Source: Dilbert.com

In search of a friend

In search of a friend, who will laugh in your joy and cry in your sorrow. In search of a friend, who will take up your pains as they were her own. In search of a friend, who will replenish your will when you are feeling down and out. In search of a friend, who will know your mood without you having to voice it. In search of a friend who is the fountain of positivity. In search of a friend who only knows how to give, and is the epitome of generosity. In search of a friend who makes you see all the good in the world.

In search of a friend that you once had but now lost. In search of a friend that you turned your back on, though she had your back. Looking back, you still feel that search incomplete. But in your heart of your hearts you know that you had it and lost it.

Puritans might say that you dont need friends, what you need is some focus and drive. You bow your head and say, I agree and move on.

मतदान को दान मत करो| Cast your vote, but dont give it away.
Check candidate profiles for maharashtra at http://myneta.info/mh2009/

Cleanliness, Energy conservation, Education and what not...

India needs a lot of improvement. India is a great place to be in this 21st century because of many hopeful reasons like democracy, secularity, no racism, and so on. Sure, there have been occassions when it feels like "where is the democracy, I dont see it!" or "Seriously, democracy is not helping at all!" or "where is the secularism, those are just words". Sure it feels that way sometimes, but I feel that its not really true. It feels that way sometimes only because we tend to take our freedom for granted. Once we take for granted the rights that we have, anything that binds us starts seeming like a huge burden. It should be noted that atleast we have a constitution in place which says that we are secular and democratic. Atleast we as a people agree to be anti-racist. Atleast we as a people know that our strength is "Unity in Diversity". And these can prove to be the pillars of India's goodness, small exceptions aside.

If the above paragraph has established that India is a good place to be in, let me proceed to the main subject matter that I wish to address in this post.

Inspite of all the goodness, we still need a lot more if we wish India to progress. And it has been proved time and again that India has ample human talent and resources. Then why is it that we are still not No. 1 in the game? It is because we need more team-work. We need to learn that 2 x 1man-hours is not just 2 man-hours, it can be more than that. We need to recognize this and take advantage of it. If one disadvantage of our country is over-population, then cant we turn it around and use this to our advantage by building bigger teams that can make 100 man-hours be equivalent to 200 man-hours! Is this possible? I believe it could be.

But lets first start small. What about our inherent evils like corruption and bribery? What about people littering the streets without a second thought? How did we get here? We would need to overcome these, before dreaming as big as being able to work productively in a team. And you know why I say this? Because maintaining a clean neighbourhood is probably the first team thing that we need to do. Even as a child, one may know that the same neighbourhood is shared by so many and keeping it clean means a service to all of those people. So if all the neighbourhood/colony dwellers are a team, then cleanliness of the neighbourhood/colony is a team job. All it really needs is a bit of consideration for the others, to stop littering the place.

That consideration for others is really the real deal. If you have consideration for others, and the others respectively have consideration for others (including you in that others), dont you think the entire country could be a better/cleaner place seemingly automatically? Think about it. Most of the garbage lying around in the streets is obviously deposited there by some persons who werent considerate enough. If each of those persons had taken the effort to not deposit their trash there, wont that street have been spotless except for the leaves from the trees probably?

I find this consideration in many people around me, and yet I also see it absent in many. When will this consideration start to become ingrained in us? When will it become a second skin for us?

Global Handwashing Day 2009: Spread the word, not the germs

Check out UNICEF's initiative here.

Chess final

Wow! What a game!

I think this is the first time when I have played with an equal opponent and ever won anything in such a close finish. It was all due to that girl of Chem that Maths had to give walk-over in semis inspite of lecture timing class with match clash. It was obvious that they would come later and ask for a match. So it happened that even though we breezed through Chem in the finals and won, we were again called to play with Maths. Apparently it was to satisfy every one involved.. Maths team wanted to play, organizers wanted to get out of the horrible mess they had made, CSE PG nominee wanted a clean slate for the victory, my team-mate felt the same way I guess, she played and already won just as I got there to discuss all this..

