BAD Ass

Prime Number

2005-07-14T10:59:00.000-05:00

A lab-mate has three computers running on his desk. They make a weird synergistic humming sound. Feels like they are egging each other on. What are these computers doing all the time and why does he need them? I went in to find out. As I entered the converstion I could smell greed. I could almost sense his need to make more money. He desperately pushes buttons on his keyboard to gather enough money for a PS3. How and where is he trying his luck?

He quickly brings me upto speed on his quest for green. Electronic Frontier Foundation is giving away $100,000 for finding a prime number with more than 10 million digits. And he is signed up as a part of the GIMPS team to earn his pot of gold. The GIMPS team is a smart one as they enlist many people over the world to help on their quest. They send you a prime number and you test it and return the results. If the number they sent you is what they are all looking for then the money is yours. GIMPS keep some part of it though. It is like a quick rich scheme for geeks.

After that thorough introduction to the money river, the mind turns to why? Why would EFF pay so much for a single prime number? Some nifty googling revealed that prime numbers are in fact required for encryption. What a shocker! I had no clue. The RSA encryption scheme involves prime numbers so that you can encrypt and send information on an open network. How are prime numbers involved in this? Look here and this is a great example showing how it works.

Getting back to my desk, I realised it was no more or no less than a lottery.

Good Stuff

2005-07-13T12:10:00.000-05:00

An indian comedian. Extremely good stuff.

Worth a watch.

Go here.

Comment on the News

2005-07-07T10:05:00.000-05:00

Headline #1
Blasts rock London, Blair breaks off G8 meeting
Four blasts ripped through London at rush hour early on Thursday, killing people, wounding 150 seriously and disrupting a meeting of Group of Eight leaders in Scotland in attacks Prime Minister Tony Blair called "barbaric."

Very understandable first headline.

Headline #2
Some US cities increase security
Authorities in major U.S. cities are increasing security, specifically around subway systems, after the deadly attack on London's transit system. The following are steps taken by officials around the country on Thursday.

Comment
The US government has to be the most paranoid government that ever weaseled its way into the high chairs ever. Even the affected country has barely done anything in terms of security while the yanks on the other hand have "tightened security". Ask a foreign grad student who has to fly domestic routes what that means.

Holy crap

2005-06-28T17:43:00.000-05:00

google did it again.

Google Earth

Look at earth in 360 degree way that no one has ever seen before. Fantastic. Sorry dialup users.

TOYOTA

2005-06-25T12:49:00.000-05:00

Do you know what is toyota? and what philosophy they stand for? Because I dont..

Here is a sample of stuff they pull ( besides Scion ) courtsey of their chairman Okuda

"Okuda's reasoning both times, according to wire reports, has been that U.S. automakers can improve earnings if they charge higher prices. He said he's afraid that financial trouble among Detroit car companies will be blamed on tough competition from Japan-based automakers, creating an anti-Japan backlash that could hurt sales. Hence Toyota USA has increased their car prices to give Detroit automakers a fair chance."

When I read it, I could not believe it. It is true. Americans are as usual busy suing them saying that the price rise is illegal.

Here is the complete link to the story.

As my curiosity is piqued by this rather unusual incident, I have decided to read book about toyota called.."Lexus and the Olive tree". Lets hope I can understand what the Japanese are trying to do...

Greatest spectacle in racing ?

2005-06-20T13:57:00.000-05:00

"The greatest spectacle in racing", this is the official description of the hollowed brickyard track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. By some tremendous twists of fate, I was given the opportunity to visit this track for the F1 GP. Having been aloof from the F1 circus for almost 2 years I grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

The track itself is pretty cool, with the steep banked turns, the hall of fame museum and the other cheap entertainments. But the main course was the F1 GP. A whole lot of crap happened in the main course. And if the main course sucks then so does the whole meal. As a member of the eager audience, waiting to see first corner action, I was let down. I was let down in so many ways more than one. A total of 14 drivers boycotted the race leaving the field crippled with just 6 cars. The reasons, logic, timing and propriety for the boycott are well debated. Ask any schmo and he will tell you his take on the Michelin-FIA saga. But a boycott is a boycott, and it affected some more seriously than others. Just ask the group of Brazilians who traveled a long way to see their hero.

Frustration was widespread. Some people had a funny way of expressing their frustration besides throwing bottles. There was a guy who put up a large board "Michelin Customer Support 1-800-847-3435". Others went with the more traditional approaches of "F1 Sucks" or "Michelin man is a dick" or booing the hell out of the race track commentators. I wrote a rant blog instead.

Disappointment all around. Sitting there in the blazing heat, watching 6 cars go round and round, I realised why I had stopped following F1. It is bloody boring!!!! Evenmore so when there are just 6 cars to bore you. The other reason for jumping the F1 ship is the average know it all tifosi. The tifosi is a species that has spread quite recently and quite rapidly. They are the sole reason why I stopped supporting the scarlet cars. These tifosi are extremely annoying and quite passionate in a wierd way. It is some sort of acquired passion which seems hollow to me. I was one so I know how stupid they can get. ;)

At the end of the day, as we drove home (and I slept peacefully), I realised that sometimes less is more.

Connected!

2005-06-14T12:33:00.000-05:00

Frustration + Computers + A lot of work = recipie for a rant post!

/.

I need to work with a cluster called TRIBE. TRIBE is a 8 noded Rocks based computing cluster which I helped build. (zhende!). In order to make it "secure", (note the quotation marks for emphasis ;) ) we set it up so that only our workgroup computers could access it. We left it open for a while and it was hammered by all sorts of requests on the apache server. So it was secured by tying it to the workgroup computers.

Our workgroup computers are protected by the "Purdue ME security protocol", which dictates the need for a VPN before we can remote desktop into our workgroup computers. 99.99% graduate students work from home and hence the traffic brings the VPN server to its knees.

So here is the workflow,

My thinkpad ( more on that later ) to the ISP server. From the ISP server to the overloaded VPN server. From the VPN server to my workgroup computer which is running code 99.9% of the time. From my crippled workgroup computer to the head node of our cluster. From the head node to the compute node where I am working.

