Home Improvement

Imagine moving every single thing from a 1000 sq foot apartment into an already furnished 900 sq foot apartment. That's exactly what happened when Anu's things arrived a couple of weeks ago. I've always wondered what it would be like to live in an RV for an extended period. Well, now I have some idea...

We've spent the last few days throwing out stuff. Every item, however small was scrutinized and given away or disposed of if it did not meet the bar. Multiple trips to Ikea were made to purchase various storage solutions that we so desperately needed. Our perseverance paid off. After two long weeks the house finally looks presentable.

On the work front, things have been getting busier as we sink our teeth into features for the next product cycle - SQL Server 2011. With multiple deadlines in October and November, it looks like we are in for a hard slog before the holiday season.

Road Trip!

Just got back from a cross-country road trip from Boston to Seattle. My girlfriend was relocating to the Seattle area and we decided to drive! It turned out to be a great decision. We got to visit Chicago, Badlands National Park, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Devil's Tower, Big Horn National Forest, Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park on the way. It was an amazing experience.

Yellowstone was obviously the highlight of the trip. It is a stunningly diverse park with something for everyone - Geysers, hot springs, wildlife, rock formations, lakes, mountains. We were only able to spend a day and a half in the area but were still lucky enough to spot huge herds of bison, a grizzly bear and mountain goats.

Glacier National Park was all about the aptly named "Going to the Sun" road with very scenic mountain views for the entire 50 mile stretch. We traversed the road both ways since the views can differ dramatically.

I've added a few pictures from the trip below. (Not too many for fear of boring my limited audience. :-) ).Talking of pictures, I'm still kicking myself for not getting a camera with a more powerful zoom (Ours was a supbar 3X) before setting out on this trip. For everyone wanting to photograph wildlife, I would strongly recommend a camera with atleast a 10x zoom.

I've now visited 31 states in the US! Here's to 50 in the next 3 years. :-)

Old Faithful erupting

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Yellowstone Lake

Lake Sylvan

Middle Geyser Basin, Yellowstone

Grizzly Bear

Bison

Mountain Goats

Mount Rushmore

Hurricane Ridge

I just got started with customizing the new base template. Check out the Bing search box on the top right and the second sidebar on the left.

Yesterday, a few friends and I drove up to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. We ended up having to wait for a couple of hours for a ferry. I was a little puzzled at first because I had made the same trip with my girlfriend last year in the middle of July (Yes, that was a Saturday too) and there was no rush. Then realization struck. It must be the improving economy I figured. :-)

The view from the top of Hurricane ridge was worth the long wait though. I enjoyed the scenery and the hike just as much as I did the first time. If I had to pick one picture to describe yesterday's trip, it would be this:

A New Beginning..

The fourth of July brings me back to this blog. Why? Because I was suddenly reminded of the fact that I started this blog on July 4th 2005. It has been five 'short' years and I'm back for a fresh start. Going through my older posts, I marvel at how much I've grown up during this period. Let's see what the 2010 - 2015 period has in store for this blog. (Hopefully, more posts than the 45 I managed over the last five years.. :-)..)

Work has been going really well. We shipped PowerPivot in the middle of May. In a nutshell, PowerPivot is a self-service Business Intelligence tool that helps excel users analyze very large(or small) data sets and allows them to create amazing visual reports based on their analysis.

Now that we've shipped, I've been able to take a break and recharge while we plan for the next release. Visited India last month and had a great time meeting family and friends.

This has been a nice and relaxing weekend so far. Played some tennis, watched the Wimbledon finals, did a little cooking, caught up with a few friends over the phone.. and signed up for Twitter! ( ID: leoncyril )

Happy Fourth of July! God bless America.. and India.. and every other country in the world. :-)

PS: Please bear with the new template for now. I know my previous customized template was far better, but I had to upgrade to be able to use some features offered by Blogger. Will get around to customizing the new one shortly.

Photosynth rocks!

Ever since Photosynth was released to the public in the second half of 2008, I have been wanting to try this out. A trip to St. Louis while visiting my sister for Easter gave me a chance to create a memorable synth of the city from the top of the Gateway Arch.

Check it out! Select 'View synth in Direct3D viewer' for the best experience.





Unfortunately, I was unable to create a synth of the Gateway Arch itself. It was too huge and I simply did not have the equipment to do justice to this magnificent piece of architecture.

Hopefully, this is the first of many synths that I will share on this blog.

India - Dec 2008

I recently returned from a trip to India. Some random musings:

- The new airport at Hyderabad was impressive.