Then they finally turned on me and told me that this game I should play for my own satisfaction.. that would I be really satisfied if I had only played against a mediocre team to get the gold medal.. that the real team had not even played against me..I knew they were trying to emotionally blackmail me, but once I spoke to my team-mate, she also said that being CSE, let us be generous. Let us play this and watever happens, happens.

Well, then I felt that even I had been looking forward to playing with the girl from Maths dept. So I thought why not play and see what happens. Btw, in the meantime, one of the organizers had already asked me to go for inter-iit chess and I thought that if I am so afraid to play this girl, how would I play inter IIT, so I finally thought yes.

First game I was white, but these days I am always finding my queen blocked behind the knight by the opponent's bishop. I felt it again today like a block in my throat literally. It was somehow frustrating and then I made a wrong move. I pushed a pawn thinking I have both knight and queen to support it, little realizing at that time that I couldnt move the knight at all due to my queen being pinned. So when she took the pawn, it suddenly dawned on me that it had gone free unlike what I had imagined. And ofcourse, I also realized that I would have lost my queen for sure if I had played like I had thought I would. And that realization beat the living daylights out of me. (Yeah it was night already but still the daylights were beaten out of me). And I began taking more and more time, my clock was running out of time.

Another wrong thing I did was I pushed the middle pawn in front of the castle in an attempt to push away her knight. She did withdraw the knight, but it just opened up the castling and that proved to be my downfall in the first game. She lined up her queen and white bishop for a mate-in-two, and I saw no way out. So I resigned. I do not understand why everyone was so shocked that I resigned, coz I was sure that she was good enough to have planned it and execute it perfectly. In fact it was a mate in one-move except that I could do somethign to push it to two, thats all. There was no other way to save my king with my rooks, queen & bishop. So I resigned and asked to begin the next game.

She was very relieved that she had won the game, and asked me whether I was sure that I wanted to play the second game. She said there was no pressure, and that we didnt have to play if I didnt want to. Ofcourse I wanted to play the second game! I wanted to beat her. I knew I could if I were just a little bit more careful. So began the second game with again 20 minutes on the clock and a fresh board.

This time I got black. And my heart sank at first. But then there was no turning back, and all I had to do was play. She also played the normal opening, nothing fancy. But even the normal opening did out pan out the same way as "normal". She kind of juggled a couple of moves, but eventually we seemed to hit the same kind of position as normal. And once again I found my knight pinned in front of my queen. If I move my queen, she ll take my knight and I have to take it with my king-side castle pawn. That will open up my castle and give her queen free reign to march in. Ahh, it was so frustrating. So I thought I ll do the same to her what she is trying to do to me. So I also pinned her knight the same way.

Later in the game I was so desperate to break her castle that I tried every trick possible. Btw, I should mention that somewhere along the way I became 2 pieces up! Yup! Even I cant believe it now! And another thing I realized was that even near end-game, all my 8 pawns were intact. Then that started to become suffocating, coz my rooks were practically useless when all files were blocked. And my time was still running out, I was thinking much much more than her. When I had 6-7 minutes remaining, she stil had 12-15! I dont remember exactly but it was a lot..

Meanwhile, her knight had rode up on the right hand side of my board, and poised ready to put infinite number of forks wherever I moved. I can not imagine now how I saw all of those chances
and avoided them successfully, but I have to just say a big "thank you" to God for it. There was a particular instance where any move I would do with either of my rooks or my queen, in an
apparent attempt to protect my king and the castling would have resulted in a fork from her knight! It was so frustrating, and that too with time running out like that. I literally squirmed in my seat, as if I wanted to lay down and get away from this game or something :-D There was an attack on my queen and I had to move it some place safe, usually I would have moved it right into the face of the fork but somehow I saw it, and moved much farther away from it.