Nice direct way of doing work. I hope there are some improvements in "IT security" soon. Adding layers for protection is medivial. We need something better.

structured procrastination

2005-05-26T14:44:00.000-05:00

Read it someplace/some blog.

Structured Procrastination

It is doing its rounds on the blog fog. But I thought this is me,so I put it in here. If I ever forget!

Marathi Expert

2005-05-25T08:04:00.000-05:00

An amru labmate of mine, TH had decided to learn Marathi. I have never seen so much determination and enthusiasm about learning a language as he is showing. Phenomenal! I would assume he would have progressed much quicker had he received better tutoring in Marathi.

One day he walks up and asks me " Aditya, I have asked everyone else in the lab but no one can tell me when to use "me" and when to use "mala". Could tell me the grammatical rule behind it?". Ashamed but honestly, I admitted to having no fricking clue why to use one over the other. Such a simple question and here were 4 engineers toppled by it. Some of these engineers have had marathi education, still no dice.

I was appalled at my ineptness at Marathi grammar.

*******
PS - we came in 2nd last in marathi mandal quiz about maharastra
******

Route 58

2005-05-23T10:04:00.000-05:00

USA is not as developed as it would like to tout to the world. Actually it is, but there are certain patches of land and people which remind me of my sweet under-developed er eh.. developing country. I happened to come across one such patch on Route 58. I was travelling back to Columbus (not alone of course) after a rather enjoyable trip and decided to take 58 instead of the big bad I65. SR 58 is a nondescript little single lane "highway" that connects US37 and I65. What treat it was.

Long winding road, ups and downs. Very narrow at times. Surrounded by fields. People working in fields albeit with heavy machinery. The whole road is spotted by small villages/towns. Speed limit drops drastically. As you slow down you see simple folk with washing lines, kids playing, a small post office! Very very rural! No Walmarts/Blockbuster here. Small shops along the highway. The highway is the only paved road in these little towns I guess.

I am unable to reason why I enjoyed the road so much. Maybe it was the drive because the drive was phenomenal, curves, hills, good tarmac all over place. Maybe it was the company. Or maybe..

TT

2005-05-18T10:29:00.000-05:00

not another game post.
Got all senti when I received my TT racquet from home.
TT is not fun when there is no "oneneel", "chop chalu hai" or "dadaji's fancy".

:)
HUGE SMILE ON MY FACE

Back from Blues

2005-04-30T09:27:00.000-05:00

Bummed out due to exams and research load. Vinnie decided to cheer me up with this.

That is so sweet.

A reason to smile!

The bird of time

2005-04-25T09:50:00.000-05:00

After having a chat with my mom, I realised that I have almost completed two semesters at Purdue. Yes, it took a chat with my mom to realise that. Its been almost 9 months since I left home for Purdue.

I seem to have lost all sense of time. Why? I do not know. I hope I am not the only one who has lost his sanity in this regard. Maybe there has been so much change that it was tough to keep track of time. Or is it the american way of life? I really do not know these answers.

The life of a graduate student although appears to be full stuff to do all the time, seems kinda empty. What do I have to account for the last 9 months? Nothing really, I feel I could have done a lot more if was back in Punya nagari. Maybe I am wrong.

But now atleast I agree with some great person who said "Time flies". It does fly and it flies even faster in foreign countries.

Tennis Racquets

2005-04-15T14:14:00.000-05:00

Recently prodded, very gently I might add to play tennis, I was eager to give the game a shot. Earlier meetings with the tennis racquet had not been very successful. So with a friend as an able guide and a loaner "Walmart chi bhikari racquet", I decided to try the game. The game is actually very popular with royalty. ( Certain "Princes" have played it! )

Back to the point, after a week of poking, pushing and grunting, my guiding light decided it was time for a new weapon. Like any two geeks/nerds, we turned to the web for answers on where, why and how much?

I was amazed at the wealth of information available and the superior technology that goes into an ordinary tennis racquet. A few excerpts

[/Geek Alert]

1. Weight - (around 10 oz, Graphite Composite. Use of FPS units - No I am not american but the manufacturing companies are! ). All sorts of cool stuff is used to reduce weight like graphite composites etc. A light racquet makes it easier to wield but isnt necessary better. A heavier racquet has a better chance at winning the collosion between the ball and the racquet and hence is recommended for new to intermediate players.

2. Balance (1 pt Head Heavy )- Head Heavy => more power, Head Light => more control, faster thru the air. Balance affects the swing weight of the racquet )

3. Size - ( 110 inch^2 )A large head size implies presence of a bigger sweet spot, hence more power but less control over the depth of the stroke.

4. Stiffness - ( 58 units ) A stiff racquet has more feel but is less forgiving on the arms and vice versa. It depends on the thickness of the racquet.

5. String pattern ( 16 X 9 )- A dense string pattern endows the player with more directional control but reduces the spin that one can produce.

6. String type (single core) - Single cores are tougher and last longer, Multifilament strings can reduce a lot vibrations but break easily. Natural Gut ( yes it is called gut beacause it is made from the small intestine of a .. ) gives the best "Feel" but is affected by moisture etc.

7. Other neat stuff - air handles, kevlar strands , titanium meshes, peizo material strands to absorb material vibrations. Wow! The list goes on..

Thoroughly enjoyed the tech stuff...

--
The author was last seen wandering on nearby tennis courts with a brand new Yonex-RQ Ti Pro Long

Small things -> Large Impact

2005-04-09T12:20:00.000-05:00

After toiling ( ahem! ) for six months + on a stupid analytical model, I got most of it to run correctly. Six months and about over 5k+ lines of code later, ( only about 200 lines usable ) I finally got some "interesting" results.

A labmate was helping me compile the damn thing. After it was done, I looked at it ...
A 140 KB *.exe file. That is my analytical contribution to my project. Mind Blowing perspective when you see how large today's programmes are.

140 Kb = 6 months = about 25% code done. I am happy.
:)

I will be very happy with myself if I can pull out another 140 KB file in this new year. (Tis Gudi Padwa today. Shira.....smack..was lovely.)

