I am really happy right now.The sun is out.The mild sun of winter,that brings with it its warmth,and makes you drop everything and just stand and stare.I am still working on the misery called Matlab,but I went out to take a break , and am glad I did.
Talking with my friend,standing outside the department,suddenly I stood transfixed.In the distance I saw a girl,and she was coming right at us.Oh how graceful she was,as she glided over the ground on her roller skates.She weaved,she dodged,jumped onto the sidewalk and made it seem as if she was born with wheels on her legs!Now a few mins later I dont even remember how she looked! For once,I wasnt watching the girl the way I normally do,so taken in was I with her grace;)
She disappeared into the crowd,but left me feeling great indeed.
I appreciate this moment all the more because the last week has been one of the most frustrating weeks of my life.Every night I go to sleep angry,and in the morning, I get up angry again.I am angry at myself,my friends,and feel quite sorry for myself at times.And lots of things have been going wrong too,just at this time.
I hope this week ends this agonising exam for good.I am sick,tired,frustrated, and in general have lost my good humour,all because of this dastardly thing called coding.
And maybe this is the time to share a thought about computer "science".(I would put a lot more quotation marks around that word if I could) A professor here told me in all seriousness how its the disciplines that lack science which go to great lengths to prove they are,and even have it in their names.Consider how ridiculous physical science,or chemical science,or mathematical science sounds.The word science is redundant, and implicit,and am happy that I dont belong to some "mechanical science".Now consider the other "sciences"- social "science"(trying hard to keep a straight face),political science(apoplexy!!), and I wont even name the other that I have in mind.
I am inclined to agree with him.
But all that doesnt change the fact that am sick ,tired and frustrated with everything! Life sucks to infinity.Indeed....
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
One fun filled day
Today was simply awesome.To cut things short,the cricket match made my day!
In the morning, Jagannath and Jhampala came over to watch the semifinal. After a lot of cursing,the links finally worked,and I settled down to watch my first complete cricket match in more than a year:) The last time I tried watching,I went away angry and upset at the Indian debacle against Srilanka at the WC.I was hoping today would be better, and thankfully it was.Shouting,cheering,and being simply awestruck by Yuvraj's pyrotechnics, the Indian innings passed by in the blink of an eye.
Then we wondered and feared what the Aussie response was going to be.It was all well until Symonds walked in.Then followed absolute mayhem. But I watched it till the end.I enjoyed the drama that unfolded, and finally savoured the moment of victory:)
It was an exhilarating feeling, something I have missed sorely the past one year. A few hours of this is worth a dozen movies any day!What I will also remember are the abuses we hurled at the bowlers,(the choicest ones reserved for Joginder Sharma in his first spell:) It reminded me of watching matches in Topaz.You would rather die than let your near and dear ones hear the language that is used in the TV room when cricket matches are in progress;)
I really liked Dhoni's attitude to the game-and he doesn't make any inane comments after the match.What I found so refreshing were his words to Joginder Sharma before the last over-that the Aussies were used to winning,and are expected to win from here too.So just bowl as you would in a domestic match,and let the batsman do all the work,if he could.
I think this match might just have rekindled my interest in the game.Incidentally,this might also sound the death knell for one day cricket as we know it.
After the match ended,I hardly got any time for lunch before we left for the temple-their 10th anniversary celebrations. The main objective was the food stalls-home made dishes that you could have after buying tickets.I had delicious pav-bhaji, absolutely ethereal chutney with vada,idli and dosa. All work has been deferred till tomorrow.
So I sit writing now, contented and happy.There ought to be more days like this, I reflect!
And I really don't care if we win or lose on Monday.Today was good enough:-)
In the morning, Jagannath and Jhampala came over to watch the semifinal. After a lot of cursing,the links finally worked,and I settled down to watch my first complete cricket match in more than a year:) The last time I tried watching,I went away angry and upset at the Indian debacle against Srilanka at the WC.I was hoping today would be better, and thankfully it was.Shouting,cheering,and being simply awestruck by Yuvraj's pyrotechnics, the Indian innings passed by in the blink of an eye.