- I would trade all the 'Starbucks' and 'Dunkin Donuts' in the world to have a 'Coffee Day' in Seattle.

- I'm driving slower with each passing year. (Much to the relief of my passengers)

- I walked into a bank and watched helplessly while 10 people pushed past me to get ahead in the line. I seem to have lost my ability to push back.

- Each time I walked out of an Indo-Chinese restaurant, I contemplated quitting my job and settling down in India.

- Trains now have power outlets for Laptops. suddenly I prefer a train to long flights. :-)

- Kerala has more water than land.

- I'm convinced that Kanyakumari is the windiest city in the World. (Yes, even windier than Chicago)

- The highlight of the vacation was a day on board a Houseboat. It was thoroughly relaxing and refreshing.

- Beggars make me more uncomfortable with each passing year. I even cited this as a reason for taking a flight instead of the train. My point being: Why feel bad when you can't do anything about it. My Dad's response: The more you are in touch with reality, the more likely it is that you will do something about it someday when and if you can. Can't say I disagree with that.

- It was great to spend Christmas at Home after three years!

- Nothing beats meeting up with very close friends you haven't seen in a while.

- Discovered that all the 'Ready to eat' foods I brought back with me should actually be called 'Ready to throw'.

Happy New Year!

A Formal World

The modern day definition of a smile seems to be: " Stretch your lips in each direction until your two front teeth are visible. Hold for one second. Bring lips back to original position.".. An alternate definition (Presumably for people who are too lazy to visit their dentist) would be: "Stretch your lips to the maximum extent possible without having to open your mouth. Hold for one second. Bring lips back to original position." The other day, a flight attendant 'smiled' at me.. and that put paid to any hopes I had of catching some sleep on the flight. I knew I would only have nightmares of vampires.

There's also this habit we have of saying 'Hi' to all and sundry. I don't know about you but it puts immense pressure on me. I live with the constant fear that I would forget to wish somebody and that they would then pierce pins into a voodoo doll to exact revenge. It also makes me wonder if I did something wrong when somebody else forgets to wish me. "Hmm.. did I forget to acknowledge their contribution at the team meeting? Did I forget to ask how their vacation was?" And in the process promptly forget to wish the next person passing me.

Moving on to a question that really throws me: 'How are you?'.. It has taken a while to realise that people are not really interested in hearing about my recent visit to the doctor or about my fantastic road trip when they direct this question at me. My initial ' Hey, you asked for it, so take it ' response has now been adapted to the universally accepted 'good/fine' response. But is any other answer even a possibility? Would someone who just returned from a wonderful vacation answer the question any differently from someone who has been sick the whole week or even a person who has just been diagonised with a terminal disease? Probably not.

It is only right to place 'Thank You' at the end. No points for guessing why.. Every trivial action must end with 'Thank You'. This rule is consistent enough to become Newton's fourth law. I wonder if we realise that when we thank someone for getting out of our way, we are actually thanking them for not colliding with us! which they would not want to do anyway, at least not unless we were Aishwarya Rai (I would prefer Kajol myself, but I'm vastly outnumbered here) or Brad Pitt.

Nothing emphasizes my point more than an email exchange:

A to B:

Hi B,

I have a question. Thanks in advance for (......).

(.. Question here ..)

Thanks again.

Thanks,
A.


B replies:

Hi A,

Thanks for asking me this question.

(.. answer ..)

Thanks,
B


("Thanks in advance" is actually a cool trick.. After all, once you have been 'thanked' for something, you HAVE to get it done. :-))

All jokes aside, it seems to me that the more civilized we become, the more formal we get. (Which explains why the United States is a far more formal society than India.) Somehow as we progress towards becoming a tolerant society, we seem to need reassurances in the form of 'wishes' and 'thanks'. But when this is overdone it leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

No, I'm not dead..

..But I HAVE broken the record for the 'longest time between posts' since I started blogging in July 2005. One year and five months!!

Lots of things have changed since then. But a couple of these changes make the others pale into insignificance.

1.) I now work for Microsoft.
2.) I now live in Seattle.

Yup, I've moved all the way across the country to work for Microsoft.


A few things I like about living in Seattle:

- Redmond (Microsoft's Headquarters) is a beautiful place that resembles a vast college campus.

- There are tons of places to see and things to do within a 50 mile radius of Seattle.


A few things I don't like:

- The rain..

- Living three time zones away from most of my friends.

- And did I mention the rain?