When finally my castle seemed secure with my bishop sitting in front guarding it, I finally breathed a little. But I also realized that having all 8 pawns blocking all ranks, was causing trouble. So I pushed the center pawn. If she had let me go til the end, I would have made a queen and atleast got a piece of hers in exchange for the new queen. So I just kept pushing it and beating the clock to save time. At that time, finally she panicked and she began losing time too. And to prevent the pawn from becoming queen, she cut it in mid-way and finally my rank was open! Out came my right-hand rook and attacked the queen. Behind the queen was her rook (right in line) and my queen was right adjacent to her rook, ready to strike. As soon as her queen moved to save herself, my rook ploughed right ahead and took out her rook - Check! She had to use her other rook to exchange. I took that one using my queen and said Check again. So now she had a Queen and bishop remaining. While I had queen, rook and both bishops remaining. That was a fantastic situation to win.

But you know what, I had only 3-4 minutes remaining. And her queen and bishop lined up to take out my king. I realized that it was not at all possible to bring out my other rook, and achieve any back-rank mate. So when her king moved up from the corner of his castle, I gave a check with my queen right under the nose of her queen, offering an exchange - you take me or I ll take you. Either way it was only an exchange. She didnt take it, so I did and then breathed again. Atleast now, no matter what she does, she cant check-mate me coz she just had a bishop and few pawns scattered here and there. Whereas I had 2 bishops and rook. So now if I lose, it would be only on time. So I just went crazy. I just brought out my rook and gave check, cut pawns, moved with no aim, just playing and banging the clock to make it stop and not run out of time. People surrounding us were afraid that we were gonna break the clock, and I was kind of sorry for that too. But I had no time to think of the clock's health right then. I just didnt care for a win anymore. I was willing to settle for a draw even. She panicked too, and played couple of illegal moves. And I didnt even see them!

In fact, she became mate 3 times! And I was so busy giving check and making moves and banging the clock that I didnt even realize!!!! After 3rd illegal move, my dept. PG sports nominee (thankfully) shouted, "3 illegal moves, 3 illegal moves". And I was like wat, wat. My eyes were still on the clock thinking I m losing time even during this argument! And she said, but she didnt claim any of those illegal moves, so they dont count. Originally rule is that if I claim 3 illegal moves, then she loses. And since I didnt claim yet, it doesnt count. Thats when I really opened my eyes and saw that indeed she was already check-mate! She had been check-mate 5-6 moves ago, and still we had been continuing. If my flag had fallen before hers (which it was inching towards) without me realizing that she was already check-mate, I would have lost nevertheless! But thankfully, I awoke from my trance in time to see that I had actually won..

Wow what a nail biting finish! Actually nail-biting for everyone else except me, coz I didnt have time even to bite my nails :D

The spirit of a victory...

Being a good player and a good sports-person are equally important. Being a good player, one does indulge in mental games too, playing with the psyche - its all about who can hold it together till the end of the game. Coz, obviously all participants are equally under pressure. The one who is good is under pressure of expectations, and the one who is not-so-good is just under pressure to perform.

You use whatever tactics you need, that help you to hold it together, get through the game, win it. But once the game is over, whatever be the outcome, hold your head high and be graceful about it - whether you win or you lose. You do the best you can on the field given the circumstances and given the pressures, and thats it. When the game is over, you are free - whether you win or you lose.

There is nothing more off-putting than a sore loser or a sore winner. Well, in TBBT, Leonard explains that (Sheldon) being an unpleasant winner justifies Sheldon's bad loser behaviour, and that explanation summarizes the whole point. Only an unpleasant winner can ever be a sore loser, and a sore loser is the antithesis of a good sports-person. Ergo, grace in both victory and defeat is an essential component of sports, and ofcourse life.

Why is life like that?

Without a close friend around, life starts to feel lonely. No, it is not that Preeti didnt have any friends and therefore was feeling lonely. But, definitely there was a fall in the number of friends surrounding her, compared to the same month, last year. And the void, she felt, was inescapable.

She was not the kind to drown herself in memories, or long for the days gone-by. Well, atleast not all the time :-D. Very wild mood swings characterized her day. When she doubted herself, her potential, there wasnt anyone she could share it with, who would assure her that she was gonna be just fine. So she did that job herself. She spoke to herself throughout the day, convincing herself, persuading herself to not give up in her quest.

She also had plans for the future, big plans. But those future plans depended on her ability to handle the present well. And her confidence in herself was kind-of becoming rickety.

