My Comeback and the 'Frooti' Story..

"A lot of thoughts crammed in a little mind a little too busy..
Someday..
I'll start all over again..
And may be...
do dozens of ‘em; all together!
And it is just about time.."

And here again.. I come!
Unsure about the dozens though!

"A lot of thoughts crammed in a li'l mind" ? Yes, but before all of them, here I am with the thing that has pushed me back to this place! Thanks to all the 'Non' first benchers who pushed me forward onto the dias today! And thanks of course to the 'superman-scientist' who keeps saying "I am at the limit of my knowledge" despite leaving absolutely no territory unexplored!

It was an ordinary Tuesday morning, the super cool 'namma' Bengaluru weather, a lot of 'big' brains around, and a not-too-early class to attend ( never dreaded either! ). The 'same'y simple 'Single Idly Vada' breakfast; the 'paper plate' looked like an anti-apartheid rally shouting out the slogan - "Black and white bhai bhai"! The morning only got at least a million times better at 9:15 AM when my cousin dropped by to deliver a parcel full of sweets from the festival I gave a skip!

The classes here have never been dreadful and that is easily one of the most important factors that keep me going despite the fact that I still cannot really see a reason for my selection ( by an elite interview panel though ) to be here! A cool and breezy Communications class seemed to be over immediately after it was announced started with some "Channel Capacity" gyaaan.
Sometimes I am forced to believe that having 60 minutes for an hour was mankind's biggest blunder! Yet, that’s the way an hour will stand for so many more hours to come! Okay, so be it, I move on!

A break of 15 minutes. Nope, I would prefer calling it 'An Invitation' or a 'Statutory Warning' for the class that was to follow, for it is THE class everybody is proud of here, yet has very little hopes about it. ( now no.. you did not hear me say this was indeed a class that everyone dreaded! )
The Professor is pretty much a scientist, and I would rather say it is the fault of all the folks here that we just cannot seem to scale up to even "10 to the -10 of his level"!

Enter Professor GNS Prasanna - the humble genius, the superman I was talking about! He commands one and all to "sit down" or rather "don stand up" even before anybody even attempts to stand up! The previous class of the professor was over after an extensive discussion of the world of PDE's and discretization woes in a computer. All geared up to listen to some more of the same, but a twist. The Professor 'kick'-started the talk with an old friend of his and pretty much out-of-reach to the class until recently; he threw an "oh-so-familiar" question at the class- "How would you test a mammoth program that implements a shortest path algorithm, say you have all the code with you.. How would you give me a solid evidence that it works fine forrr... say all kinds of inputs of the order of say.. Hmmm.. a million nodes?"

Phew! This is probably a fact that; to Prof.GNS the number system actually begins at 10 to the 6 ( and 10 to the -6 on the negative side)! It has barely been a month since I have gotten used to the number of zeroes in 1 million!
The class chose 4 people in all to answer the question. What was more perplexing than the question was the reason a good bunch of people; predominantly from the last 4 rows ( although it was all started by the fella who sits just behind me in the second row ) started shouting one weird name in unison and I happened to realize a little late that it actually happened to be mine! Fish!

Thanks to Ashley, the brain that sits just about one place off, to my right! She just initiated the thought process and soon I realized I actually had a decent answer! In the meanwhile, I heard the Prof announce a 'Frooti' as a reward for the best answer! It was right there on the the Prof's desk. Off I went onto the dias ( Or I was actually being pushed ?! ), after one biggie brain had already put the class in the right direction. 3-4 minutes may be and I was done.

A pretty good response for a dumb head! Elated I was, to know a little later that all four would get a 'Frooti'! Now the target, the Frooti Prof had with him! It is "Professor Prasanna" ! I would have it as a memorabilia for life! "Go!" said my mind and at the end of the class I did get it! Oh my God! An unmatched shot of emotion! Like I had just won a Filmfare! "It is Prof.Prasanna who gave me this Frooti!".. You may get a glimpse of 'my latest prized possession' s - the Frooti 'tetra pack' and the straw below.. They are all mine now!

Thank you IIIT-B!