Let me sign off now with a promise to the readers (if any) of this blog. The 'longest time between posts' record set by this post will never be broken again until at least 2014. Why 2014? That's until when Microsoft has committed to support XP. I'm kidding of course..

Seriously: However busy things get, I should still be able to post more often than I have.. and I will!

Sad but true.. :-(

India the Superpower?

PS: Reflects the sentiments I expressed in my Jan 15th post with a lot more facts and statistics..

Zapped!!!

In winter, getting out of my car invariably involves the following steps:

1. Remove the seatbelt.
2. Open the door.
3. Slide out of the seat.
4. Reach for the door handle.
5. JUMP.
6. CURSE.
7. Slam the door.

Now, being a dignified man, I would like to avoid steps 5 and 6 if I could. But it just doesn't seem possible. In fact, if you could put together all the jumps I make during any given month in winter, you could construct a dance for a very lengthy musical. A clumsy dance maybe, but nevertheless, a dance. And if you put together all the curses, you would have the lyrics for the musical, although it would probably have to be 'R' rated.

I can handle the freezing temperatures that winter brings. I don't mind the skidding and sliding in the snow and ice. I can put up with having to scrape ice off my car's windshield every morning. But static electricity irritates the hell out of me.

The first month of winter goes by with me getting shocks without expecting it. By the start of the second month I am terrified of touching almost ANYTHING. I stop and think before touching my refrigerator, table or doorknob. This is one instance where the thinking DOES NOT help at all. My thought process is along the following lines.. "Oh my god.. I'm going to get a nasty shock now. Maybe holding the door knob at this angle will help. Or perhaps acting very fast will help. Oh.. come on.. this time you may not even get a shock.." My hand reaches out and [zzzaaaappp].. Again!!!

The first month of spring is the worst. Temperatures have become warmer and humidity has improved. But I'm still apprehensive. I make all my 'touching' moves cautiously, flinching when I touch metal and.. NOTHING happens! Though I don't get zapped, I still feel like a fool.

In a departure from my usual style of rambling on about problems, I have actually looked up the solution to this one - A lucky break for the very limited number of readers out there and probably their first justification for reading this blog. The solutions here refer to getting out of your car safely, but you can always apply them to other equally dangerous objects.

Solution 1:
Hold onto some metal portion of the car before you get out and keep holding on during the entire time you are sliding out of your seat.

Solution 2:
If you are like me, you have probably forgotten to use solution 1 and are outside the car shivering in the cold and shivering more at the thought of having to shut the door. Never fear! Touch the glass portion of the car before you touch metal.

Solution 3: (Not for the faint hearted)
Use your key to touch the metal first. This is the option to go for if you like fireworks. You can almost always see a spark when the key touches metal.

If none of the three solutions work for you please sue http://www.static-sol.com/ and send me 20 % of the settlement.

I'm generous, ain't I?

The World may be flat, but India is not..

In fact India is far from flat. She is a region of some of the most uneven terrain on this planet. A few high peaks scattered across low lying valleys.. You could stand on some of these peaks(Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad for eg.), look down into the nearby valleys and see nothing at all - except for a dark abyss. Other peaks and life in these peaks are all that are visible, so much so that life in these few regions is portrayed as typical of the nation, when in reality, it is not.

It is very easy to fall into the trap of thinking of India in terms of these ultra-modern metropolitan cities. The other day, an american collegue and I were talking casually during a training session and he happened to mention that he would like to make a trip to visit India. My instinctive response was a boast "Oh.. you should.. India is very developed now.. You would have an amazing time.. Be sure to visit Bangalore, Hyderabad.." He interrupted me gently: "No.. No.. I want to see INDIA, not America in India." I stopped short, surprised. But the next thing he said blew me away.. He asks.. "Is most of India like Bangalore and Hyderabad now?" After I recovered, I said "No, not at all, most regions are still just India". But it took a foreigner to remind me of that fact.

At a global level, technology may have enabled nations to collaborate on a greater scale than ever before and overall the world may be 'flatter' than it has been in the past, but India has a long way to go.

Now, even I'm not naive enough to think that a nation of 1 billion could develop at a uniform pace and empower all her citizens simultaneously, but I do think that the current economic situation raises a few questions.. Does the 'empowerment' of a few have detrimental effects on the people who have not been 'empowered' yet? Will the underdeveloped be hindered when they try to take advantage of the technological advances we have made in recent years? These questions, though globally applicable are especially relevant to our country because of the huge economic and social disparity that is prevalent. One could just as easily use modern-day technology to push others down as they could to pull themselves up..

