding for the first few days, in the feel of the self-formed bedsheet semi-bed..
   But by the time the realization came that  bed is a necessity, all the bed vendors within the campus had moved out :-/
   Next up is a semester's wait to get a proper bed !!
5. Moodle - Ok, now this might be a Intellectual Property(IP) issue O-o !!
   The flaw I have observed is that it offers course enrollment, but when you drop the course; you dont get unenrolled automatically !!
   Easy way for diligent sit-throughs and knowledge-gainers to get course related resources :D
6. Assignments - Hmmm. After all that exposure and experience that we had in first sem at PESIT, it should be a piece of cake right ??
   Apparently not, I find myself back in square 1 - submitting at almost the deadlines, working on most of the weekends, and postponing important things to study for the same.....
7. Hostel Mess - Many of you might be thinking - "Is this guy ever going to stop whining about the hostel food??"
   But thats how sometimes the menu turns out - Rasna on the day when curds are available, Poha for Monday breakfast, almost everything aloo-fied, quickly depleting resource called Pulao(that wont be available after half-an hour of mess opening!!)
   But the beauty is that I have gotten used to it these - all the above stuff is not complaining; its just stating facts ;-)
8. Night labs for juniors - Guess thats what it means to be at IIT. Imagine if you had to sit sit for your 'regular' lab hours slotted at 8.30PM to 10.30PM !
   Hard workers arent they - first JEE, and then this...

Hmm, that went more pictorial than expected :D
Well, some thought for the night :-)

ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಂಜೆ

ಇಂದು IIT ಬಾಂಬೆ ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಂಘದ ವತಿಯಿಂದ ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಂಜೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮ ನಡೆಯಿತು :-)

ಆದ್ದರಿಂದ ಇವತ್ತಿನ ದಿನಚರಿಯನ್ನು ಆಂಗ್ಲ ಭಾಷೆಯ ಬದಲು ನಮ್ಮ ಕಸ್ತೂರಿ ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದೇನೆ...

ಕನ್ನಡ ಓದಲು ಬರುವವರು ಮುಂದುವರೆಸಿ - ಬರದವರು ನಾಳೆಯವರೆಗೆ ಕಾಯಿರಿ ;-)

ಕಾರ್ಯಕ್ರಮದ ಪ್ರಯುಕ್ತ "ಗಾಳಿಪಟ" ಚಲನಚಿತ್ರ ಪ್ರದರ್ಶಿಸಲಾಯಿತು - ಒಮ್ಮೆ ನೋಡಿದ್ದರೂ ನಮ್ಮವರನ್ನು ಒಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಕಾಣಲು ನಾನೂ ಅಲ್ಲಿಗೆ ಹೋದೆ.

ಬರಿ ವಿದ್ಯಾರ್ಥಿಗಳಲ್ಲದೆ ಕೆಲವು ಅಧ್ಯಾಪಕರು ಕೂಡ ಬಂದು ಚಲನಚಿತ್ರ ವೀಕ್ಷಣೆ  ಮಾಡುವುದನ್ನು ನೋಡಿ ಸಂತಸ ಹಾಗು ಆಶ್ಚರ್ಯ ಎರಡೂ ಒಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಆಯಿತು :-)

ಏನೇ ಆಗಲಿ ಒಟ್ಟಿಗೆ ಇಷ್ಟು ಜನ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರನ್ನು ನನ್ನ ವಿದ್ಯಾಲಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಕಂಡಿದ್ದು ಖುಷಿ ಕೊಡುವಂತಹ ವಿಚಾರವೇ ಸರಿ...

ಸಂಜೆ ಮಾಡಬೇಕಾದ ಕೆಲಸಗಳನ್ನೆಲ್ಲ ಬದಿಗೊತ್ತಿ ಇವತ್ತು ಕನ್ನಡ ಸಂಜೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಿದ್ದು ಇವತ್ತಿನ ದಿನಚರಿಯ ಅಧ್ಯಾಯ.

ಈ ಬರಹದಲ್ಲಿ ಏನಾದರೂ ತಪ್ಪುಗಳು ಅಥವಾ ನ್ಯೂನ್ಯತೆಗಳು ಇದ್ದರೆ ದಯವಿಟ್ಟು ನಿರ್ಲಕ್ಷಿಸಬೇಕಾಗಿ ವಿನಂತಿ..

ಇಂತಿ ಸಮಾಪ್ತಿ :-D

ಕೃತಜ್ಞತೆಗಳು: ಗೂಗಲ್ ಲಿಪಿ ಪರಿವರ್ತಕ  

   

Late is the Mantra

Guess being late is an inevitable part of Hostel life - with no one to remind you to be on time; except for class timings, wake up on time, do things on time - its like a Doctor's prescription for lazyness !!

Woke up at 10 today - and directly came online :-D
And it has become a habit to stay online and do nothing - bliss of online idleness/joblessness !!!

Rest of the day was all gnuplotted - graphs, bars, charts, diagrams !!!!

And for sure, my biological clock is getting altered - sleep at 2 and get up at 10 :-O
Hope "Late to Bed and Late to Rise" does not make Sumanth screw up MTech !!

But it is amazing how the whole day goes eventless, and you notice it only after it is bygone...

And watched Manasaare movie yesterday - excellent light hearted yet thought-provoking movie :-)
Coming to movie appretiation - I guess if I was in Bangalore, I would not have been appreciating any movie so much..
Guess this is one of the first indications of change !!