Thought its high time I write something casual and informal. ( Atleast I am attempting ). The past few days have been very eventful begin with we had a really boring paper- "environmental science exam " last Thursday was a Herculean task studying simply because it was sooooo boring. It was pouring ( The incessant rains in Chennai !!! ) on the eve of the examination usual I slept at 9.00 and got up at 3.00 . Already I had some 1 chap left to complete . And inbox was filled with smses saying the govt had declared holiday for all schools and coll. Now how can I study ??? Impossible rite ???
With great difficulty I continued to mug " Domestic sewage treatment " . The morning news and the newspapers did not say anything about postponement of examinations. But then sky had cleared up and the sun was shinig.. Technically I wounld not have wanted a postponement of the examination. But it was a boooring paper... I was really sleepy .... and no paper has ever got postponed ... So I tot .. Let it get postponed.. And I can go to sleep at 6.00 in the morning. Bliss.
But life functions according to Murphy's laws...We did have an exam.. Tension over.
Next exam was "network protocols and security" . Now you cant exactly fool around. We had 3 days hols to prepare. I comfortably wasted 1 full day ( pucca wasted) . Now life functions as per Parkinson's law... Even if u have a zillion days to prep . The last 36 hours is wat that matters.Even the second I kind of fooled around. And again inbox was flooded about "rumors" of postponement... And I strictly din want any such thing... But alas . Sun Tv flashes the news : Postponed ......
This means we have another 9 days before the next exam. Virtually a short holiday..
Monday, November 28, 2005
Friday, November 25, 2005
"Negation" to define positives
Presence is the negation of absence.
Generally presence is a small set and absence is a jumbo set when compared to the former.
For instance
Let us consider defining "Being happy". Happiness is considerably difficult to define autonomously.
Happiness can have varied definitions : Bliss, State of delight, Being in great spirits; But these are are vague and needs further expansions and explanations we will end up with a recursive definition for it.
Instead 'Unhappiness' is easy to define and quantify ..
For instance for me
Unhappiness = { Being unwell , Failing , After a fight , ... }
Now happiness can easily be defined a negation / absence of unhappiness.
This again is a vague description because happiness and unhappiness are not just 2 elements of a binary system are certain fuzzy states in between. For example there are certain times when we are neither happy nor unhappy. However the previous definition does not account for this.
There are many instances in the vedas and other scriptures where the presence is defined as the negation of absence good is said to be the negation of bad.
Here I quote 2 such instances:
Advaita ... ( flicked from http://www.wie.org/j14/shankar.asp?page=2 )
why is it called "nondualism?" God is one, isn't it? Why is the word "advaita" being used? Advaita means not two. Why did the sages not say "one?" Why did they say "not two?"...to come back to the point, the word "advaita" is used to indicate not two! And the reason why is because the mind functions in a very linear way, from point A to points B, C, D, E, F and so on in a straight line—are you with me so far? Therefore, the moment you say "one," it means that there are two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and so on and so forth. The moment you say "one," it means the possibility exists of two. One has got meaning only with relation to the other numbers; otherwise it has none. And the moment you say "one," two has already penetrated into it. That is why they don't say "ekant." They say "NOT TWO!" And NOT TWO means what? That the many has disappeared. But this is only indicated by a process of negation.
Generally presence is a small set and absence is a jumbo set when compared to the former.
For instance
Let us consider defining "Being happy". Happiness is considerably difficult to define autonomously.
Happiness can have varied definitions : Bliss, State of delight, Being in great spirits; But these are are vague and needs further expansions and explanations we will end up with a recursive definition for it.
Instead 'Unhappiness' is easy to define and quantify ..
For instance for me
Unhappiness = { Being unwell , Failing , After a fight , ... }
Now happiness can easily be defined a negation / absence of unhappiness.
This again is a vague description because happiness and unhappiness are not just 2 elements of a binary system are certain fuzzy states in between. For example there are certain times when we are neither happy nor unhappy. However the previous definition does not account for this.