Bliss

2005-04-02T16:05:00.000-05:00

Weekend cometh. I call up my friend in India who has a birthday. Long chat there. Spend evening with someone special. Dinner with friends. Wake up late on a Saturday just to get a call telling you that Pandi is coming to town. (Yipee!)

Late lunch, homecooked ( yours truly ). Lumber into the shower. Out the door into a nice warm sunshine. A cool breeze is blowing. I crank the car up.

The stereo starts pumping a really good song. Road is empty. Windows rolled down. Very little homework this weekend.

I had a little moment. Feels good to be alive.

My Car

2005-03-19T17:19:00.000-05:00

My Car

The Future

2005-02-23T08:12:00.000-05:00

Requirements-

Headphones
Flash player
5 minutes

Clicky to the future

---
"He is at Hogwarts.... He is at Hogwarts.."
---

Maturity

2005-02-17T20:51:00.003-05:00

After being called immature by various people for various reasons, I decided to explore what maturity really means. I seriously wonder why I do these things. But I really wanted to figure out what maturity was.

My first thought, maturity means saying or doing the right thing at the right time. After a little discussion I felt that was not appropriate. Does being mature imply talking or acting in a way which is not you. Being fake? No it cannot, because who then gets the right to decide what is right and what is wrong. A quick and "civic textbook" answer comes to mind, that is "society". But society's opinion actually is the average of everybody's opinion. But then does being different mean being immature? Most certainly does not. My definition of maturity needs more tweaking.

Is maturity a perceived entity? I feel it is. It always is. Maturity is always attatched to somebody else isnt it? We never tend to judge ourselves. I am being so immature...that never happens! We always do whatever we feel is correct and mature at that moment. It is always someone else who judges you as immature. So will maturity exist in a closed room when no one is watching or no one knows what you are doing inside the room. Does maturity exist in a closed room? Maybe not.

Is it something more subtle like beauty? Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, doesnt it? Eventhough it does lie in the observers eyes there is some general consensus on who is beautiful and who is not. Maybe maturity also suffers from the same syndrome. It might be a hybrid entity.

Or maybe I am too immature to understand what maturity really is....someday

Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy

2005-02-16T13:57:00.000-05:00

[Generic Fanboy Reaction]

For those in the know it is one my favourite books. Thanks KT!. Well now they are trying to make a movie out of it. Go to amazon.com frontpage for the trailer or you can get it off imdb.com.

Now I will have to go the movie ( there goes my $8) and then keep on bitching and moaning during the whole movie on how it is different than the real deal. I have seen Raje do it, I am pretty sure I can pull this(the bitching and moaning) off. Also I will need to take my towel to movie.

As a fan of the book and owner of a copy (yes KT I finally bought one) I have my rights to the complaining.

Screw you Holywood. For those without broadband, Ford is not at all tall, Vogons dont look ugly and Zaphod's second head keeps coming and going. Dont let me get started on Marvin. Also I didnt know that Douglas Admas wrote the screenplay for this movie.

Wonder if they mention 42?

---
sorry for plaigarism
---

The Google System

2005-02-05T18:40:00.000-05:00

My favourite search engine has become a verb a long time ago. Hey, why dont you just google it. I have frequently heard this sentence and used it too. But that is not what I was thinking.

I was thinking about a recent news which made me laugh. It was quite funny actually. Microsoft has decided to enter the search engine game. Hehehe, last time I used MSN search was when I had my pentium 1-mmx. Try searching for something on MSN search and it comes up with links which can do no better than suck donkeys. ( local phrase , :) ) With their humongous marketing muscle and OS monoply ( note omission of the word research ) MSN will try to take on the mighty Google. Microsoft have been well known to produce extremely bad and buggy software.(When is the last time you saw a BSOD on linux? ) For latest suck-ware look at MSN messenger 7.0 beta ( ads galore...yuck! ). I hate prof. buggy for suggesting this. I need to get a patch to stop those ads from wasting my bandwidth.[/rant off]

Back to the google system.Why do I keep calling it system? Because I feel it is a philosphy which has completely by-passed me. For starters, have you ever heard of Picasa. I bet you havent but I bet you will hear it pretty soon. It was a nondescript challenger to Photoshop Elements retailing for $29.99. Nice for its price , though never heard of it. Well Google bought the struuggling company which used to make it. ( some hints of Microsoft-aggressive-buy-out behaviorism? ) They turned the software around and released a new verion of it in under six months. But the real catch is that now it is free. I mean completely free not like spyware-adware free. Completely freaking free!

It searches your computer for photos and videos and stores them chronologically.( I guess borrowed from PS-Elements , another miorosoft trait? ) Then it can do pretty much anything to your photographs. Edit,label,store,print,share,blah... Highly recommended to all people with digital cameras. You have to try it, just let it run and then click the time-line button and be amazed! (You will be amazed, take my word for it! ) Good software, clean small and fast and for free. For a desis who never paid for software and never will, it might not be so huge. But I feel this is huge in some way. It truly is.

A number of questions come to mind when thinking about this software. Why free? How are they making money of it? There is no mention of Google in the software except for the standard Help->About. Brand image building comes to mind..but do they really need it? They are the biggest brand...What is the logic? I strive hard to think for a reason. If it is under GNU licensce then it would have made sense. No it is not, though blogger.com is one of the very few websites which supports Firefox! . It is free, and ad-free just like my blogger.com.

This google system has completely perplexed me. But I can assure you it works and it hauls some serious ass.

clicky for picasa

Another first for search engines can be found here....
Google suggest, it is damn good.