Now I know.. an ordinary day could change in a matter of a few moments!

'Free' India

I am slowly beginning to love life at its hectic best! After all, that is exactly what life was meant to be.

In one of my very few 'jobless' hours, I was pondering over this thought - "Why has India never produced a 'biggie' table tennis player!". A lot of credit for invoking this 'extremely rare' thought has to be given to my hostel-mates here. I have already come across some serious talents here; even more so because of the fact that there can't be a more weird ( and obviously pathetic :P ) way of playing the game than the way I do!
Even worse, I have been playing it the same weird way for almost 8 years now! :P

It took me only a couple of moments to realize my biggest challenge with the game - the table, the ping pong ball and the racquets. Let me elaborate. The thing that strikes me the most about these 'challenges' is their size. All of them so small!

More precisely, all I meant was this - For a nation that thrives on its 'freedom', I sincerely believe the sizes are just too 'inadequate'! Read on. I promise, I will not talk a thing nonsensical. Believe me. :-P

The most evident thing about this great nation is its 'vastness'. Freedom is what thrives on this soil ( even more so, owing to the lack of it for almost 200 years!!??). We are vast in terms of the population ( actually its not even worth mentioning now! Its synonymous with India! ); area-wise I was told in school, that we stood 7th; natural resources are available in such outrageous abundance that 'Young India' (that's such a fancy word, that fits in with at most ease every time something positive about India is being discussed) has a common hobby of experimenting with them (you call it wastage? nobody cares anyways!).

Our residential areas, public transport systems and recreational spaces are symbols of 'freedom'. I was told by one of my friends that public transport buses and bus - stands in his place always looked red; reason the freedom in his place. Nobody could actually stop a human being from painting a place red with his favorite 'pan' flavor!

I know a couple of parks in the heart of the city, which are lush green, serene and
boast of a heaven - like calm. The freedom (that is available only in the absence of a security guard) finds its utility here in the form of a responsibility; that of adding to the 'fragrance' (or is it'stink', sorry my English actually stinks!)quotient of the beloved place! You know what I mean!?

Our freedom enables us to play any 'regional-masala' top of the chart numbers, any place, any time and any loud, don't give a damn at a student if he is studying in the same place; he is a sickening nerd after all!

One of the recent inventions in a similar field is the complete utilization of the bandwidth available at a place, when on the phone! Don't give a damn at someone who unfortunately is on the phone at the same time; or even if there is someone who will know every chapter of your family tree by the end of your call! That is his/her freedom after all!

The point I was trying to make using the disgusting examples is that we Indians don't really like being tied up, or being contained. We basically don't endorse the idea of 'boundaries'. In more 'truthful' terms, we always believe in 'One India'. "This place is as much mine as is yours."

Coming back to the 'purpose', I would be glad if you could foresee where I was heading ( though I firmly believe I am being too optimistic! ).

The thing that irks every Indian when he enters the vicinity of the 'table', is its size; its 'nano' scale boundaries!

We are creatures that are more used to having our arms wide open, wide enough for a free swing and full swing. We are more used to having the mouth wide open; to pump-out a sound wave that's capable of beating the world. We are basically 'open' by birth( Some of my friends at my under-grad college actually understand this thought better than the rest of the world :-p).

Hence, when an Indian is forced to play a game, within a table so small; the results are quite obvious.

My argument is best endorsed by the game that drives India crazy!
You could give me a million counter examples; but none would hold because I have already promised - I would speak nothing nonsensical! :-p

Brain Hemorrhage!

Two weeks and 2 hectic ones at that! But its all been fun; in the most 'Geek'ish of senses though! You know where I am heading! :P

Programs, a few more of them and in fact, a lot more of them! I am getting used to them now ( or I must say this has been the case for almost 5 years now!).

What I have been discovering with every passing 'program' is this - they are like any other form of writing!

-> There is always this concept of free will tagged to it - No bar on the way you approach the problem.

So much like poetry or fiction; you always have 6.023 X pow(10,23) ways of writing a program.

-> There is always this concept of 'genre' associated with every program/programmer.