There are many instances in the vedas and other scriptures where the presence is defined as the negation of absence good is said to be the negation of bad.
Here I quote 2 such instances:
Advaita ... ( flicked from http://www.wie.org/j14/shankar.asp?page=2 )
why is it called "nondualism?" God is one, isn't it? Why is the word "advaita" being used? Advaita means not two. Why did the sages not say "one?" Why did they say "not two?"...to come back to the point, the word "advaita" is used to indicate not two! And the reason why is because the mind functions in a very linear way, from point A to points B, C, D, E, F and so on in a straight line—are you with me so far? Therefore, the moment you say "one," it means that there are two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight and so on and so forth. The moment you say "one," it means the possibility exists of two. One has got meaning only with relation to the other numbers; otherwise it has none. And the moment you say "one," two has already penetrated into it. That is why they don't say "ekant." They say "NOT TWO!" And NOT TWO means what? That the many has disappeared. But this is only indicated by a process of negation.
Swades...
Swades movie ... Pal Pal song... has a phrase " Man se ravan jo nikale . Ram uske man mein hai ".Ram is the good. Ravan is the evil. Ram 's existance is defined as the absence of ravan. Meaning we inherently become good when we root out the bad within us.
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Sunday, October 09, 2005
New theory !!!!
"Work expands to fill the time available."
---Parkinson
This new theory is dedicated to Parkinson.... (Some body suggest a good name !!!)
Our daily general activities can be broadly divided into three classes.
1.Our Mainstream activity ( College/School & related work . Irrespective of our likings or dislike we will have to finish the work)
2.Hobbies
3.Other regular activities such as watching TV ( , Sleeping ... my favorite ) . Interesting but not exactly special.
Now my theory states that
If your mainstream activity is dull and you dont have much to do ( Like for instance if you hardly have classes in coll and very less assignments and stuff..)
the other auxillary activities ( 2 and 3 ) also get affected.Some how too much free time (sense of not doing the mainstream activity itself) will make the others also look dull and mundane.(and sometimes you may end up craving for classes also)
NOTE :
1.This theory holds good only when you have too much free time. For example not having classes for one or two days will not make life boring.
2.When you have lots of free time you will obviously want to streamline the time available to pursue other activities.But still your mind will be disturbed . And you will not be able to spend the amount of useful time you wanted to on other activities.
3.More the free time more accurate the theory gets.
---Parkinson
This new theory is dedicated to Parkinson.... (Some body suggest a good name !!!)
Our daily general activities can be broadly divided into three classes.
1.Our Mainstream activity ( College/School & related work . Irrespective of our likings or dislike we will have to finish the work)
2.Hobbies
3.Other regular activities such as watching TV ( , Sleeping ... my favorite ) . Interesting but not exactly special.
Now my theory states that
If your mainstream activity is dull and you dont have much to do ( Like for instance if you hardly have classes in coll and very less assignments and stuff..)
the other auxillary activities ( 2 and 3 ) also get affected.Some how too much free time (sense of not doing the mainstream activity itself) will make the others also look dull and mundane.(and sometimes you may end up craving for classes also)
NOTE :
1.This theory holds good only when you have too much free time. For example not having classes for one or two days will not make life boring.
2.When you have lots of free time you will obviously want to streamline the time available to pursue other activities.But still your mind will be disturbed . And you will not be able to spend the amount of useful time you wanted to on other activities.
3.More the free time more accurate the theory gets.
Monday, September 26, 2005
Computer science and girls ???
Computer games. It would be my last but one option for entertainment in this world.No variety of Comp game has ethused me.Nothing from the ever dragging strategy games to the action packed thriller stuff.Plus I dont have a brother to endlessly keep talking about them .Hence I remain totally ignorant and disinterested in them."These are supposed to improve your reflex . Play ...." Owing to such thoughts I have installed a variety of games...But all games failed to electrify me.Some times I wonder if I would pass out as a decent computer grad without playing these games... The thought still terrifies me.