Chandrayaan

2005-01-30T16:37:00.000-05:00

Chandrayaan I - this is the name given to India's mission to the moon. India's unmanned lunar flight, Chandrayaan is slated to launch by the end of 2007 or early 2008. The mission is on schedule and it costs our government approximately 25 billion rupees. The mission foresees placing a 525 kilogram satellite in a polar orbit 100 kilometers above the moon. Chandrayan-I’s aim is to obtain a chemical map of the entire lunar surface. The data from the mission will be used to create a 3-dimensional atlas of regions of interest using high-resolution remote sensing in the visible, near infrared, low and high-energy X-ray regions.
--

I can see myself and a billion other people thinking why? Why would a brave Madhavan Nair (chairman of ISRO, I think) propose such an expensive plan? Is it really worth it? The obvious answer to Mr. Nair would be that any scientist loves his science, it is really that simple. Or is it? Why would a cash strapped government give the ISRO boys enough money to play with their toys when they are so many other causes that demand money. So many.... Japan never had a nuclear or a space programme, they rather spent their money on trivial things like infrastructure. Ask anyone who has visited Japan about infrastrcuture, if you have about an hour of patience. Their investment has paid off. Should we go the same way or is our problem unique?

ISRO does generate a lot of jobs on account of this programme. It should also keep a small percentage of our creamy brains in-land. If the thing flies it will generate a profit. Yes a profit. European union has paid us to take their payload up there. Maybe we can get a industry running, the sole job of which is to transport satellites. Move over body-shopping , welcome satellite-shipping. Maybe, maybe not.

I really hope something good comes out of the Chandrayaan project. All I can contribute right now are my best wishes. Good luck and godspeed!

-----
The trick to flying is to throw yourself at the ground and miss it completely.
-----

NEWS YOU CAN USE

2005-01-14T14:06:00.000-05:00

Some technology news which I think is worth chronicling.

1. AOE3 is on the verge of completion. This is not the Age of Mythology crap we played a few months ago. It is a spanking new game based on the venerable AOE2 using HL2's physics engine. (If you dont know what HL2 is then it probably does not matter )

clicky
AOK Heaven
Ensemble

2. IBM's PC and notebook division has been sold to a chinese company called Lenovo. This is really old news but many people still do not know. But the real kicker is that IBM never manufactured any notebooks, they had bought a taiwanese company called Quanta who did all their manufacturing. So in effect a chinese company which no one knows bought out a taiwanese company that no one knew. Maybe it is not such a big news then or is it?

clicky
News.com

3. JP Morgan Stanley Chase buys Bank One. So what has that do with me, absolutely nothing. But it is the biggest merger/acquistion of the year and will make the new offspring the 2nd largest bank. Why didnt I buy stock in any one of them? But the the world's sixth largest bank (BO) cannot compete with our local credit union when it comes to service. Everyone at Purdue has an account with PEFCU (local credit union) rather than BO. How is that for perspective? Big organiztions and chains may not be the best solution everytime. Sometimes grass-root level thinking works better!

clicky
CNN Money

4. AMD readies Turion to take down Centrino/Alviso. I know it is 64 bit and I know it really hauls some serious ass, but the sweet deal here is competition. Presence of some competition will force Intel to reduce their steep prices. And by jove are they steep, a brand new 765 Dothan ( 2ghz ) reatails for $599. (Wipes sweat from forehead). The consumer is the real winner between the AMD and INTEL race which will now extend to the mobile market.

clicky
PC World

5. Unification of camera companies with the 4/3rds standard. Many digital camera manufacturing companies have decided to create and stick to a standard regarding lenses, sensors, sensor size etc known as the 4/3rds system. This will ensure dramatic interchnagability between a wide range of products. Again this is good news for the consumer.

clicky
The offical website

Gadget review DMC-FZ15K

2005-01-10T16:16:00.000-05:00

As any graduate student will tell you, a digital camera is an extremely essential tool in obtaining an MS degree. It truly is, otherwise why would every graduate student I know own one. Determined to get on the band wagon, I decided to buy one myself. I went with a Panasonic camera ( yes, they make washing machines as well ). Spec-hunters please refer to google for more details.

I really tried to learn about photography after I made my purchase. It was hard. I didnt quite get it, but what I got in exchange were enough funnies to last a life time. (not really) Here are a few.

I am clicking away at the Statue of Liberty ( better known as Patel-spot #231 ) , when I see a girl take out her "camera-phone" and take photographs with it! With such a phenomenal skillset at work, I had to relinquish defeat and reholster my own camera. Nothing against camera phones, I own one too, but I know which is the camera and which is the phone. Life is good!

"Is that a digital SLR camera?", pops a voice in school. "No", was my quick reply, not bothering to explain how pro-sumer cameras differ from point and shoot ones and even still from DSLRs.(geek-speak) "Then why did you buy a black one?, you should have bought a shiny silver one, just like me!". Ahem, sage advice no doubt.

Peering at the night sky in freezing winter, no one around. Nice place for some time-lapse photography. I have a tripod out and I am desperately fighting the cold to get a good picture. ( I was never able to get one. ) With nothing else with me and nothing else on my mind I am obviously trying to focus on taking pictures. Suddenly, "Are you taking pictures?" someone queried. I wish I had replied " Are you asking questions?" . I wish.

My camera has also taken a liking to hot coffee. Truly phenomenal how it can drink coffee. If your camera also picks up this bad habit, please keep a few lens cloth around! I heard that they go well together. Mine doesnt seem to mind some decaf.

Ah yes the camera review itself, no zhende gading but the camera works like a charm. It does everthing as advertised. I am severely limiting the camera's capabilities. I wish I was good atleast on this side of the lens. I wish.

NYC/Boston

2005-01-06T15:46:00.000-05:00

Due to the gregacity of a few people, I was able to visit New York and Boston. I am really grateful to the people who put up with my antcis throughout the trip.

The deal was to go and see NYC, we added on Boston just for a bit more flavour. With an opening in the calendar, a few openings in the wallet and a few more of the mind, we set out to see the big apple, with our eyes wide open. whew!

Manhanttan, NYSE, Nasdaq, Times Square, MIT, Harvard, Statue of Liberty, Stanton Island, Empire State Building, Rockefeller, Central Park, Brooklyn bridge ( *my friend works there ) - big names, really big names and even bigger buildings. The humungous monstrosity of some of these creatures makes you realise your own dimunutive stature. Zaphod Beeblerox and the ultimate torture chamber comes to mind, I smile, even laugh.