Like in any form of 'literature' programming could be of different 'styles'. I come across programmers who would stuff code worth 10 lines into one mammoth case. So, my program could be like a piece of work (may be fiction) that goes on for 5 pgs describing just the sunrise!

-> What you write about could be of 1 million different scales!

There are these 'high-definition' programmers who would do big-time algorithmic stuff and play around with 'system' level code; as against the 'kids' who slog over 'toy' applications. Just like the Indian Chetan Bhagats ( and perhaps this fella here! ? :P) etc who would do the filmi-masala kind of things as against the more serious and authentic Wordsworths and Shakespeares.

After 3 of the most outrageous analogies man has ever seen; here is the reality.

Freewill?

What you write about as a 'writer' is what's on your mind. Programs are merely done in response to a problem statement. The concept of freewill is hence 'NA' (read Not Applicable).

Genre?

A description of a sunrise that runs 4 pgs adds aesthetic value to the literary work; code that runs too long ( for all you techies - in terms of the source code; not compiled yet! ) only looks scary, and could only earn you a few sarcastic remarks from the team lead!

Scales?

A program can only be 2 things - either correct or incorrect. What is not correct goes into the bin. What is correct often times goes into the 'bin' (thats the 'bin' folder dumb heads!). You won't have a fan following for writing the 'filmi/masala' type!

Scaling down; I must admit, watching your 'code' work (correctly at that) is a feeling thats tough to express! Guess it matches the feeling of seeing your name on the cover of a book!

Now thats how hectic the last couple of weeks have been!
Ok, I will cut the nonsense here! Thanks for all the patience. You will probably take a wiser decision here next time!

Work, Study, Play and Sleep..

The Friday of the previous week has to be the most eventful day of my life. A day I will cherish all my life. I did nothing life-changing. Nor did I kick start a new enterprise! It was just one cool span of 15 odd hours where I lived life the way I love.

The morning was just about perfect; 7 'o' clock start, no sobbing about an early start. The breakfast did not even matter, for I had a test coming up in two and a half hours time. A few stares at my 'facebook home' (Boring as ever). Done, time up and the semester's last set of question papers were calling.

The set up for the tests here is unusually calm. A 'basic computing and C programming' test; the question paper ( all objective barring one coding question ) looked Ok, and had no stars ! ( Those scary pointers that generally don't serve any purpose ). One section of Linux looked good too. The program-section was not intimidating either, although it demanded serious brains.

True, all of this sounds 'Geek' ish. Just read on with some patience .:p

The exam was over like a game of T20. Moved to the food court. One blast of a lunch (always the case with this fella!). An ideal afternoon nap of 90 minutes. ( A little too long for an ideal nap; I was jobless anyways! )

Around 3:15, and the two 'hard-working' hostels came down to the playground for a game of cricket. 10 overs a side, 'fast - food' cricket. Batted in the middle order and helped my team play out the quota and then returned to pick up 2 crucial wickets. ( Got culped, 2 sixes in two overs and a total of 17 runs conceded! )

Another game, this time opened the bowling. Picked up 3 wickets ( Again, 3 sixes in 3 overs ). Again, middle order. Chasing 59 in 10 ovrs, lost the game by 3 runs( needed 4 of the last ball, I was at the non striker's end! ). In fact, not once has my team won with me at the crease in the last over ( I would prefer calling it consistency )!

Done, weekend; time to return home. Shower for an hour, and 'Maggi' to gain some stamina (that's a nice excuse!). Off I went, out of the campus, bidding bye to all my cricket-mates; across the road, to the bus stop. The 'chariot' for my joy-ride arrived after the 30 minute 'wait' ritual ( I am always terribly timed! ).

Bangaloreans don't seem to have an eye anymore, for the beauty that surrounds them; thanks to the traffic jams ( Traffic jams are the most outrageous of phenomena the human kind has ever lived with; you cause them, and you crib about them too! What a paradox! ). To me, once a joy-ride ; always a joy-ride. The traffic density does not change things (for, I don't have to drive!).

Home, sweet home. Mum's smiling, sis' keen about her cookies. The desktop's waiting with arms wide open. First things first, one blast of a dinner; this time home-made.
Some 'fiddling around' social networking. Off I went, into a sound sleep.

