Four Familiar Walls

/*The is a draft version..Will put up a 'refined' version with better rhyming and all that soon*/
Studies, books, wanderings and even home, sweet home
Dazzle for a while; slow but sure, their charm does fade
They may have a thousand hues and tinges, but still finite
Once they are exhausted, never will you see a new shade

Who needs such fickle indulgences, which sane man at all?
I have found my pastime, within these four familiar walls
It is a place that can bear well the brunt of my restless mind
I know there is something inside,so vague that time can't erode

Accomplish all that the world has to offer, dreams and delights

And all you get - a stream of hollow, indifferent congratulations
Befall the grim, cold days of despair, crushing you underneath
And all you get - a couple of overacted, patronizing consolations

Who needs such two-faced impostors, which sane man at all ?
I have finally found a true friend, within these four familiar walls
They don't speak, perhaps because they don't want to fake it
But their truthful silence, deepens the depth of every occasion

Run after something, and run again after something brighter
Jobs, promotions, girls, - the something doesn't really matter


Who needs such circular pursuits, which sane man at all?
I have jumped to the end, within these four familiar walls



                                                                                                                                                                  

Answers change

In my first post, I mentioned a novice blogger's dilemma- how to write what you like so that others like it. The more I thought of it, the more familiar it sounded. Extra-currics or GPA, job satisfaction or package, with family in India or with better opportunities abroad , children or career? All of these are instances of a very fundamental problem. Satisfaction and ambition clash and middle ground is hard to find.

To be honest, I don't know what will I do when offered such a choice. Most of these choices are hard to make because we have to juggle with multiple factors - individual motivations, family, societal norms, risk involved, things at stake and a few customized constraints for each problem. But as is the case with many hard problems, special instances are solvable while the general setting is intractable. So, I thought of restricting the domain of the dilemma to a special case - what if the decision concerns only ME.

This reminds me of some childhood stories. This is a couplet I remember from my school days

नानापुराणनिगमागमसम्मतं यद  

रामायणे निगदितं क्वचिदन्यतो अपि  

स्वान्तःसुखाय तुलसी रघुनाथगाथाभाषानिबंधम.....

  This is the preface (मंगलाचरण) from Ramacharitramanas(रामचरित्रमानस). Roughly translated, it means that "Numerous other people have also written their own Ramayans in agreement with numerous standard authorities. Tulsi(the author) is still binding the legend of Rama to words for the happiness of his own self......." 

 It is common among Indian authors to pray for fame and popularity in their prefaces. In fact, almost everybody writes for fame. Then why is an author of the highest caliber denouncing even acknowledgement, let aside fame and immortality ? Maybe because he already has his reward. The knowledge that he has made an indelible mark. This is the reason why grown ups head bang like crazy in a rock concert. This is why rockstars are cool not billionaires.

And as I go on, I realize that some things are really not that complicated as we conjure them to be in our minds. Sometimes it is good to do something stupid if it makes us happy. I think I'll take that risk.

This train of thoughts that had started at questions ends, as usual, at some radically different yet related ones, passing through some answers in between.What if write about some not so popular things that I absolutely love ? What if I write about manga and graphic novels - Lone Wolf and the Cub, Naruto, Bleach, Ramayana 3392 A.D. ? They are some of the most profound things I have read. But I have a question - suppose you have never heard of them. Will you give them a try if I insist? implore? request? beg? force?  My friends find it hard to believe that these childish pages can have so much intellectual depth. Yet they like my status messages from these manga. And everybody likes the dark, gory, gruesome movies based on manga and graphic novels. (Watchmen, Sin City, 300, V for Vendetta, Dark Knight to name a few) Same goes for Hermann Hesse,

I guess I know the answer. That will make me happy and either bore you or spark your interest in a completely new direction. My apologies in advance, but without them, my expressions are incomplete.

PS: If you haven't noticed, I sound a bit odd .Wading into algorithms considerably alters your vocabulary, especially about what is hard and what is easy (Tractable, intractable. instances, constraints). 

• Even the basic idea is borrowed from that field(Valiant-Vazirani Theorem). It explores whether a computationally hard problem is so tough because it has multiple possible solutions to choose from or because each single solution is hard to find. It doesn't give a definite answer. But the answer is most likely the pessimistic one, unless some miracle happens. 

• Neglect some spelling mistakes in the Sanskrit part. This is as good as I can do with Google Hindi.