The monstrosity, the crowds, the cameras, the food, the delays, I loved it all. It has been a great trip, some joy, some fights. Some people not able to tie their shoe laces (I have photographic evidence), some clicking away till agonising hours, while some kept on dropping bottle caps. It was all good, trust me, all very good.

Why was it so good, I wondered on my way into a 2 hour delay, why was it so good? Friends, definitely, location, you bet, your own money, sure. But I would not hesitate to say and shoot me if I am wrong, it is getting away from work. Anticlamactic, it might be, simple it sure is, but it is the truth.

A tuly memorable holiday.

*yes it is buggy

She

2004-12-25T15:41:00.000-05:00

I used to visit her every summer. I used to collect flower for her puja. She used make dahi-sakhar for me when I was a kid. She used to tickle me and make me laugh. She used to play cards with me. She used to play carrom with me. She used to love me.

She was my maternal grandmother and she passed away a few days ago. This post is for her. May her soul rest in peace.

--out--

Dead Week

2004-12-25T14:46:00.000-05:00

***
EDIT: This post has been siting in my drafts folder. Credit to Mankar for pointing it out.
***

Dead Week, that is what they call the week before exams here at good ol Purdue. Why so, once asked a gullible fool. Thou art a Freshman, hollered the crowd. Nay he said, a first year graduate student. They just smirked, scoffed and left him with his fate. Heading into the ill famed Dead Week, he wondered, he wondered why.

After some "research" he realised that it is called Dead Week beacause no course instructor is allowed to have any homework or exam due the week before the finals. Nice, but wait I have two homeworks due this week. How can it be? Well as it happens most instructors care about this dead rule as much as an eskimo would about the ice cream truck. It is a well enforced rule, just like attendance at COEP.

So what, I just have two homeworks due for the last week, just like I have had for the last six months. Comon, I can do this easily (hope, fingers crossed). But as they are the last homeworks of the course they are 'supersized' just like everything else in america. Gulp, just work harder. Exam schedule is out I am lined up back to back on Monday and Tuesday. Double gulp. Work even harder.

"Aditya get a 45 minute presentation ready, for a visit to the sponsors and oh yes the presentation is in exam week." announced my advisor as he walked in on day ONE of the "dead week". Is there anything as a triple gulp? Well I just had it.

That is the very moment when the befuddled first year graduate student realised why it is called dead week. Such a apt name, couldnt be any more beautiful. This is life and one of its little challenges. Step up to it!

After running out of midnight oil, eating crap for a week, and some nervous meetings later, all is well in wonderland. All is well that ends well, and I got two A's. Time for a vacation.

brothers in arms

2004-12-04T15:43:00.000-05:00

Now the sun’s gone to hell
And the moon’s riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it’s written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We’re fools to make war
On our brothers in arms

These are the lyrics of a fantastic song by a really fantastic group of musicians. This song has really touched my heart. Every time I hear I like it even more. This song has connected to the following story in a weird way. A way which one will never understand till you hear the song.

Everyday I have a "moment of the day". A time of the day which makes the day worth while. The defining moment of today was as follows occured at a bus stop. That day I wake up very very late. Some pigeons are never meant to fly, so are Saturday mornings. No one in the house. Everyone is already out to work on a Saturday. I lumber out to the bus stop to go to school. It is cold. Somehow -5 C on a Saturday morning is colder than -10 on a Monday. Life is slow.

Then suddenly HONK! HONK! . It is Rafae, a Pakistani friend of mine. He is going to school and wants me to hop in. I do. We chat a lot as usual. He shows me an eye opening perspective in life. He is a thorough Pakistani from Karachi, as Pakistani as a grad student at Purdue can be. But he is just like any other Indian student as well. Being friends with him has impacted me in a way connected to the song.

The day you put a face to a word (Pakistan), life changes. Now everytime I talk about Pakis, his face comes to mind. Things have changed a lot. Now it is so much harder to virtually bomb Pakistan out of existence in my imagination now. Difficult to say bad things about Pakistanis. Damn!

As Mark Knopfler has rightly put it
We’re fools to make war
On our brothers in arms....

Sands of time

2004-11-29T13:22:00.000-05:00

There was this little boy , who lived on the beach. He played in the sun and made cute sand castles. And most importantly he wore sunscreen. One fine sunny day, in a flash of wisdom , he decided to climb some mountain beyond the beach. "I am spanning out" he said!

A few fast weeks and idle tuesdays later, he found himself alone on the mountain side. Barely hanging from a cliff with just one hand. The other hand was busy you see. He had some sand, sand which he had brought from the base of his cute sand castle from the beach back home. Thus climbing with only one hand was tough. He was sweating and it was slow progress. Whenever he felt cold and lonely he looked at the sand. That made him feel better, like a Swede trolling and drinking from a digital camera forum.

When he stopped to catch his breath he realised that he was missing some sand. On the way up, he had dropped some sand. Saddened by this fact, he firmly gripped whatever remained in his tiny hands. More sand escaped from his tiny fingers as he tried to grip it harder. He soon realised the more he clenched the more sand he was losing. Tough luck kid. His precious sand was abandoning him on the moutain he dreamt to conquer. He felt betrayed by the sand.

Once a grain of sand had fallen, it would never come back. It wouldnt give him any joy anymore. It would not be a part of any cute sand castle he would build. It would just lay on some rock at the bottom of the steep gorge called CRAY. It was gone. Gone as the sunshine on a clean December morning in Iowa.

But after thinking hard, he realised what the sand must be feeling. Left alone on the beach without the funny looking kid who made cute sand castles. The sand has lost some part of itself forever. The sand must be worse off, he concluded. Or maybe it isnt. It atleast has the sun and the ocean for company, while I dont. So should I let the sand go compeletely? He thought hard and he thought fast, a sharp kid he was.

The sadn doesnt matter, neither does the mountain he realised, it is the memory of the cute sand castles that is important. No one can take it away from him, where ever he goes.

What happened to the kid in the end ? The suncreen wearing kid from the beach on a cliff with sand in one hand....