Work. Study. Play. And Sleep. Can I ask for more!
Love life the kid's way!
You are never 'done' with your childhood; you live it all your life. It's all in the eye.

Sunday at a Police Station!

No.. I was not convicted for "mental harassment by means of insane, immature, nonsensical permutations of the 'Oh! Too Few' English Alphabet; under the name of 'Blogging'" .. Or.. At least "Not Yet!"..

I was asked to be present at the J C Nagar Police Station by 11:00 AM in the morning on a lazy, beautiful Bangalore Sunday for a police verification as part of the Passport 'Acquiring' Process (Or was he supposed to come down to my place to see if I really lived in the place I reported to the GoI?!). Any which way, A Sunday of one of the two had to be ruined; even worse, could be the fate of Sundays of both!

IST ( read Indian Standard Time ), has a distinct and real meaning many know but don't recognize. Indian Standard Time actually includes a factor "( + X where X >= 15 minutes )" in addition to the precise mathematical figure. We Indians adore it here; and the in-charge of the Passport wing was a proud and true Indian! More so, owing to the lazy Sunday.

" Excuses are the most abundant, natural, renewable resources mankind has ever had. "

I had to endure a factor of 2X at the beautiful place. ( Now take the Sunday as the default excuse hereafter ) The in-charge arrived and the actual IST had arrived ( Or was it a mistake on the part of Mr. IST that he arrived 30 minutes early??!! ).

The verification began; not with the details of my residence, but his birthplace instead. The reason; my surname matched the name of one village close to his hometown. 12:00PM , not into the actual business yet!? ( Need I mention the excuse again?) I observed though; that 2 criminals had disappeared from the lock-up in the meantime! ( Oh no! I really did not mean they 'escaped', some short and swift legal procedure saw them out ).

5 document-proofs were thoroughly examined; all looked true and proper. Time for some 'baksheesh'(Need I explain; just consider the backdrop and you ll not need an explanation). 1:00 PM and the Sunday was over.

No point cribbing folks!

Cheer up..

Miss you school....

I got my first glimpses of Mother Earth from the place that is passionately called 'Chennai' (it was called 'Madras' as long as I was there? !! :P). For someone who had no clue what the rest of the world looked like; Madras just proved time and again that I was among those chosen to live my life in the most beautiful country on Earth, India.

The beaches just blew me away with ease; the roads looked huge and I always questioned my dad why people needed roads that wide when everybody seemed to have their own homes to live in; the temples around the place were delightful; and the only scary place in the entire city was my school where I had to write on a thing that seemed too soft to take a poke so harsh! The things I was made to write were weird to say the least.

So used to the humid ( if not torrid !!?? ) weather in my birthplace, Bangalore was a pleasant surprise! In simple terms, Bangalore just demonstrated another way of looking beautiful. Simple and elegant. Cool and majestic. No one seemed to be in a hurry. Everyone around had enough time to pamper this little kid ( I was 5yrs old when Bangalore saw me first ) with a few nice words. The structures here were breath-taking; my dad's place of work looked like the first among a spree of monumental constructions, all culminating with one gigantic 'Government' office ( Thats the term my dad used for 'Vidhana Soudha') . Again, I had to spend a lot of time in this city's 'my most dreaded place' - School!

Its been 6 years since I spent a long day at my most dreaded place! Bangalore now looks so much more 'Bangalore'ish minus the dreaded place!

"lessons the dreaded places taught me; were lessons for life;
and that I realize only now.. "

The problem was not with the place; it was with my eye rather. I know that for I can't walk back to that place anymore. All the time I was there, I dreaded it; now when I crave for it, I can't get there for obvious reasons. Wondrous the wheel of time!


Miss you school..

Loved the word 'blog'! Trying it out for the first time.

What is this about? Opinions? Or let some lines flow over from the Keyboard; if they have aesthetic value? Vent out frustration if you find yourself completely helpless? Or find yourself jumping out of joy; through some 'elated' and joyous writing?

I ll figure out for the rest of my life..
C ya..