The Lonesome Road

I must sit down and write again,
Rejoin the writer’s tribe,
And all I ask is some quiet place,
Where I can sit and scribe.

I must sit down and write again,
Of things I hear and see,
For the simple act of writing,
Is one that sets me free.

I must sit down and write again,
For the call of the written word,
Is a strong force and clear force ,
That demands to be heard.
(with apologies to John Masefield)

As you can obviously see, poetry is not my forte - but it’s my blog, and I can put up what I want

Dad took my bike when he went to finish off some work. My dad and my bike are not very fond of each other. Every time he takes the bike out, he has some problem with it. This trip was no exception. As he was driving, the bike stalled and refused to start. Fortunately, dad managed to wheel the bike into a garage.

It seems that the petrol pumps have been mixing ethanol into the petrol. The percentage was quite low earlier. Now that the prices of crude have gone up, it seems that the percentage of ethanol in the petrol has also risen. The mechanics told dad that they would need to open the engine and reset the valves - at a cost of Rs.1200(appx USD 24). Dad hung around wondering what to do. Luckily, another mechanic came over and managed the start the bike. It seems that there is an additive that has to be added to the petrol/ethanol mixture in the ratio of 1 pouch to every 2.5 litres of petrol so that the valves stay in a working condition. Dad did as instructed and things seem to be fine now (touchwood!).

That’s all for now. Later all….

Well, this what happens after three weeks of no work in college - journal work and assignments rear their ugly heads. So today after college, I sat and helped in the destruction of a few trees by writing a twenty page report on “Study of Networks”. Do I hear someone say, “Write? Surely, you mean type!”. sorry - I mean write. As in using pen on paper. You see in India, we really haven’t taken the paperless revolution in stride. So, every year, we students write journals. At the end of the year, after the practical exams are done, a lab assistant skewers the file and then it’s junked. Yep junked - thrown away, or left to rot in some corner of college. Tell me then - why should anyone feel like writing journals or submitting assignments. It’s been two months since college started and we have finished one assignment so far.

Once the writing was done, sat and coded four modules. Two transmitters and two receivers. We have to simulate the working of the Sliding Window and Stop and Wait protocols of the Data Link Layer. Didn’t take all that long.

That’s basically it for today. Mind is a bit blank after four hours of networks, networks and more networks

Later all…

Well, it’s been a long time - but the whole family is back together today. Mom, dad and sis were all out of town. Mom and dad were busy with work for the last four weeks and my sis was out for her volunteer work all of last week.

Been driving quite a bit. Mom and dad came back last night at 1AM. Didn’t want them waiting around at that time of the night, so went and picked them up. Was 2:30 in the morning by the time we all slept.

This morning dad and I headed off to the temple. It’s the day of the year when we change the sacred thread. So, off we went bright and early. The ceremony as such is pretty short and then we went into the temple complex. It’s been quite some time since I was last at this temple, and the one thing that stood out today were the chains. Oh yeah - there were posts drilled in the temple floor and chains attached to them in order to restrict the movement of the devotees. I for one think that chains are one of the worst things that can be present in a temple. I mean it’s a place where a man goes to meet God and the thought that there are barriers seems sort of sacrilegious. I can understand restrictions and rules in a place which handles thousands of people a day - but this is a small temple and does not have teeming masses to deal with.

A temple is supposed to be a place of peace, a place where you can just forget the outside world and contemplate divinity. However, there are very, very few temples that give this sense of serenity. One thing is for certain though - when I go into the temple and look upon the face of god, the feeling is indescribable. You can literally feel the power that radiates from the idol. I’ll try to put up a photo later. It’s something that has to be experinced.

Well, came back and after lunch drove to the train station to pick up my sister. As luck would have it, on the way we realised the car had a puncture. So we drove carefully to a petrol pump and replaced it with the spare tire. By this time, my sis had disembarked and was waiting at the station for us. Hearing this, my dad decided that we needed to get to the station as soon as possible and I was demoted from driver to passenger and dad drove like the devil to reach the station as soon as possible. Thankfully, we got there in one piece.

Driving back home, my dad finally decided that I could drive again. I happily took over. Well, the happiness did not last very long - my dad can be a compulsive back-seat driver and it wasn’t long before he started giving directions. After a while I just didn’t bother - and as you can see I’m still alive and kicking.