Then we wondered and feared what the Aussie response was going to be.It was all well until Symonds walked in.Then followed absolute mayhem. But I watched it till the end.I enjoyed the drama that unfolded, and finally savoured the moment of victory:)
It was an exhilarating feeling, something I have missed sorely the past one year. A few hours of this is worth a dozen movies any day!What I will also remember are the abuses we hurled at the bowlers,(the choicest ones reserved for Joginder Sharma in his first spell:) It reminded me of watching matches in Topaz.You would rather die than let your near and dear ones hear the language that is used in the TV room when cricket matches are in progress;)
I really liked Dhoni's attitude to the game-and he doesn't make any inane comments after the match.What I found so refreshing were his words to Joginder Sharma before the last over-that the Aussies were used to winning,and are expected to win from here too.So just bowl as you would in a domestic match,and let the batsman do all the work,if he could.
I think this match might just have rekindled my interest in the game.Incidentally,this might also sound the death knell for one day cricket as we know it.
After the match ended,I hardly got any time for lunch before we left for the temple-their 10th anniversary celebrations. The main objective was the food stalls-home made dishes that you could have after buying tickets.I had delicious pav-bhaji, absolutely ethereal chutney with vada,idli and dosa. All work has been deferred till tomorrow.
So I sit writing now, contented and happy.There ought to be more days like this, I reflect!
And I really don't care if we win or lose on Monday.Today was good enough:-)
Monday, September 03, 2007
5 years hence and the beginning of a new sem
Just to remind myself of another trivial milestone,September 3rd,2002 was the first day of college.When hostel rooms were allotted, and sitting in the Barn,seniors eyed us ominously from the sidelines.Grabbing the best cupboard and the best cot in the room,and then going down for the most horrifying meal of my entire life.It was pongal,I remember clearly, an unimaginable,unpalatable gooey substance,to be had with a little sugar by the side.I have often reflected that they never could produce a worse meal in 4 years.It must have been one sublime effort the first day,designed to make sure that it only gets better.
I can actually see myself as I was then-younger,foolish but also with a burning optimism and romanticism about life-something that is still unchanged I think.
Cutting short my wistful reminiscencing, new semester classes have begun.This semester promises to be interesting,exciting and tough.In fact my life has already moved up a gear in one week.I also had a lot of fun the past one month with the other NITTIans and it reinforced what I always felt,that its so easy to connect with people sharing a common past, even if you did not know them before.
My blogging might become infrequent now that classes have started.But if inspiration strikes,in the form of zip codes or the by-now-popular(notorious) Preetha-Preethi Propositioning Problem:D (notice the skillful use of alliteration here:),then I will not let that moment pass.
Here is hoping for good grades, good life and good research for this semester!
I can actually see myself as I was then-younger,foolish but also with a burning optimism and romanticism about life-something that is still unchanged I think.
Cutting short my wistful reminiscencing, new semester classes have begun.This semester promises to be interesting,exciting and tough.In fact my life has already moved up a gear in one week.I also had a lot of fun the past one month with the other NITTIans and it reinforced what I always felt,that its so easy to connect with people sharing a common past, even if you did not know them before.
My blogging might become infrequent now that classes have started.But if inspiration strikes,in the form of zip codes or the by-now-popular(notorious) Preetha-Preethi Propositioning Problem:D (notice the skillful use of alliteration here:),then I will not let that moment pass.
Here is hoping for good grades, good life and good research for this semester!
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
The truth about arranged marriages
I had my final exam today and the paper being easy,the exam was a breeze.So 3 weeks of rest follow for me after a busy month of classes.After my exam,I happened to read this:
http://21writersblock.blogspot.com/2007/08/youve-got-mail-again.html
Now the author happens to be someone I am very fond of,and her earnest appeal to people in general to find a way to explain the idea of arranged marriage didnt fall on deaf ears.I took upon my frail shoulders the onerous task of removing the stigma(if I may call it that) associated with an "arranged" marriage.I know that the tone of my writing puts the word "arranged" at about the same level as the word match "fixing" in cricket.A thousand pardons for that inadvertent error.At the outset, let me issue the usual disclaimers that am neither married nor in love,and any views that I may express may be taken with many grains of salt.
To any prospective girls who might have an outside chance of falling in love with yours truly--I agree that after reading this your feelings for me would probably be not far from that you share for a brick on the road,or the friendly neighbourhood bulldozer, for that matter.I hasten to add that I am a romantic at heart,and its just my other side taking over for a brief period.I may be guilty of bringing down something as intangible as love,to something as mundane as mathematics.However,there are similarities-both are abstract:)) to start with.But if you look beyond the obvious ,am sure the parable am going to narrate will prove most instructive.