Some Gems from Khalil Gibran

I have just started reading Khalil Gibran's Greatest Works. Everybody knows about 'The Prophet'. But his other works are equally good.He is the third most widely read poet in history - after Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu.(+ other standard wiki stuff..Spare both of us the pain and look up there if you want to).Too much for an unschooled Lebanese immigrant?? A couple of pages were enough to convince me he deserves this stature. His work blurs the lines between prose and poetry.They sum up life's truths - from the humble ones to the heroic with enchanting beauty.As I haven't written anything worthwhile in the last six months or so,why not give a highlight of his work. Here we go.  

• We often borrow from our tomorrows to pay the debt of our yesterdays.
• Many a doctrine is like a window pane. We see truth through it but it divides us from the truth. 
• There is a space between man's imagination and man's achievement that may only be traversed by his longing. 
• If all they say of good and evil were true, then my life is but one long crime.
• Inspiration will always sing.Inspiration will never explain.
• Dig anywhere in the earth and you will find a treasure. Only you must dig with the faith of a peasant.
• When two women talk,they say nothing.. When one woman speaks,she reveals all of life.
• Strange that we all defend our wrongs with more vigor than our rights. 
• Half of what I say is meaningless; but I say it so that the other half may reach you.
• Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.
• Paradise is there, behind that door, in the next room. But I have lost the key..Perhaps I have only mislaid it.
• Strange that creatures without backbones have the hardest shells.
• But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.

The Nerdy Nerve I: Cloud Computing

I have been dabbling into random technical stuff for a while now.(Guess this is what internship does to you when you take it seriously).And what use is dabbling without sweet babbling.Soooo, AUTOBOTS LET'S ROLL..

Cloud is the new buzzword of the IT industry.Everything big happens 'in the cloud'.To get things started, cloud computing is treating computing power as a commodity rather than a computer itself. Lease and release computing resources and pay as you use,somewhat like electricity. So, instead of installing a dozen new computers,you talk of getting the computing ability of a dozen computers.

Cloud Computing is not much of a technological breakthrough.It is more of a paradigm, a model. The concept is pretty much obvious and has been lingering around for a while.It is just another idea whose time has (finally) come.(The word "cloud" became a catchphrase after Google CEO Eric Schimdt used it) In my understanding, it is taking division of labor to the extreme.Just like you let the pro guys design your OS, let them do your computing as well.Simple economy of scale and specialization argument at the first glance.

The beauty and power of the model is obvious once you look at it from the consumer side..You have a new, BIG idea(or such is your conceited belief).You do the obvious and a start-up is born.But you never know whether the users will crown you or crucify you.You may be the next Twitter.(Twitter had just 50 odd employees when it stormed the net. Now it has 140 and isn't taking any more.These guys do have a thing for 140!!(If you don't 'tweet',140 is the word limit for a 'tweet')) You may be just one of the daily casualties of the internet - gone without a trace.Success and failure- both grow exponentially in cyberspace.So,here's your first headache - how many computers do you buy?? Go for the overkill ?? Play it safe and stunt your adventure?? Enter cloud computing as a knight in shining armor.Take as much computing power as you want and pay as you go. And you are really on cloud nine.And even when you survive and stabilize,no maintenance and operational overheads, no fear of crashes and failures.The IT equivalent of 'single window policy'.

The next obvious question - what does the service provider gain? A little bit of history will reveal the answer.(In CS, 90s is history and 80s is Stone Age) No one valued cloud computing in the 90s.Simple reason - the 'dot-com bubble'-the Midas touch of the .com prefix. People were too busy creating Google and Yahoo(It's not that straight.There were a couple of other factors too) When the bubble burst, there were a lot of computers to spare.Computers rarely slog at their peak ability. Average figures may be as dismal as 10% of the peak.(Finally,something in common with humans) So, a lot of computing capacity goes untapped.This led to the basic mantra of cloud computing.

Lot of lazy,underused computers + good business acumen    = lease their computing ability + mint quick money

This is roughly what happened with Amazon.So, they started EC2(Elastic Compute Cloud).And it created shock waves.A test user for the trial version refused to sell his opportunity for $10,000. That's some fanatic frenzy man!! And since then, Google,IBM,Microsoft and almost all leading universities have joined the bandwagon.

The whole tale is a bit too long. So, let me call it a day. Some parting words---Why wasn't it there before if it is so obvious?? There are a few enabling factors like virtualization and pervasiveness of the net. More on it in the next post. Also look out for description of various architecture levels, security issues, criticisms and the power of platforms and frameworks in the next post.(It will be a bit technical.Can't help it)

In the technical world, only time and/or geniuses can tell a paradigm from a fad.Once it was believed that a computer will overtake a man's intelligence by the 70s and nuclear powered home appliances would see the dawn of the day in the 20th century.Too fired up by science fiction,eh?? Will Cloud Computing see clear skies??Fingers crossed..