So, here we are, all together again. It’s a nice feeling

In other news, one more friend has been bitten by the blog bug. You can go see his ramblings here.

Well, I’m off to spend some time with my family. See ya all later

So ends another week. Only one paper left in the mid-terms exams. This being the AI paper which was postponed due to forces beyond our control. So, that paper will be held on monday. Today’s papers actually went off well. Had five questions in OS - Short notes on OS, Scheduling, Process, Threading and Multithreading. Pretty simple. Our Computer Networks paper was even better - one note on ATM and the rest of the paper was objective.

Now that all this is out of the way, I have to seriously sit and start completing my journals and assignments. Also have to start working for my project. GRE work is going on well, so just have to keep pushing the pace on that front.

What else…Nothing really. Pretty relaxed day today for a change. Just got home. Want to sleep for a while and then back to work. Will try to finish off a couple of GRE exercises.

I’ll be back

As you know, I had two exams today CC and OOMD (for expansion on those acronyms, see the previous post). The actual subject matter for these subjects come from core subjects in third year engineering. Basically CC is a single chapter of Systems Programming explored in detail and OOMD is the object oriented part of Software Engineering with an emphasis on UML. Now, the basis for Compiler Construction is grammar. The subjects that deals with this topic and it’s basics is Theory of Computer Science. This subject deals with the basics i.e. Automata, Grammars, interconversion and the machines (Moore, Mealy, Turing).

There is a reason behind all this technical introduction. The CC test today, for it’s first question had this problem :

Convert to minimum state DFA : 0+11*(00+11)*0*1
For those who do not know, this is a regular expression. Now, the answer is basically to convert this into a diagramatic representation and then reduce it. Simple enough and taught to us in TCS. But could we do it today? Nope. As simple as that. This sum, oddly enough, has come in the exam we gave for this subject - but today we all drew a blank on it.

It’s a very odd system of study that we follow here. We all study for the subject in order to clear the paper/practical/oral. It’s as simple as that. The moment the exam is over, we just forget all about the subject. It’s just wiped clear from our minds. And it’s something that’s not exactly helpful as can be seen. I know this problem exists in me as well and it was brought into sharp focus today. Looks like it’s back to the books. Two more papers to go - Operating Systems and Computer Networks.

Anyway, on a different note, I was invited for a Gmail account. Unfortunately, it seems all I can do is login. Then I get this beautiful blank screen. Tried it using IE as well as Firefox, but the results stay the same. What’s worse is I can open the other services Google provides me using the address. Had Anshul try it out and it seems to work fine. Will have to look into it later.

On a more positive note, my friend Alok put up his first post. Have a look at it if time permits

Encourage creativity - Read a blog!

Well, I was supposed to have an A.I paper today - but was saved in time by an unlikely hero. Any guesses? Oh well, I’ll tell you - it was a seminar - this one on Web Technologies! I know I said no more on this topic, but as you can see, it’s just not willing to leave.

On a more serious note, my thanks to all those who prayed yesterday Now you have a double shift. I have two papers scheduled for tomorrow. Object Oriented Modelling and Design and Compiler Construction. So get cracking, you don’t have much time.

Later mates..

“The sanguine sunrise with it’s meteor eyes,
And it’s burning plumes outspread,
Leaps on the back, of my sailing rack,
When the morning star shines dead.

As on the jag of a mountain crag,
Which an earthquake rocks and swings,
An eagle alit, a moment may sit,
In the light of it’s golden wings”
- P.B.Shelley, “The Cloud”

Have a great day!

First things first. As you can see (if you’ve been here before ) that I have changed the page template and layout. Any comments/critiques on the same are welcome. Be kind.