India has a notorious history of exploitation of the poor by the rich and it is imperative that this does not happen in the Information age if India is to sustain her formidable growth rates.

Moving on..

I've graduated.. So.. Now what?

So now, I work for EMC Corporation. (For the uninitiated, EMC, a Massachussets based company, is the world leader in Information Infrastructure)

It has been close to three months now.. I have been settling down nicely at work (or so I think) and I hope to blog once in a while about random topics.

Now, I might talk about the storage industry, or the weather, or space, or sports, or movies, or music, or philosophy, or "how-dumb-is-that?", or "Wow-check-that-out" or "That-is-sooo-cool"... basically anything under the sun. However, please note that all opinions/'facts'/suggestions/criticism are mine and do NOT reflect the views of EMC in any way/form.

This disclaimer is probably totally unnecessary, for it would take a person with an incredibly low IQ to think that I, a lowly software engineer might represent the views of a mighty 11 billion dollar company. But I do not wish to be sued or fired. (Btw, for the record, it would take someone with a considerably lower IQ than an 'incredibly low IQ' to sue ME..)

So how have the first few days of professional life been?

In one word.. GREAT!!! In a bigger word.. WONDERFUL!!!

Some random facts about my first three months here..

- All new hires at EMC have a mentor assigned to them, to help them familiarize themselves with the environment and to basically help them settle down. "What question is this damned guy going to ask me now?" is probably the first thought that comes into my mentor's head when he sights me for the first time on any given day. :D.. (Of course I'm only kidding.. If I dared to make the statement 'I have been settling down nicely at work'.. it's only because he was around to help.. But I do ask more questions than a normal guy would.. (sheepish))

- If you count the number of cups of coffee I've had.. well.. let's just say you'd still be counting. If you're still wondering... Of course, it's free.. We have five varieties, but I only like one.

- Coming to furniture, I have a huge desk, a large white board and two chairs with one of them being comfy enough to curl up and have an afternoon nap.

- Getting yourself to work between 8 and 10 am can be a difficult task especially if you're the kind who asks only one question during a discussion at school about what class to take... i.e. Does it meet in the afternoons? This is probably the only area in which school scores over work.

- Where does work score over school? Well for starters.. there's the money.. secondly.. there's the money again.. thirdly.. there's the money factor once more.. ;-)


Signing off.. Please remember..

In this blog it's just going be ME talking off the top of my hat.. No EMC.

Leon Nirmal Cyril B.Tech, MS.. :-)

I've graduated!!!!

Non-Proliferation Treaty or NonPerformance Treaty?

*Disclaimer*
All views expressed in this post are those of the author. The author is only excercising his right of speech. This is not an attempt to defame/belittle countries/people. And err.. (in case there is any doubt).. by author, I mean... ME. You are most welcome to point out any flaws in my thinking. But I only ask that you do it politely. Thank you.

I was having breakfast at the dining hall last week when something on television caught my interest. There was talk of Iran's Uranium enrichment plan and how they were going against the International Community by manufacturing pure Uranium that could be used(hypothetically) to produce nuclear weapons. This TV news snippet brought back memories of a conversation I had with my Dad when I was in seventh grade.

Me: Dad, what is NPT?.. It's all over the papers, magazines and there was even a question on a quiz in school about it.

Dad: NPT stands for Non-proliferation treaty.. (sarcastically) You would know that yourself if you do not restrict yourself to only the sports page.

Me(spare the lecture look): Ok..Ok.. but what does the treaty say?

Dad: Basically the US wants India to keep away from nuclear arms research/development and testing.

Me: But America has nuclear arms!!!!?

Dad: Yes they do....

The rest of the conversation is immaterial. Though this exchange occurred ages ago, I still remember thinking of the absurdity of a nation in possession of nuclear arms trying to convince a second nation not to indulge in producing nuclear weapons. I just assumed I was too young to understand all the issues involved and promptly forgot all about it.

However, the whole concept of NPT sounds just as absurd to me today. Imagine a few select countries (United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France and China) the so called "Nuclear weapon states" (NWS) using a possible nuclear catastrophe as a ploy to demand that all other nations do not possess or develop nuclear weapons of their own.

The fact that 183 countries have signed the treaty makes it downright weird. You would think that they would have at the very least, demanded some actual disarmament from the NWS, before becoming a party to the treaty. Though it has been close to 50 years since the treaty came into being, there has been no serious disarmament activity from the NWS.