--Choices are half chance and so are everybody else's--

Trolls are gone

2004-11-29T13:21:00.000-05:00

For richer or poorer

2004-09-28T12:39:00.001-05:00

I had the privilege of going to a Pt. Ravi Shankar's concert. The concert ticket was a bit expensive for us PIGS. ( to be read as Poor Indian Graduate Students). So I was contemplating whether to go or not. After some thought,I decided to take the plunge. The challenge was to find out whether at the end of it, I come out poorer or richer?

So the concert begins..Er wait, who are those guys in T-shirts and jeans and backpacks. Oh thats us.

Value Addition #1 - You are supposed to dress up for any live show like a play, classical concert, opera etc. Wearing jeans and tshirts is strictly looked down upon even if you are a PIG.

So we have got pretty good seats, we sit down. We have a look at the programme ( yes everyone gets a printed programme !). Oh wow, there is an autograph session after the concert. Excellent! Fine print - Pt. Ravi Shankar will sign only CD's, books and DVD's. No tickets, programmes or flyers will be autographed. Damn it!

VA #2 - When you go to a concert of your favourite persona, always carry his CD or book if you have one.

After the initial anguish of not bringing any CD's along we setlle down. Till the maestro arrives, some are enjoying the ambience ( read as dressed up girls ), some enjoy the compnay of friends, while others are looking for an imaginary vada-pav vendor. As conversations reach high volumes, we suddenly realise that the seats in front of us are occupied by an Indian Prof. After a short lived embarassing conversation, we spot another prof a few rows in front of us and then another and then another.

VA #3 - If you want to network with people, events like these are unbeatable.

Lights dim and Pt. Ravi Shankar enters. A standing ovation for him. I cannot contain myself. He starts a raga ( no idea what it was - a music connosiuer that I am ), but soon he finds out that his sitar is not tuned very well. An assistant helps him gather the pieces of the half played, half detuned raga. Applause. I am loving it! Pt. Ravi Shankar is not. Sitar tuned in the smallish break and we are off again. This time he is back with a vengenance, he plays like a madman. We are just nailed to our seats. Excellent.

VA #4 - If someone is heralded to be that good, then he probably is.

Intermission, networking, small talk and still no vada-pav. Back inside after 15 minutes and the music restarts. It is almost mystical and yet very beautiful. The 'tabalji' (Tanmay Bose) is given a chance at a solo number. He makes the most of it. Bloody brilliant he is! Back to the great one, and he decides to go nuts and outdo his tabalji and what a treat that was. Brilliant. By the end of it he had our brains waves humming to his sitar. No one had the courage to even think of anything else while he was playing. Thats how good he was! In the end, almost a 15 minute standing ovation for him, till he left the stage...It was electric!

At 84 years, the man can barely walk, but give him a sitar and he will show you what speed and dexterity is. Sheer genius.

VA #5 - Age has nothing to do with skill.

Walking back, I realised I have been witness to some magic. The VA's aside I have come out of it a lot richer, a lot!

Rabbit and the Thesis

2004-09-24T15:50:00.000-05:00

Here is a a value addition that has occured to me recently:

There is a cute little bunny rabbit sitting outside his rabbit hole. He is typing away furiously with his fuzzy little paws on a laptop. Out of the blue, a jackal approaches the bunny and asks him
"What the hell is a bunny doing with a laptop?"
The bunny replies cooly, " I am writing a thesis. "
Astonished, the jackal asks him sceptically " What is the topic of your thesis ?"
" The topic is 'How to kill a jackal in 21 ways' "
Mighty curious, the jackal requests an experimental proof of the thesis. The rabbit takes him down his cute little rabbit hole. Out comes the rabbit chewing a jackal bone....

A hyena passing by, cannot resist quizzing the rabbit on the same topic, " What are you doing with a latop? "
" Writing a thesis on ' How to kill hyenas in a single bite' " replies the cute little bunny.
Laughing his head of(get the pun?), the unsuspecting hyena follows the rabbit down the rabbit hole for a quick demonstration. Out comes a rabbit with a rather large hyena bone in his mouth.

"Whats going on? " wonders a large grizzly bear watching the proceedings from a distance. He goes on over to ask the bunny about the laptop. The bunny replies
" I am writing a thesis on: Skin a bear in 7 minutes"
Determined to prove that this cant be done, the bear follows the rabbit down the hole.

And lo, what does he see, inside there is a Lion in one corner and a pile of bones in the other.

So what is the moral of the story?

" It doesnt matter what the topic of your thesis is, as long as you have a good advisor! "

Football & Fridays

2004-09-11T13:11:00.000-05:00

Dont get me wrong, I have not changed, I have just adapted. I had to turn towards non-vegeteranian food. I was a veggie by choice (go PETA!)...but in this land of corns and potatoes, I really got tired of the "Garden Burger!". Yuck! Make it bland and make it tasteless, thats what the cooks swear by. So I said adios potatoes and have entered the land of pork,salami,tunas and what not. Foodies delight, meat everywhere. I try not to eat any of it as far as possible, but I just hate paying a lot more for beans and potatoes. So I rather satisfy my tongue, tummy and my wallet than my ethics. Sad isnt it! But whats that to do with Football and Fridays??

As it turns out, a lot. Along with these new food items, football* and fridays are the new additions to my " I love it " list! Simply put in mathematical equations

(cricket:India) ^ a very large number ::
football**:usa

They are plain nuts about it here. College football rocks at Purdue, go Boilermakers!! As I post this blog, I have an eye on the India vs Kenya match and the Purdue vs Ball State game. Fantastic. In pure american ishtyle people leave their wives, kids, money, jobs, responsibilities and cars ( giving up their car is is the epitome of sacrifice ) everything to go to a college ball game. The atmosphere around here is electric. I have to go to a ball game and I will get to soon( hopefully!)

Fridays- another new trend for me. Never knew this day would grow in importance to me. But it has in more ways than one. Work like a mad dawg (hheeheh) during the week and come friday, just let go in the evenings. Enjoy and have loads of unadultarated fun. Saturday go to school late in the afternoon (say 12.00 pm) Light work! Sunday is easing back into the week. Monday - Full steam ahead. ( Boiler phrase! )and it so it continues..