Ok. I promise this is the last day I talk about the seminars - that is till the marks come out But what can I do - they seem to loom large in my life at present. The four seminars that were supposed to be held on saturday were cancelled due to the .NET lecture. They were supposed to be held yesterday. Unfortunately for them, we had another seminar scheduled by a gentleman from IIM - B. So, their seminars were shifted again and the poor chaps finally said their piece today. There might be a question in some minds about why the seminars were postponed. Was there no place to hold them? Were people too busy to attend? Were the other lectures more important? No my friends, the reason is far more prosaic. It is because in our college where six streams of engineering are taught, there is only one LCD projector. Thus, if there is a seminar, it becomes a case of priority scheduling and visiting faculty always rank higher on the scale. It’s a fact of college life. The four guys due to give the seminar today got confirmation at 1PM. Then they were told that they would have to speak at 2PM. Thankfully, they were well prepared and it looks like all 121 students of the computer department are through with their seminars

As you know, my main mode of transport is my bike. My friend Alok and I alternate bikes. Helps save petrol and only one of us has to do the Drive of Hell to college. When we look out in the morning before leaving for college/ afternoon before hweading back home/ going out, the skies will be clear/cloudy/sunny. Invariably however, the moment we drive out, it will start raining. It never fails. We’ve seen this happen for the last three weeks. I think someone out there has a twisted sense of humor

But it’s been a fun day today, especially now that I know we have mid-term exams from thursday to saturday. My paper for tomorrow is Artificial Intelligence. So people, start praying. I need help to pass this paper!

That’s all for today…

After two weeks of no work, going back to full time college is a major headache. One that is compounded when a lecture you drove through rain and muck for gets cancelled. Still ok…But then after that you find that there are no lectures after lunch - ah it’s not that simple. There are more seminars! Argh!

Anyway, finished with all that. Had to go to my computer class and set up dates for the last couple of modules I have. Looks like it’s going to be a september date for that. Happens.

Not in the mood to write any more. It’s bad out there. The air pollution is terrible - even through a helmet. Plus I’m really hungry. Will grab a bite soon.

Later mates…

Hey all. The sun finally came out today. There was sunshine, warmth and joy for all for half an hour before the clouds came in and muffled it all. It seems so odd that in a country of abundant sunshine, we haven’t had much of it in the past three weeks. It’s been a period of grey skies, cool weather and incessant rain.

This is perfect tea and crunchy weather. Relax in the balcony, with a steaming cup of tea and a bunch of fresh and crisp pakodas/samosas/. It’s amazing weather for some songs also. Watching the rain and hearing Kishore da sing “Rim Jhim Gire Saawan” is a treat.

Haven’t been following the Olympics much - not that I do every time it rolls around. When I last checked the medal tally, we are at par with Portugal and a country whose name I can’t even spell - though I think it goes like this - Kzakhstan or something thereof. People - wake up! Countries smaller and more impoverished than us ie african nations have more medals than us. It’s really disappointing. And to top is all we have the usual Great Indian Controversy. This time, it’s all about weight lifting. What’s wrong with this country?

Ok. Ranting over. I have breathed into a brown paper bag and repeated the mantra - Mera Bharat Mahaan. Feel much better now though I don’t know whether it was the words or the lack of oxygen to my brain. Moving on, a normal day in college. I went, I saw, I slept. Literally. Was pretty tired and all and fell (half) asleep in class. A shrink can use my notebook as a Rosach test - it’s all blurs and squiggles

What else…Nothing really. Hoping fore more sunshine. But for now, Mr.Rafi’s voice is flowing through my speakers and soothing me. Till next time, Adios amigos!

I love driving my car - and my bike for that matter. The bike will always be first love. It’s amazing - the feeling of freedom that comes with the wind in your hair. It just feels like you are flying - till you start hitting the potholes. At that stage you are too busy trying not to fall of the bike - which has suddenly become a bucking bronco. Bike driving is even more fun in the rains. You see, most of the roads here - atleast the roads we use are mud roads. So, when the rains fall, these roads become slush. Also what happens is that the roads achieve the consistency of chocolate. Thus as you drive, your front and rear wheels mostly decide to go off in different directions, making bike control a lot of fun.

You know, I used to think driving at night used to be fun. Empty roads and no people. Was in for a rude shock last night. Dropped my sis off at her college at 2AM. She had a 4AM train to catch. Was driving back through a clear road and all of a sudden there is this auto dude in front of me. No lights, no indicator. He just cut in front of me. Luckily was able to brake in time. No point screaming at him. He’s just used to driving this way. Drove more carefully after that. This just robs the fun out of driving.

Anyway, car driving is also pretty fun. It also shows you how badly people actually drive. You can’t make this out while driving a bike. Becomes very obvious in a car. A lot of my friends tell me that car driving is fun only the first year. Then it gets tiresome. I am reserving judgement on that issue. So far, it’s been fun.