And what is more.. There has been talk of America imposing possible sanctions on Iran for breaching the treaty. They could have just said..

"We don't want nuclear weapon development in the middle east, which is brimming with terrorists, and risk nuclear weapons falling into the wrong hands only to be used against us. So, as the most powerful country in the world, we are going to throw our weight around and ensure that Iran does not produce enriched uranium that may be used for nuclear weapon development."

But to say....

"You are not sticking to the treaty".

"You are endangering the International Community"

...after openly disobeying/ignoring Article VI of the NPT which essentially calls for progressive disarmament from the United States and the other NWS, is a parody of sorts.

Today, the five 'PERMANENT' members of the security council come together in Moscow to discuss sanctions proposed by the United States, to deter Iran from continuing their enrichment process. Please note that these are the only countries in the world that are 'ALLOWED' to possess nuclear weapons according to the 'NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY".

If the United Nations has the power to recommend economic sanctions on the nations that fail to adhere to the NPT, then why haven't any sanctions been imposed on the Nuclear Weapon States('the PERMANENT members') who have so cunningly postponed any actual disarmament for over 10 years now. And would those sanctions help? Would sanctions on the most powerful nations in the world affect them significantly enough? Probably not.

This post is NOT a call for all nations of the world to start nuclear arms production. It is just a call for nations to withdraw from the NPT which has failed miserably to bring about disarmament, the sole aim behind the treaty. (Not that I expect any country presidents to read this.. Just attribute this sentence to one of my fits of megalomania.. ).

For the NPT (or any other disarmament treaty for that matter) to be successful, we need to start with the Nuclear weapon states. Not the rest of the world EXCEPT the NWS. In simple terms, the problem here is nuclear weapons and obviously the best way to solve a problem is the source of the problem, namely the NWS. What is the point in getting a treaty signed by every single country that does NOT possess a nuclear weapon if the ultimate goal is the complete elimination of nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth?

If the NWS and other nuclear states(Israel and India) want to pursue disarmament with honorable intentions, they must realize that they will have to start with themselves. They brought this menace into the world and it is they who must take the responsibility of getting rid of the menace. Not by threatening/browbeating other nations into not producing nuclear weapons but by approaching the non-trivial problem of 'disarming' themselves seriously and taking concrete steps that would make the goal of 'disarmament' achievable in real-time.

For more on Nuclear Disarmament click here.

Today happens to be my Dad's birthday.. Well Dad.. Think of this post as an elaborate means of letting you know that I'm in touch with world affairs.. ;-) Happy Birthday!! I love you!

Rang De Basanti - A few reflections

*Disclaimer*
It has been more than a month since Rang De Basanti has hit the screens and I assumed (wrongly as the first comment indicates) that this disclaimer was unnecessary. So here goes.. Those of you who haven't seen the movie yet, please be forewarned that this post, though not a review of the movie, does contain some spoilers.

Without doubt Rang De Basanti is a pleasant watch. There are a lot of fun-filled moments interspersed with some absorbing and thought-provoking ones. Since we went in a gang of 14 to watch the movie, I didn't get much of a chance to reflect after the movie ended. The other day however, I was listening to the 'Rang de basanti' soundtrack and it triggered a few reflections that I would like to share.

In the recent past and the not so recent past, several movies, the most prominent of which are "Gentleman", "Indian" (Hindusthani), "Mudhalvan", "Ramana" and "Anniyan" portray violence of some sort as a means of doing away with corruption. Not just violence but 'Glamorous violence' in which 'heroes' accept credit for gruesome killings as if they were being offered the bharat ratna award. While this glorified violence is stylish to watch, does it make any sense?

Rang De Basanti draws a parallel between pre-independence revolutionaries who sacrificed their lives in the freedom struggle and five youngsters who fight corruption after experiencing a mental awakening brought about by the untimely demise of a good friend. In the movie, five perfectly normal college students turn killers, which of course means that they weren't normal in the first place. It takes a lot for a stable human being to turn into a killer. A LOT.

If the movie makers are suggesting that we follow in the footsteps of the revolutionaries in our fight against corruption, they're wrong. In fact history suggests otherwise. It is common knowledge that our Independence was won through the non-violent MASS MOVEMENT rather than the scattered bursts of attacks by the revolutionaries. Keeping this in mind, the protest that Ajay Rathod's mother leads makes much more sense than the assassination of the Defense minister. The resulting lathi charge (I doubt if it would have happened in real life) would have made big headlines and garnered sympathy from all sections of society.