** not to be confused with the more popular version of the one truly universal game which actually includes the use of our feet! Hence the name.

Ignoramus Maximus

2004-09-03T12:47:00.000-05:00

I had been repeatedly told stories about the "Ignorant American". So after settling down in my school I decided to hunt for these species. So I started my search right here in my very own lab. Fearing that I might be surrounded by these species, I decided to trap these creatures one by one.

The first guy I cornered into a conversation after much hassle, turned out to be of the wrong species. He knew more about the Jains and Vedas than I ever could. Instead he ended up giving me a lecture on how the Japanese and Indians share a lot of common traits. Damn neat but an awful waste of time if you consider the main aim of the conquest. I release the poor soul.

Ahhhh..Creature two has been trapped, I am almost overjoyed with the fact that I have found one of these species which are supposedly so abundant this side of the Atlantic. After weaving in and out of small talk about football(not the kind that is played with feet) and cars, I successfully herd him towards the watering hole. Ready for the kill. Alas he changes colours like an ABCD in a desi gang! He also seems to know a lot about a lot of things, although the creature is not as intellectually developed as the first creature. Then I realise that the Graduate school may not be the choice of grazing areas for this elusive creature.

So I set up the Machan in the school Recreational/Sports Centre thinking that I ought to spot atleast a few, in an hour of basketball. Comon, Basketball playing freshman right out of Akron or someplace, I was sure to find a few. Out come the guns, seeking a juicy target...but no takers. their knowledge of Kamasutra and Goa ( well atleast they know something ) amazed me. One creature was ever so bold to even ask me from what part of Pune was I from. ( near Osho was his guess!) Then and there I gave up my quest, threw the guns in the swimming pool and walked out.

Mission failed! Then suddenly it hits me, that I actually have found one, a real nice specimen, true to the species...its me! Ignoramus Maximus!

Equality

2004-08-27T14:25:00.000-05:00

The human mind is very funny, I call it funny because I cant figure it out. Somethings sticks out like sore thumbs on a general scale with everyone and somethings are just my own faults. The following may fall into either of the categories.

Judging someone, I do it so quickly so fast that I dont have to be even conscious to do it. Seriously, the other day I had my first class. I was wondering how good my classmates will be and how will I fare amongst them? It didnt bother me that I may be at the bottom of the pile,( so true in this case ) what bothers me more is that I dont know where I stand. So off I go judging people. In the midst of all the judging, I realise I have no equals..I really dont!!!

How come ? The reason is that I have uptill now categorised each person I have ever known above or below me in each topic. I say I am better at math than person X. Or person Y is better at tribology than me. ( Y = all my labmates ) I usually never say something like this - " hey that Z guy is as good as me at xxx " I never do , I really never do.

So my question is are there any real equals? Does equality exist ? Some more thinking leads me to the answer or what I think is the answer... An equal is someone who is better than you at 50% of the things and worse than you at 50% of things. Thus we have achieved equality without actually having any...

just my 0.2c

Research ..bah...

2004-08-18T09:49:00.000-05:00

What do we know about research. It sounds really cool and also it is nice to tell other people that you are doing research. But what the hell do you do when you do research. I recently found out the hard way.

I have been assigned a project with some XXX company to do some research)there is that word again ). Yahooo finally some action I say. But then the work really starts and after a while I am able to summarsise the whole research thingy into a few basic steps

1. Read textbooks on subject of Research.
2. Read journal and conference papers on the subject of research.
3. After you have finished steps 1 and 2,you now know what needs to be actually done.
4. So you try to theorise and analyse and formulate and code what you think is new. (the easiest part)
5. Validate it by running some experiments or mooch of data given by someone else.
6. Help implement your research to the company which has been paying your tution.
7. Write a thesis on the damn thing.
8. Go and present the paper everywhere to make sure that you have actually done something.
9. Graduate.

I am on step one. So I better study.

Go Boilers

2004-08-15T12:04:00.000-05:00

Thats what they call the people here - boilermakers ( hint hint : bapat apply here )
simply translated bambawale :)

I had met one of my brothers friends a few years ago and he had said that in USA, there are two parallel subcultures and they never intersect. It is just today I realised what he meant. Today was independence day celebrations joint with pakistan. Bharatmata ki jai. As inappropriate as it could get I told many jokes about our carrom names " Mohandas" and "Nehru", and it was very inapporpriate and very funny ( thanks raje )

I was rudely back to first floor from seventh heaven when I was told that I have barely scraped through one subject scoring 41/100. As you sow so shall you reap comes to mind. On the topic of sowing and reaping, if you take an ariel photograph of Purdue you will find it to be encompassed by corn fields on all sides for miles. Back to the point. 41 - my first and last forty in engineering was scary. Maybe I should I studied the subject more, but mostly I feel like I dont care enough. Is this what happens when you are applying for a happy-go-lucky attitude.. damn..Change is needed in the thought process...

I received another scary piece of information today. A book , by someone who I consider a very very good friend of mine. I was scared to death when I read it. Scared very scared...I almost cried when I read it. Dont know why? Maybe there are things we cant explain logically or maybe I am just dont cut it....

Herd Mentality

2004-08-09T14:53:00.000-05:00

Pre Orientation and Orientation have begun in my school. What I see here is that no one (Freaking desis -- that is the official terminology) wants to socialise. Everyone has a big/small group which they like to travel and hang around in. No one wants to talk to someone else even from India. ( let alone amru loka ) I cannot understand why? Mebbe they are scared and/or they dont have the confidence to talk to other people. I used to do the same thing but never realised it. Today when I see them I can see how I used to act and it seems so ridiculous. You can learn so much by talking to other people especially from different cultures. Till now I have talked to so many people from so many various countries that I cannot even remember all of them. I agree that there are more Indians in our Engineering departments than others but still I would like to see people make an effort to talk to others.