PS: If you have read attentively,there will be a sequel post soon...If you got this far,you must be really interested in Cloud Computing.If you want to read more- go for Above The Clouds:A Berkeley View of Cloud Computing and Cloud computing: state-of-the-art and research challenges by some Waterloo guys.

Where's the difference !!!

Often during my school days,I was confronted by a question-Why is there so much disparity in academic performance?The complete answer was not in the effort they put in.I knew some students who slogged and labored much harder than me,but to little gain.They were pretty serious and hard-working,but this didn't reflect in their performance,and more often than not,their grasp of the fundamentals.And I outrightly rejected answers like 'They are less 'brainy''.Why this partiality?College drastically changed my outlook towards teaching..So I left my pursuit before finding sth satisfactory.Today I stumbled upon a story that made me pause and look back.

A student asked his teacher the same question.He was asked to wait.Next day,when the teacher was in his class,he fired a question at the class.

"How many of you regularly listen to music?".
Almost all the hands went up in the air.
"How many of you play a musical instrument?"
A small fraction of hands remained upright.
"How many of you can read music?"
Still fewer hands.
"How many of you can sight read the score and play it at the same time".
A chosen few hands still survived. 
And then came the masterstroke
"How many of you can read the score and hear the music straightaway?".
The number of hands is immaterial.The beauty of the question suffices.
The story is open to interpretation.But I think I have got hold of the answer now.The answer is passion.Different students had different degrees of passion towards music.Most of them were casuals and they would never be able to make out head or tail of the mystery of music,regardless of how much they listen.For another guy,music might be embedded in his existence.Someone can teach you to play an instrument.If you hang in long enough,you will learn to read a musical score.Maybe your instructor will make you see a piece and give an impromptu recital.But no teacher,no school on the face of this earth will teach you to convert dry words into music.This is something that you will learn out of your own yearning,your burning desire to delve deeper.This is passion in its purest form.This is what will bring about the difference.

Hazaron Khwahishein Aisi

Warning: Only for people who enjoy "cheap and vile" humor
Ask anybody in my college..What is your heartiest desire.I bet my money on the answer,"more quality girls".(Assuming that anybody is a boy.Won't you ask a girl more charming things??)

Imagine a scenario,set somewhere in the future(I earnestly pray to the Almighty God to hasten that future before my graduation..All my friends will turn believers),where boys become a rare/endangered species in. I entreat you to stretch your imagination to the point where the sex ratio in my college is reversed..40 boys in a batch of 500(scale according to reservation and kiddo IITs under our "mentorship").


Imagine the life of an average boy.On the very first day,when the deans ask us to be magoda great engineers and not to go to finance,IIM or abroad build a great nation,a group of baffled boys sitting in solidarity,maybe holding hands,saheli types, in one corner of Convo.One of them is at ease,he knows some "dude" girl from his school/Kota days.An unfortunate guy gets late.He enters the hall and walks the most difficult 20 meters or so of his life,blushing under the scrutiny of a thousand lustful eyes.And there is no end to these petty,embarrassing incidents.

Imagine R2 and Ex-Hall during exams.Boys in demand bhai.Envious girls watching a lucky babe flirting"studying" with a hunk.(No relation to our coolhunk). The dumbest,weirdest,and magodas of today will be cozying up with ultra-hot chicks.A boy asks a gal for her classnotes and she's on cloud nine.It becomes the talk of her hostel.Girls swarm over Zanskar(or watever the girls will call it)  to see boys swimming in the pool.Even obscene comments wouldn't surprise me.
Obscenity brings me to the most cherished part of campus life(atleast for me) - hurling abuses and LAN.Wat would be the most common abuse in the campus??How would girls abuse each other?? I suppose casting reflection on a girl's relationship with his male family members. Baap something something..Bhai bla bla.(Still haven't figured out a good enough Hindi version).Out of nowhere,a girl calls another girl names.No big deal. Habitual stuff for them.Poor boys nearby can do nothing but blush with a faint and embarrassed smile.Boy's pics scattered all over the LAN-with folders like Husn ka Khazana,Jawaan Launde :P

And think how would Vindy look like then??A girly Khullar(even more irritating,with shriller voice),lady Bacchi(even filthier),female Akhilesh(even dumber) and Miss Thakkar(just imagine).
Hey guys.Don't lose heart.There is a silver lining to this dark cloud-Placements.Companies vie and die for guys.You're the man !!! What if for the first time in your college life.At the end of 4 years,you go out laughing with a top-notch job in your pockets.And maybe even more girls will hit on you in your job.