Anyways, coming to the issue of corruption itself..

So long as there is evil in the world (And I believe this will always be the case) corruption will exist in some form or the other. The question that begs to be answered is.. Why is corruption prevalent to such a large degree in our country?

Personally, I feel that a lack of deterrent is the main reason for this all-pervasive corruption in India. If people are caught for a misdemeanor they would much rather pay 50 Rupees to a policeman than 500 Rupees to the government. What do they care about where the money goes? Ditto for the policeman who would rather take 50 Rupees from the law-breaker than write out a ticket that would ensure that the 500 Rupees reaches the government. This is where the deterrent comes in. If the cost of 'attempting to bribe' is very high.. MUCH HIGHER than the 450 Rs that might be saved, most people wouldn't attempt to bribe. Obviously I wouldn't try to bribe customs if I KNOW that the minimum penalty would be a term in jail. Also, the bribe taker would think twice if his pension or job were at stake. With high cost deterrents in place the briber and the bribe seeker would be shit scared of each other even assuming the absence of all other witnesses.

I do believe we are making progress, albeit slowly. For instance when I turned 18, I wanted a driving license. Only, it was inconvenient for me to take the driving test because I was studying in Chennai at the time. Paying a few hundred bucks to a driving school did the trick. Note that I hadn't taken a single class from the driving school. The license arrived in my absence and my Dad signed for it! However, the very next year when my sister needed a license, even the driving school from which she had taken lessons for months could not get her a license without her taking both the written and driving exam. The cost of issuing a license without a record of an exam has gone up. Deterrents have been put in place.

I'm confident corruption will decrease gradually. Only, given the extreme differences between the rich and the poor and the high illiteracy levels in our country, it is going to be an agonizingly slow process. I don't see any shortcuts.. :-(. No amount of killing (glamorous or otherwise) is going to help.

If you ask me, Rang De Basanti may have been entertaining, may have resulted in an adrenaline rush and may have had some touching moments. But does it pass on a meaningful message for the general public? NO. Period.

*Today happens to be the birthday of a very close friend of mine..
Happy Birthday Murali!!! Thanks for all those great times we had*

The Jupiter String Quartet Concert

I am about as far from being a musical instrument enthusiast as Proxima Centauri is from the earth. In fact banging my big toe against the leg of a piano (and almost fracturing it in the process) has been my most intimate encounter with an instrument of any kind. By a quirk of fate, a professor of a friend of mine living in Babcock (Let's call her M) gave her two tickets to a string quartet concert. Note that she wasn't any great fan of musical instruments either. Since the tickets were 27 bucks apiece and both of us are not the type to spend that kind of money on concerts, we thought we would make best use of this opportunity.

We find our way to the Theatre and to our delight our seats were front-row center stage seats. Congratulating myself for having brought my camera along I think I'm going to get some great pictures. The stage was set up and the program was about to start. After looking all around and seeing that no one had bought a camera along, I very hesitantly took a picture of the stage after turning the flash off. That was the only picture I got that night, because the very next minute an announcement was made about "photography of any kind" being prohibited.

I was initially worried about displaying my abysmal ignorance of music to M but much to my delight I found that I might even be considered a musical maestro when compared to her. The names 'Mozart' and 'Beethoven' on the agenda did not strike a chord in her head. Not even after I hinted 'Moonlight Sonata'. Chuckling in glee I relaxed while she looked at me with great respect not knowing how little I knew myself.

The artistes walk in and there is a pin-drop silence. The kind of silence that produces a dull ringing noise in your ears. It was hard to believe that a crowd of several hundred could be that silent. After a bow, the artistes take their respective seats and begin the first piece. It was a Mozart composition. After concentrating intensely for 20 minutes, I find my eyes begin to close. But I control myself. "Nirmal", I tell myself.. "this is going to be your first and last concert. Enjoy it to the fullest." All of a sudden, everyone in the audience started clapping and that was when we realized that the piece had ended. The second piece by one Frenchman "Henri Dutilleux" was a little better in that it didn't put me to sleep. But perhaps that was because I had stopped focussing on the music itself and had immersed myself in observing the movements and funny expressions made by the artistes.