And yet, she experienced everyday what a great opportunity she had. She regaled everyday, in the knowledge that she had had a better life than most. And every day that she lived, was a gift that she treasured. Preeti wasnt one to be cowed down by insecurities. She vowed to herself everyday, that she would rise. And she declared, "I am not complaining". :-)

Talk of ambiguity

"Spare the rod and spoil the child..."

Talk of ambiguity! Is the above sentence pleading with you to please spare the rod and pamper the child, make the child feel like a prince/princess? Or is it actually a warning that if you decide to spare the rod, you would end up raising a spoilt brat (which is decidedly not what you want to do!)?

Definitely a case of context lending meaning to the prose! Did I say already that I love English? :-)

Chance encounter with a snake

Half an hour back when I was leaving hostel to come to lab, I had a chance encounter with a long snake. I was on the B-wing corridor that enters the mess, walking absent-mindedly thinking of this and that and the other. And apparently the snake was day-dreaming too, hoping to cross from one wall of the corridor to the other.

I do not know whether the snake saw me coming. Well they say that snakes dont have eyes, so it wouldnt have really "seen" me anyway but you know what I mean. So it happened that the snake and I managed to startle each other during our absent-minded walks. While I gave out a loud yell and stood in my position, the snake took a different approach to handle the situation. It jerked suddenly and started wiggling even more wildly.

Its body was long and though its mid-portion was quite fatter than my arms, its head was very small, so I couldnt really make out which end was its head and which was its tail. Well you might be thinking why I wanted to know which end was its head. The thing is that, in the split-second that my body decided to move, my brain told it to first figure out the head direction so that it could be clear where the snake wished to move and therefore, my body could move (read run) in the opposite direction.

But the longer my body stood there letting my brain try to decipher head and tail, the more was the danger to my body. So body's reflex action started taking over and telling my brain to shut-up. But my brain wouldnt budge, saying that if my body moves in opposite direction, I might end up stepping on the snake itself, which undoubtedly will be an unpleasant experience for the snake and might be full of unpleasant consequences for me too. So after a long 2-second struggle between body and brain, they reached a concensus that since the snake's body frame, and hence direction of motion, was loosely perpendicular to my direction of motion therefore it would be wise to just run back instead of attempting any more investigative activities at the moment.

And that was it, my brain gave command to run back, my body willing took the step without making any mistake and ran 5-6 feet back and then ofcourse turned back to make sure that the snake wasnt following. My brain congratulated my body on a mission well accomplished while my heart complained of a few missed beats.

Meanwhile, the snake was also apparently very perplexed with the kind of behaviour that my brain and body were exhibiting. In its fright, it changed tracks and instead of going the way it was previously going, it fell down the steps into the mess. As soon as my heart's missing beats were back, my eyes saw 2 mess workers in the mess, cleaning up. I suddenly found my voice again, and it shouted (in English), "There is a snake there" while my fingers pointed into the mess, thus establishing for a fact that even now my bodily movements were still coordinated.

Just when my voice was done shouting, my brain reprimanded it for having shouted in English. It said, "dont you think hindi/marathi would have been a better choice if you were trying to warn the mess workers?" Well my voice agreed and was just about to yell in hindi/marathi instead but realized that the mess workers had been generally looking in my direction and had already seen the snake. They were already running after the snake, pointing it out and planning some party for it. So my brain let my voice off the hook, and my body finally heaved a huge sigh of relief.

Judging by the mess workers point of attention, my eyes concluded that the snake had moved near the windows of the mess and hence the B-wing entrance into the mess was relatively safe to tread on. However, just to be on the
safer side, my brain commanded my body to jump the steps into the mess and run out of the mess in a single go. Thankfully, once again my body complied without tripping anywhere, and finally I reached the lab to write this post.

The Cloud is the computer

http://www.elasticvapor.com/2008/07/cloud-is-computer.html

nahi chalta hai

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/randomaccess/entry/chalta-hai-killed-ysr

Well, I am sure that the so-called "Chalta hai" attitude has caused many, many more problems for everyone throughout the history of mankind. But as they say, now is as good a time as ever to bring in a positive change. So going forward, no more "chalta hai".