( read this too - LINK )
Computers.Being a branch of Engineering . A branch of electronics plus mathemathics . It is surely not a male dominated science.But without second thoughts it is a boy's playground.Girls have not much business there.From the varieties of books written( the authors make it a point to use only "shes") to the wide range of computer games..(not to forget the mags ...) there is a male stamp.Not to forget the jokes cracked and the illustrations made..
And how many girls love their computers. Such links amuse me :( LINK). I really dont know about the number of girl geeks in the top universities.But here in my college less than a percentage of girls give a damn to their computers.Forget finding geeks.....
I sometimes wonder if girls are not competent enough to be good programmers. I bet they can master the software engineering process. But how many hard core girl programmers can we count ??I think in a staightforward manner and can do a decent amount of logical and rational coding . But when it comes to innovation and algorithm writing ..... Oki I am not a geek.
Girls who fiddle.Can girls even fiddle ?? I cannot. Not because I am scared or anything but I simply dont bother. I have sat through many endless sessions where guys discuss some installation or some graphics card or some games or some troubleshooting process
(courtesy debugging commitee ).I always had to remain uncomfortably silent for a long time.
Have I landed up in the wrong course. I am sure I have not . I love all that I study.I enjoy mathematics and love my computer.Still I cant paly games or fiddle ........
Disclaimer:This is not some piece of article written for female rights ( or the like ) . These are confused thoughts of a girl who is studying Comp Sci...
And read this if you are still not bored:
LINK
( read this too - LINK )
Computers.Being a branch of Engineering . A branch of electronics plus mathemathics . It is surely not a male dominated science.But without second thoughts it is a boy's playground.Girls have not much business there.From the varieties of books written( the authors make it a point to use only "shes") to the wide range of computer games..(not to forget the mags ...) there is a male stamp.Not to forget the jokes cracked and the illustrations made..
And how many girls love their computers. Such links amuse me :( LINK). I really dont know about the number of girl geeks in the top universities.But here in my college less than a percentage of girls give a damn to their computers.Forget finding geeks.....
I sometimes wonder if girls are not competent enough to be good programmers. I bet they can master the software engineering process. But how many hard core girl programmers can we count ??I think in a staightforward manner and can do a decent amount of logical and rational coding . But when it comes to innovation and algorithm writing ..... Oki I am not a geek.
Girls who fiddle.Can girls even fiddle ?? I cannot. Not because I am scared or anything but I simply dont bother. I have sat through many endless sessions where guys discuss some installation or some graphics card or some games or some troubleshooting process
(courtesy debugging commitee ).I always had to remain uncomfortably silent for a long time.
Have I landed up in the wrong course. I am sure I have not . I love all that I study.I enjoy mathematics and love my computer.Still I cant paly games or fiddle ........
Disclaimer:This is not some piece of article written for female rights ( or the like ) . These are confused thoughts of a girl who is studying Comp Sci...
And read this if you are still not bored:
LINK
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Window seat obsession !
One of my appa's bravest decision was to send my sister and me to a school 13Kms away from home when we were 4 years old. Why ?? Because my amma worked in the same school.That was way back. Ever since then , till we finished 10th standard we travelled all the way from Kodambakkam to Meenambakkam in the electric train everyday.From that time window seats are a consuming passion . Any journey . Any vehicle .Without a window seat, it always felt incomplete.Anything else - from the ripe sapota sold in the train to a nail biting novel waiting to be finished was secondary to staring blankly outside the window as the train zips past...What is so special ??? Is it a panoramic view -- some excellent landscape... or city scape.. Of course not..There is nothing more to stare at except -- dirty walls with gaurdy advertisements , chaotic stations and unending railway tracks....
Window seats + long journey = dream time for me . It is where I sit and endlessly dream , get carried away by my thoughts , think about the going (present,past and future ... in the same order) .Window seats are an anti fatigue /stress therapy. A spiritual corner . Most of my best ideas, all those cracking solutions occured to me in some window seat ....