Strangely, unlike Hollywood movies, this concert had an intermission. We do not know what the elite audience discussed about the performance of the artistes during the break but some excerpts of the conversation between M and me follow:

M: So.. what did you think?
Me: Hmm.. It was a different experience.. I kinda dozed off for a few minutes during the first piece though. Did you like it?
M: Oh.. yeah.. It was interesting.. Did you notice the strange facial expressions the artistes were making.
Me: Yeah.. I could hardly prevent myself from laughing. I got used to it after some time though. M(pssst): The guy in the middle was cute na..
Me(sarcastically): Oh really..
M: Yes.. And I liked the way he made way for the girl before leaving.
Me: I would do that too..
M: hehe haha.. hoo hoo..
Me (ominously): Are you saying I wouldn't?
M: Well.. let's put it this way.. I would have believed you if you hadn't let the door bang into my face on our way in.
Me (sheepishly): Oh that.. it was a genuine mistake.. I forgot you were coming in after me.
M (sarcastically): Well given the fact that I didn't go ahead of you and the fact that we came together I must have been behind you right?
Me (grumbling): Well.. I must've been thinking of something else.. Never mind.. Did you notice the girl at the extreme right?
M (suspiciously): Yes.. she was cute.. and her dress was awesome too.. what about her?
Me (softly): Did you notice how her calf muscles moved while she was playing?
M: No.. I had better things to do..
Me: Like watch the guy in the center I presume.
M (haughtily) : Exactly..

... and so the conversation went.. Not exactly a discussion of the remarkable performance we had just witnessed. The intermission was longer than we expected and we cracked jokes in Hindi about the artistes having dinner.

Soon afterwards the troupe entered and began playing the last piece of the day. It was a piece by 'Beethoven' and having read some very inspiring anecdotes about him, I resolved to listen carefully to this final composition. In fact I sshhhhhed 'M' and said very importantly "Beethoven", "Beethoven" like he was my good old friend. Luckily for me the composition was truly wonderful. Something that even amateurs could enjoy. The climax of the piece was especially breathtaking with the artistes reaching a crescendo of sorts.

All in all a memorable evening...

My vacation

Now that I am done with cribbing, let us move on to happier things. This past winter break was one of the most pleasant vacations I have ever had. Loads of travelling, loads of good food, loads of shopping, loads of movies, loads of get-togethers. In fact the only thing missing in that list is probably 'loads of sleeping' but then one can't get loads of everything and still get the sleep one wants... ;-). I wonder why my sis finds this so hard to understand.. grr.

Some pictures follow..


I took this picture of Downtown Washington DC standing right in the middle of the road after the pedestrian signal had changed. Luckily, I wasn't arrested.. I was honked at a couple of times though..



The Capitol Building



The White House was the least impressive of all the architecture in DC. I wasn't even tempted to take a peek inside though they were allowing visitors on the day we were there.



The Lincoln Memorial



The Washington Monument


Both the Lincoln Memorial and the Washinton monument were breathtakingly beautiful.

Blog updates

1) Atleast for this semester this blog will be more of a tool to keep in touch with friends than to entertain readers. I guess I am chasing away readers by saying this but it can't be helped. For now it will have to be this or nothing.

2) In case you haven't noticed, the christmas tree has been edited out of the background image to improve readability. Thank you Camphor, for photoshopping the image! :-).

3) I was listed under the humor category on Indibloggers. I have reverted back to the personal category because that is what this blog is and will be. (Having a single digit rank on the Humor bloglist was kinda tempting a couple of months back.. hehe)

A damn shame

I don't normally crib much on my blog and it is unfortunate that my first post of this calendar year should be a criticism of practices, specifically university practices and even more specifically, departmental practices.

The best thing about America is freedom. Freedom to do whatever you want to without caring much about what the people around you think. Freedom to tell your prof that you want to visit your girlfriend instead of lying about being sick and visiting her anyway. Freedom to tell your boss that you can't make it at the time he proposed because you've committed yourself to some other task however trivial it may be. Freedom to wear a daring dress and not get ogled at. Freedom to wear a cap similar to Jughead's and not get weird looks.

I have experienced this freedom to the fullest for over one and a half years now and it just about made up for being so far from home. For the first time when I least expected it, I found opposition and surprisingly it was from my own department. All for a course I was interested in doing. To cut a long story short.. I wanted to do a 3 credit course well suited to my field of research offered by the Electrical and Computer Engineering(ECE) department. This course was open to all graduate students. Seeing no problem I proceeded to register for the course but when I confirmed with my department I was told that I could take the course but would not get any credits for it. I was stupefied. Why the hell would I want to take a semester long course without receiving any credit for it? I was still not mad though. I just assumed there must be a logical reason for their opposition.