Ph.D Welcome Function

Few pieces of wisdom:-

Prof. Phatak:
D - think Deep
E - Enjoy
W - Work hard

Prof. Ranade and Nagarajan:
Aim for beauty, utility and originality in your work.

Prof. R. K. Joshi:
If you feel you are working hard, it means you are really struggling or beating your head on a wall. Then its time to take a break or get a chai. In fact, when you start making progress, you wont feel the stress of hard-work and work will become enjoyable for you and you will be able to work really long hours, which will finally make others feel that you are working hard!

The exact opposite of my life's story right now

Check this.

Edit: Interestingly, by a curious play of events, this seems to have become a mirror of my life's story right now, rather than being the opposite :-)

Dealing with expectations

As Sanjana sat there with the feeling of disorientation sinking in, images flashed in her head of her parents, her friends and family crediting her with high standards, placing her on a high pedestal, practically imploring her to not let their expectations down.

The thought was frustrating that she was indeed letting everyone down. What was she? Was she really capable of fulfilling their expectations or was it just that their judgement was clouded? Was she ever worthy of being placed on that pedestal? Was it just their well-wishing nature that made them build her up like that?

And what about herself? What did she want to do? Was she gonna take up the challenge or not? Did it really matter what others thought or didnt, as long as she was willing to take it up and follow it through?

With this thought, she decided to shake off all negativity and start anew. So, she stopped staring at her 5th standard report card, put it away and grabbed her social science notebook to study for the next impending exam.

Plasticity - The Influence of Environment on Human Brain

Researchers use the term plasticity to describe the way the brain creates, strengthens, and discards synapses and neuronal pathways in response to the environment. The brain's "plasticity" is the reason that environment plays a vital role in brain development.

The early over-production of synapses appears to be the result of evolution that has led our brains to expect certain experiences. Our brains prepare us for these experiences by forming the pathways needed to respond to those experiences. For example, our brains are "wired" to respond to the sound of speech; this is how we learn to talk. But these early synapses are weak; we must be repeatedly exposed to the expected experiences within a certain time period to activate and strengthen them. If this does not happen, the pathways developed in anticipation of those experiences may be discarded, and the development of the related functions will not occur as expected. This is often referred to as the "use it or lose it" principle.

In addition to strengthening or discarding existing synapses, researchers theorize that some synapses may be newly developed in response to unique environmental conditions. It is through these processes of creating, strengthening, and discarding synapses that our brains adapt each of us to our unique environment.

The ability to adapt to our environment is a part of normal development. Children growing up in cold climates or rural farms or large sibling groups learn how to function in those environments. But regardless of the general environment, all children need stimulation and nurturance for healthy development. If these are lacking-if a child's caretakers are indifferent or hostile-the child's brain development may be impaired. Because the brain adapts to its environment, it will adapt to a negative environment just as readily as it will adapt to a positive environment.

Source: http://www.enotalone.com/article/9967.html

Plasticity - The Influence of Environment, on Human Brain

Researchers use the term plasticity to describe the way the brain creates, strengthens, and discards synapses and neuronal pathways in response to the environment. The brain's "plasticity" is the reason that environment plays a vital role in brain development.

The early over-production of synapses appears to be the result of evolution that has led our brains to expect certain experiences. Our brains prepare us for these experiences by forming the pathways needed to respond to those experiences. For example, our brains are "wired" to respond to the sound of speech; this is how we learn to talk. But these early synapses are weak; we must be repeatedly exposed to the expected experiences within a certain time period to activate and strengthen them. If this does not happen, the pathways developed in anticipation of those experiences may be discarded, and the development of the related functions will not occur as expected. This is often referred to as the "use it or lose it" principle.

In addition to strengthening or discarding existing synapses, researchers theorize that some synapses may be newly developed in response to unique environmental conditions. It is through these processes of creating, strengthening, and discarding synapses that our brains adapt each of us to our unique environment.