Even when the train is jam packed with absolutely no breathing space..I look around eagle eyed for a corner window seat...and If I know that somebody is going to move out of one I make prior arrangements and calculations and jump onto that window seat :-)
Do you think the my saga has ended.... No way. Every morning and evening in the college bus nothing , noone can distract me from my cozy corner..
This whole post would be incomplete if I dont mention this incident. Way back in 9th standard I was coming back from school in the electric train. I was sitting in the last compartment (next to the gaurd's cabin) in the last window seat.As usual dreaming... in my own world.The train was moving over the adyar bridge( Dadang Dadang ... as I would prefer to call it .. 'coz of the sound when any train is moving over a bridge). At that very moment I felt something hard on my shoulder. I thought it was a crow or worse an eagle and almost yelled...Then came the gaurd's voice asking me not to panic.. Actually he was hanging from this cabin door tapping on my shoulder... Then he asked if I had water . In the next station he got down .. came to my window ... drank water .... and then waved his green flag.....
Window seats + long journey = dream time for me . It is where I sit and endlessly dream , get carried away by my thoughts , think about the going (present,past and future ... in the same order) .Window seats are an anti fatigue /stress therapy. A spiritual corner . Most of my best ideas, all those cracking solutions occured to me in some window seat ....
Even when the train is jam packed with absolutely no breathing space..I look around eagle eyed for a corner window seat...and If I know that somebody is going to move out of one I make prior arrangements and calculations and jump onto that window seat :-)
Do you think the my saga has ended.... No way. Every morning and evening in the college bus nothing , noone can distract me from my cozy corner..
This whole post would be incomplete if I dont mention this incident. Way back in 9th standard I was coming back from school in the electric train. I was sitting in the last compartment (next to the gaurd's cabin) in the last window seat.As usual dreaming... in my own world.The train was moving over the adyar bridge( Dadang Dadang ... as I would prefer to call it .. 'coz of the sound when any train is moving over a bridge). At that very moment I felt something hard on my shoulder. I thought it was a crow or worse an eagle and almost yelled...Then came the gaurd's voice asking me not to panic.. Actually he was hanging from this cabin door tapping on my shoulder... Then he asked if I had water . In the next station he got down .. came to my window ... drank water .... and then waved his green flag.....
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Sri Ganesh karen..
Its long since i wanted to start blogging.There was not enough self drive (see how important it is ) and motivation from my Aatman (that is my own lazy self) to actually start one.After lots of procrastination and with the arrival of the broad band at home..I decided it is high time I satisfy my due desire to start blogging..
Sri Ganesh Karen..It is one of those hindi phrases which i learnt in school in the hindi classes
-- which I still remember and use .It means to start something ( new) with the name of pillayar.
Only other phrase which i remember is Now do gyarah hona meaning To run away or baag jana...
A blog is
( n.) Short for Web log, a blog is a Web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
(v.) To author a Web log.
Other forms: Blogger (a person who blogs).
Me and personal jouranals put together is a total failure..Every new year I manage to grab one of the best diaries that he gets from my appa . After one week it invariably turned into a rough note book.After many repeated failures .... lets see if this e-avtar is any motivation at all.
Sri Ganesh Karen..It is one of those hindi phrases which i learnt in school in the hindi classes
-- which I still remember and use .It means to start something ( new) with the name of pillayar.
Only other phrase which i remember is Now do gyarah hona meaning To run away or baag jana...
A blog is
( n.) Short for Web log, a blog is a Web page that serves as a publicly accessible personal journal for an individual. Typically updated daily, blogs often reflect the personality of the author.
(v.) To author a Web log.
Other forms: Blogger (a person who blogs).
Me and personal jouranals put together is a total failure..Every new year I manage to grab one of the best diaries that he gets from my appa . After one week it invariably turned into a rough note book.After many repeated failures .... lets see if this e-avtar is any motivation at all.
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