That’s all folks.Till next time….

It’s over! Whoopee! No more seminars! Well, atleast till Sept 10th. That’s when we have TechTalk. What is that you ask - Nothing much. A whole bunch of students from various colleges come to our college. You see, techtalk is a seminar competition. Usually, the guys are chosen on the basis of the seminars that they have just given. And there are only two students allowed per college.

Can’t believe it’s finally over. But then the end did not come too easily. We sat through three seminars and then the bomb dropped. Before the last two seminars could begin, we would have to sit through a 1.5 hour lecture on .NET! So, we did what we do best - we ran. Fled actually. Though like smart students, we put in our attendance first

What else..I think God has forgotten to turn off the tap in this city. I mean, it rained so much that all the rivers, lakes, streams, dams, canals, buckets, glasses, thimbles are all flooded! And the situation of the roads - here in India, we make roads out of this material that is partly soluble in rain water. Thus, when you drive, you see places where the vitriolic rain water has eaten through the good roads our municipality so manfully tries to maintain.

On a more personal note, I went to pick my sis from college today. Just returned as a matter of fact. I have probably breathed in an equivalent of 10 packets of cigs. Man, is the air bad. Have a headache just from driving and breathing. And I’m infinitely grateful to God that I was driving my bike and not the car. Else this post would have come up a couple of hours later.

Anyway, need to go clear my head. Take care all….

Just a a small post. To keep in the habit of writing something.

What happened today? Well, went to college. Sat through a few more seminars. You know, after all this nonsense, I am actually looking forward to normal college.

Not a total waste of a day. Got my hands on Suse Linux. Man, it rocks! Move over Fedora. Meet the boss

What else..nothing actually. Though if someone can tell me how to make my ATI Radeon 9600 get 3D accelarated in Suse - I would be very grateful.

I leave you with a poem by one of my all time favourite quicky poet - Mr.Ogden Nash
“The cow is of the bovine ilk
One end is moo, the other milk.”

Enjoy!

Man am I relieved. Went to college today expecting to sirt through four hours of seminar and then being told that mine would be on saturday. Actually, the day did start off that way. I went, I sat, I (almost) slept . But then, when your friends are speaking - and especially when they can see you, sleep is quite out of the question.

Anyway, am sitting there from 9 in unconfortable clothes, waiting for people to finish speaking. And then, out of the blue, my internal turns up. He calls our little group and says - talk now, or forever hold your piece. Like we really needed any encouragement. So, like good troops, we went up on stage one by one and said what we spent the last two weeks preparing.

Well, we are supposed to talk for 15 minutes, but they are lenient enough to extend it to 20. I used 18 minutes. Pretty decent considering the last three speakers of the day reduced my life span by 30, 43 and 29 minutes respectively. This without considering the time for Q&A. Was asked three questions. Luckily for me, I sorta predicted those had come. Can’t take too much credit though - was common sense. So, all in all not a big problem.

have to be in bright and early tomorrow. In charge of the hall and the LCD projecter. Basically means the three of assigned this duty come first leave last. Still, should be fun tomorrow. Can ask all the questions I want without fear of retribution - my seminar is done!!

Later….

Ok - so I had my seminar today. I hate wearing formals, but since the rules dictate that you have to talk looking like a suit, had to go wearing a full sleeve shirt, trousers and (well, not me) a tie!

So, I’m sitting in this hall with 30 odd people, no fans and all the windows closed and curtained to cut the light. Why so? For the LCD projector. No point if you can see only glaring sunlight But as you can imagine, such a room does get stuffy. And with no air circulation and formal clothes…..God I hated it.

But this was not the best part. We have two teachers for our seminar. An internal and an exrternal. Both are teachers from our department. Our internal has some personal problems. Of course, the four of us scheduled to speak today have no idea about this. We go , we wait and then are told by the external that if the internal is absent, the seminar is a no-go. Now, ours are not the only seminars. My fellow students have their seminars too. The session ended early today - instead of the 13 sceduled, only 9 could speak (the 4 non-speakers being us). Now, the rest of the days are also filled. They will try to “accomodate” us on a stop-gap basis. This basically means that from tomorrow to saturday, my seminar can come up at any time on any date. Cheery thought right? The worst part - I have to wear formals!!

Well, here’s hoping for the best