It was only later that the true reasons behind this opposition were brought to my attention and it makes me see RED. It appears that at the end of every year the Dean of the University gets a detailed statistical analysis of registration trends. Funds are allocated to a department based on the number of students registering for courses within that department. This makes sense alright but not at the cost of not letting a student do what he/she wants to do, especially if the course is interdisciplinary. The fact that I was refused credits because my department wants me to be in the "Computer Science" section of the pie-chart presented to the Dean and not in the "ECE" section is irritating to say the least.

I AM NOT A NUMBER NOR DO I WANT TO BE ONE. I am human and I don't care if I exist on their pie charts or not. All I know is- I haven't been able to do what I want to. Clearly departmental politics in some form or the other are omnipresent.

Yuletide...

Mary's boy child Jesus Christ,

was born on Christmas Day,

And Man will live for ever more,

because of Christmas Day!

To say that I'm not a very religious person would be an understatement. In fact, if not for my Mom who has made my habit of going to Church every Sunday a regimen after much gentle coaxing in the form of ear-pulling, I might almost be an agnost. For eleven months of the year that is. Then the Christmas season comes around and it err.. does things to me. Things that my Mom would have never imagined possible. I clean up my room. I don't have as much of a problem getting up in the morning. I smile a lot more than I usually do. I greet people I've never met... and the list goes on.

Of all the fond memories that Christmas brings to my mind, decorations are the most striking. Every year my sis and I ask Dad for money to buy decorations. We normally get what we want. After all Christmas decorations are a far nobler cause than chocolates. After much haggling we decide on what to buy. "Shopper boy" (yours truly) is dispatched with disdain to do the actual purchasing and we then get down to the task of putting the decorations up. This is where the fun starts.

Obviously one can't start hanging things randomly all over the place. So we sit around and brainstorm on possible arrangements. Now this is not as easy as you guys might think. If I want the Christmas tree in one corner of the room, it would turn out that Nish would want it in any corner but that corner. If Nish wants the "Merry Christmas" sign on the wall facing the main door and the "Happy New Year" sign on the wall parallel to the door, I want just the opposite. If I want a diamond steamer arrangement across the ceiling, Nish wants a rectangular one. If Nish wanted to twirl the streamers before putting them up, I would want them straight. I must reluctantly state here that she gets her way most of the time except when she loses her temper and lets out a piercing scream, in which case Mom comes over and settles the issue in my favor to punish her for screaming. (*rubbing hands in glee*)

Of course some ridiculous proposals are vetoed at the very start by mom and dad.. like my proposition that we put up the longest hanging we had in the middle of the room where it would hit the heads of everyone taller than 5 feet. (All I wanted was to stand under the hanging and jump up and touch it with my head *hurt look*). Or the one where I thought that the TV and the refrigerator could do with some decoration. That proposal didn’t last long either.

The actual menial job of "putting up" everything, I'm ashamed to say was done by my sister. My role was restricted to holding the stool on which she was standing. Now before you begin to ridicule me, I would like to explain the logic behind this. Both of us had not grown to our full height then and quite often the height of one stool was insufficient. So we ended up putting one stool or chair on top of another which resulted in a highly unstable setup. Before your scorn for me intensifies, let me draw your attention to two facts. 1) I weighed more than my sis. 2) I was stronger. From 1) and 2) it follows that it would be safer for both of us if the lighter person got on to the "contraption" and the stronger person held it to prevent it from toppling over. I don't know if this logic appeals to you, but thankfully it did to my sister and she dutifully climbed up whenever needed.

Setting up the crib is perhaps the most herculean task of all. Work on this starts over two weeks before Christmas when we spread mustard seeds on soaked cotton. The figures of the Holy Family, shepherds, magi and animals are placed among the greenery after the seeds have sprouted and reached a size of about three inches. After midnight mass on Christmas eve, the 'baby Jesus' doll is placed in the center and our Christmas kicks off!

One last thing.. I NEED a break.. from studies, from work and most of all from computers of any kind. So I am now taking off for a vacation.. NO Internet, NO emails, NO chatting, NO online gaming. I'm off to gallivant around the country with my sis.. Take care everybody..

I wish you a Merry Christmas;

I wish you a Merry Christmas;

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Good tidings I bring to you and your kin;

Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Oh, bring me a figgy pudding;

Oh, bring me a figgy pudding;

Oh, bring me a figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer

I won't go until I get some;

I won't go until I get some;

I won't go until I get some, so bring some out here

I wish you a Merry Christmas;

I wish you a Merry Christmas;

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!