PS:1:Please exercise your imagination and suggest more such scenarios.
2.:The central idea of this post was adapted(a polite synonym for plagiarized) from an IITKGP boy..Due credits to him
3.To the thousand other nameless colleges that suffer the same plight..my heart goes out to you.I share your desperation and frustration.
4.Nothing in this blog shall be misinterpreted to mean that I am betraying my brotherhood of boys.You are awesome guys.

That guy from Kumaon

No marks for guessing Chetan Bhagat.The poster boy of IITs(esp IITD).The GenNext IITian.Youth Icon.India's most loved writer.Publishing Phenomenon.And a million other equally impressive phrases.From being Chetan Who 5 years back,he is India's highest selling author today-outselling a thousand literary luminaries.For the common Indian reader,he has joined the ranks of Dan Brown,JK Rowling and Paulo Coelho.For the IITians,he is a part of our collective identity.And within IITD,people introduce themselves as "Chetan Bhagat ke batch wala".Thats some real skyrocket dude !!!

Don't get me wrong.This post is not about glorifying Mr. Bhagat. I leave this job to his numbered books(yeah,all his books contain a number in their title!! These number-addict bankers*#@%!) and the Bollywood movies they have inspired(Who would have imagined Salman and Aamir dancing to the whims of an IITian!!).As far as I am concerned,I have just finished his latest novel-2 States:The story of my marriage.So,I am pouncing on this opportunity to dissect him(figuratively bhai),his work and its implications.To set things straight,I devoured 5.someone (outright runaway),left one night... in between(much below expectations),didn't touch 3 mistakes(after hearing reviews..nothing personal),mustered enough courage to buy 2 States on my trip back home and finished it before the journey(maybe sth personal here :x)

I think IITians identify themselves with this kinda reckless stuff. Others find it hard to imagine that the very IITians they idolized and considered sacrosanct are such big perverts,or that the IITian author can imagine such (at a loss of adjectives) stuff.Both ways you win Mr. Bhagat.

On a serious note, what I appreciate most in his works is that he is unpredictable-sometimes just for the sake of being so,but he has an element of surprise.A gust of fresh breeze in the "formula"-ridden Indian landscape.And for that very reason, you are engrossing. In 5 point someone,I didn't expect Hari to be caught stealing the question paper or the prof. to come back and find his daughter in a compromising position.Again in 2 States, it was rather unexpected how he managed to woo Ananya to bed so easily,by just sacrificing a rasogulla.No melodrama.Cut the romantic crap.And when everything looks bleak, his estranged father comes to his rescue. That guruji guy must have been a divine plan-his role eludes earthly intellect. And the mother of all surprise.Who on earth would have thought that God will rescue those endangered mortals-and as if that is not enough- through a mobile phone without a battery!!!!.Its movie version was even more ARBIT(can't think of a better word).

Any comments on his style and particularly sarcasm??? Typical IITD stuff.Hope one day Thakkar or Dimaag beat his record,maybe in Bhojpuri or Punjabi.And Brad Pitt and Angellina Jollie act in their movie versions :) Or our own funny Bacchi rubbing shoulders with Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler in a comedy flick.On a personal note, I think what some guys did with Prof. Kurur one early morning can be a much spicy tale to tell.And how about a book on our Eternal Entertainer-Khullar?????Sounds tempting.I think every batch has its own weirdos.Nothing specially special.
In the name of serious criticism,a recurrent theme in his works is uprooting social evils and dogmas.While in 5.someone,there is no moral highground - just rowdy guys enjoying the prime of their youth, One Night.. addresses issues like gender inequality,although as side-topics.And there is no end to this good guy stuff. 3 mistakes delves deeper into social issues and finally, we have a whole book- 2 states on national integration and regional harmony.Meanwhile, Mr Bhagat quits his lucrative I-Bank (Not sure Deutsche Bank or Goldman Sachs) job to  "make change happen in the country". What a moving change of heart.If you haven't heard it yet,he has also given a couple of motivational speeches. Good going man.

Finally,Verdict time: I am a bored,approx. good-for-nothing kid pounding his keyboard in the dead of the night.And you Mr. Bhagat,have already been introduced at the very outset.You will shine in the firmament and I will spit on the moon,indignant of the aftereffects.Lets go our own ways dude.Keep going(I know you won't go back to Singapore if u ever happen to read this post).N yeah, I'll read your next book for sure. 
PS:1.I don't call him Mr. Chetan because that might confuse him with our "DHOUN".Atleast my former roomie and "partner in crime against birds" deserves this much attention.
2.His motivational speeches are REALLY GOOD.I rate the one at Symbiosis just a little below Steve Job's legendary "Stay Hungry,Stay Foolish" one.Don't miss it.