The ability to adapt to our environment is a part of normal development. Children growing up in cold climates or rural farms or large sibling groups learn how to function in those environments. But regardless of the general environment, all children need stimulation and nurturance for healthy development. If these are lacking-if a child's caretakers are indifferent or hostile-the child's brain development may be impaired. Because the brain adapts to its environment, it will adapt to a negative environment just as readily as it will adapt to a positive environment.

Source: http://www.enotalone.com/article/9967.html

Badminton G.C sob story..

Premise: Initial meeting of H-10 and H-11 sports secretaries and Institute Girls Sports Nominee and Institute Sports Secy, decides badminton GC rules, alongwith all other games rules also.

Story:
1. As the day for badminton G.C nears, Institute Girls Sports Nominee mails:

> The rules we had decided were as follows:
> There will be 3 groups of 3 players each.
> In each group, 1 player will play 1 double and one single. The other 2
> players will play one match each( either 1 single or 1 double).
> Only one group can consist of Inter- IIT players(some or all may be
> Inter-IIT players in that group).
>
> Since infy people play baddy, it shouldn't be a problem getting players,
> so
> I hope I won't get any cribs for this from the hostels :)
> Please mail soon if anyone has any questions.
Our Conclusion: There have to be minimum 9 players and not 6, like last year. This is to encourage maximum participation on both sides (as decided by mutual consent by H-10 and H-11 representatives et.al. in the above-mentioned formal meeting.

2. On a later date, Institute Badminton secy mails, but messes up the Girls GC and Boys GC rules, later apologizes for the confusion.
Our Conclusion: Rules stay as decided (pasted) above only, there is no change.

3. One member of the H-10 badminton team (apparently their NEW sports secy), mails:
> Hi,
> So, are we meeting at 7 p.m.? That's fine wid me.
> Also as regards the rules, we'll stick to the rules decided.
> viz. 3 teams per hostel, exactly 1 of them may have Inter IIT players,
> singles, doubles, reverse singles format; best of 3 games of 21 points each.
Our Conclusion: The pre-decided rules are being followed and there is no change, since she has clearly written that "we'll stick to the rules decided"

4. Day of the badminton G.C arrives
After playing the first singles match, we learn that the next match compulsorily has to be a doubles match (because in the mail above she has written singles, doubles, reverse singles - so apparently thats like the order of matches to be conducted. Was I expected to read their minds? I thought all of us were mature enough to write dis-ambiguous mails.). We oppose their high-handedness quite a bit but all in vain. They are hell bent on playing the doubles before the second singles. Fine, we give in.

After the doubles match, we observe that they dont have a third player and are instead repeating the second player also. We obviously raise the issue that rules are pre-decided and we havent been informed that we are not going with those decided rules. As per decided rules, they have to play minimum 3 players in a single team but they are prepared with only minimum 2. This is grossly unfair and inspite of being straight-forward and forthright about things, the only thing we got in return was mocking, discouragement, indifference and plain visible support for H-10 on the part of the authorities present there (even an in-call was given in their favour though it was clearly out and there was no chance that the referee could have seen it from where he was sitting. The only fair thing might have been for him to call it a re-serve but ofcourse, if he gives a re-serve, H-10 might end up losing. Oh ya! that cant be allowed right?)

After more than an hour of discussions (H-11 v/s everyone else present there), finally we gave in and decided to play by whatever rules they suggested. We were given some time to make new teams of minimum 6 players. Ya our brains had been numbed into submission by then maybe, coz we made the wrong decisions at such a crucial time and ended up losing the G.C to them.

H-10 has definitely won the badminton G.C points tonight. But if whatever happened today on that court, is history, then it is a challenge to H-11 to ensure that this history NEVER repeats.

Talk about having an Asura star!

The concept of having an Asura star gets to me sometimes; I wonder whether I really am an evil person inside, but just havent recognized my talents yet. :-D

But then I meet some relatively "normal" and I realize that I am much much more plain and innocent than most people around me. Atleast I am simple enough to say and do the same things, and not the diametrically opposite things.

Btw, talk about blowing your own horn! Ya lets reserve that for another day...

Applied for qualifier permission

Admission approved finally!