Just today I was standing in line for something, where a Canadian girl ( not a babe ) was standing in front of me, I talked to her for an hour or so. She was here to do political science, we talked about that. Very interesting, I gotta to learn a lot. It was nice, I would never see her again probably nor does it matter, but it was nice.

I also like to talk to our Grad Office Incharge- Sandra Trapps ( a 55 year old lady with cookies in her bag :) ) khup interesting asta..

Mebbe I talk too much. I have to find out abt the heard mentality? Why I say?
again familiarity, sharing of interest comes to mind - but those reasons are wokay when u are in India. Here u are the minority - How can u afford to not to talk to them??

I wonder why?

Strong Connections

2004-08-05T17:19:00.000-05:00

I have been living with so many fresh students coming for fall 2004 that it is quite dizzying. It has been fun we had over 4 people come in fresh right after me and there are a few more that are coming and there are a few more that I have seen up close. One thing that jumps to mind is the things they( or maybe even I did )have in common. Very easy to typofy human behaviour I say, however different we proclaim oursleves to be we actually are literally made out of the same stuff.

One example to this POV is the very first thing any fresher here does( I mean me also ) is sit on the internet, I wonder why? I really wonder why? Then it came to me like a Poli on this side of the Atlantic. They all sit on the internet because oceans away it is still the only thing that hasnt changed. Damn it. They sit on the internet not because they want to chat with friends and stuff, all that is incidental, what draws them to the internet so powerfully is the familiarity. In a strange land in a strange house with strange people eating strange food (hehe), you naturally seem to find solace in the safe familiarity of the internet. You DO. I did the same. Internet has become a safe place for hiding from a new and unknown world, u feel great when u see the same old inbox with the same old contacts.

strong connections definitely

Service Industry

2004-08-03T07:47:00.000-05:00

Day 2 in Lafayette and decided to open a bank account. I earmarked the whole afternoon for it. I thought, damn the banking and all that junk. Far vel janar. So there I am armed with my passport going to open an account. I walk in. I am quickly whisked away by the staff there to an upper office. Office madhe me baslo, then Rachel came in. She took about 10 minutes to open an account (free of cost of course ). She also explained how their banking system works ( same as ours but just to make sure ). She made a brand new card ( yes my first card of any sorts ) instantly and there I was on the street with enough banking knowledge to last a lifetime, a card (debit) enuf money and lots of other stuff she planted on me.

VERY NICE service they have, I cannot imagine such a service in India. DAMN. very very helpful, she gave her own personal email id and ph to call if there are any questions and the whole card business just took me off my feet, and engraved card with my name just like that, I will get over it.

Went to the school and the same service there, cool staff in the school, although by rules i cant register till next week but cool nevertheless. Customer - jyachaya karta kashta karun marmar kartat he log. in india customer- dukanatle sarvat durlaksha karnyachi vastu.

funny

where am I?

2004-08-01T20:10:00.000-05:00

I am supposed to have a culture shock and be amazed at how awesome the country is. But to the disappointment of some people this has not been so. I have been to four states in USA - NY,PA,OH,IN. The only thing that has amazed me is their that their infrastructure is really cool. They have strengthened their infrastructure to such an extent that one can only imagine. This is has lead to something I call meritocracy. Only the meritorose ( hehehe ) shall survive. The reason for this is that no one can no longer hide behind some excuses of infrastructure or corruption. Sir aaj diva navhte, sir aaj traffic madhe adaklo, sir computer free navte. DAMN. So what remains is the individual. You determine your own performance no one else. DAMN.

Another things that the YAnks are good at is Marketing. e.g Niagara. It is not the tallest and it is not the largest not the most beautiful nor is it the oldest etc. But the way they have been able to market it is impressive. You cannot help but falling for it. I just loved it. It was very beautiful and well organized, clean and just so well packaged that you will love it. I wish I could go back just once more.

So long and thanx for all the fish!

2004-07-28T03:19:00.001-05:00

Those who know what that means, they will know where it is coming form. This will be probably my last post from this side of Karve Road. A chapter draws to close and I feel sad. But the story of Hem and Haw is to my rescue, CHANGE is good. One chapter over means a new one is beginning. The worst part, the worst part is losing my friends and family. Sometimes I feel I should put them all in my pocket and take them along everywhere, for advice for cribbing, for hovagiri, for COEP maaz, for good or for worse, I wish they would be in my pocket.

Nonetheless they are not, they have been very kind and generous to me, put up with a humungous amount of crap I dole out on them (KK,Baggu - spl mentions). I hope I can meet them somewhere sometime someplace nice. Kudos to them all.

Something abt the University of Purdue - it cannot be as good as COEP.
Something abt the country USA - Its a free country and the country is for sale. ( thanx to HO for it)
Something abt my parents - PURE GOLD!!!
Something abt my friends - bada is sorry and grateful to all, bada was one lucky bastard to have such great friends as you
Something abt Pune - punekar he punekar ( gheun tak! )

this is me aditya kasarekar (research whore) signing off from this part of town.

PS to all readers - Heartbeat and pulse rate are different!

Have I forgotten some?

2004-07-26T13:26:00.000-05:00

This is what is bugging ( not u sushrut ! ) me for the past few days. I am leaving my beloved homeland in a few days. I am technically supposed to be excited or at least in profound grief. But when the dastardly Mr. mankar asked me what I was feeling, this is what came to mind. Shallow isnt it?

Speaking of all things shallow, I read a shallow book "5.someone" , very shallow. But I liked it a lot. Maybe I am shallow?

I am new to this blogging and stuff, I hope I get it right. Performance anxiety on a blog...damn it, I am feeling low.

shree

2004-07-26T06:51:00.000-05:00

"shree"
That is how all good things start in India

I met fellow COEPian Shantanu ( to be read as brilliant ) the other day... He has decided to write a book the tender age of 22.err sorry 21.

I thought to myself why not atleast a blog for me. So here it is I have decided to blog on my birthday.

The other reasons for starting a blog are two comp science geniuses who pegged me to it "anup mankar u dick" and "kunal serious thakar".

So it begins....