I shall assume that most of my readers are familiar with some numerical techniques for finding roots of equations.But the person for whom the post is intended, though clever, almost certainly doesnt,so a quick introduction.
A function f(x) is said to have a root at c if f(c)=0.Now consider an equation like f(x,y). The point (i,j) is a root if f(i,j)=0.
Consider an equation like x-cos(x+4)=0 or better still sin(x)-log(y) +6=0
I ask you to find a root of the equation.
To come to my point,I need 2 names.Lets take,err...preetha and preethi,for want of any better names:)).I give this problem to both of them, and allow them use of an elementary calculator.
Preetha,being a highly whimsical girl and a good programmer,insists on the following idiosyncrasy.She wants to arrive at the solution by chance alone,so with the help of a random number generator,she tries out numbers one after the other and tries to find if any of them is a root.Sometimes its love,oops! sorry, root at first sight.But often the random numbers turn out too random,and try as she might,picking a root by trial seems too difficult for some equations.But she is delighted whenever she does stumble on the root by chance:)
Preethi on the other hand is a girl singularly devoid of such eccentricity.She consults a book of numerical recipes and hits upon tried and tested techniques like the Golden Search method,Newton Raphson method,bisection method or for more complicated functions,Steepest Descent method and so on.The way these methods work is as follows.
Instead of choosing at random,from the general behavior of the given function,a smaller region is identified in the search space,where a root is likely to occur.Once the region is identified,simply do what Preetha does at random-try out numbers in the region and see which one fits.Notice that in the end, you dont accept a number as a root without checking its functional value.So you are not compromising in any way:))
The general name for such techniques is quite appropriate-Directed Search methods:))
Some more comments on this technique are warranted.An equation can have more than one root.But they all might not lie in the same search space.Also let us recognise a tacit assumption we have made that the equation in question has a real root,which might even be false.(sorry!!)
Assuming that both Preetha and Preethi arrive at the same solution,lets now explore the matter further.For one thing,would you expect that Preetha is happier than Preethi just because she "found" her root by chance alone?Likely not.Now how viable is Preetha's method? If she has time till kingdom come,its a foolproof method.But if you are short of time, then trusting the God of Randomness is not highly advised.
Then there is the problem of "irrational" roots:) In such cases people stop their search once they find an integer value sufficiently close to the root.:)How close?That's decided by the Convergence Criterion -the mathematical term for this.
Also let us remind ourselves that the best method actually would be to graph the function and simply determine all the roots by inspection. But such a process is feasible if you are looking from above ,which we are not.
Having said all that,when I have an equation of my own to solve,I will give the random numbers a chance first:)To my dearest random root finder I have this to say-I do wish with all my heart that the correct number pops up soon.Randomly,or with an algorithm,does it really matter ?:)
I believe in the fact that if you wish something for others,it comes true.And I say this in all seriousness.
http://21writersblock.blogspot.com/2007/08/youve-got-mail-again.html
Now the author happens to be someone I am very fond of,and her earnest appeal to people in general to find a way to explain the idea of arranged marriage didnt fall on deaf ears.I took upon my frail shoulders the onerous task of removing the stigma(if I may call it that) associated with an "arranged" marriage.I know that the tone of my writing puts the word "arranged" at about the same level as the word match "fixing" in cricket.A thousand pardons for that inadvertent error.At the outset, let me issue the usual disclaimers that am neither married nor in love,and any views that I may express may be taken with many grains of salt.
To any prospective girls who might have an outside chance of falling in love with yours truly--I agree that after reading this your feelings for me would probably be not far from that you share for a brick on the road,or the friendly neighbourhood bulldozer, for that matter.I hasten to add that I am a romantic at heart,and its just my other side taking over for a brief period.I may be guilty of bringing down something as intangible as love,to something as mundane as mathematics.However,there are similarities-both are abstract:)) to start with.But if you look beyond the obvious ,am sure the parable am going to narrate will prove most instructive.
I shall assume that most of my readers are familiar with some numerical techniques for finding roots of equations.But the person for whom the post is intended, though clever, almost certainly doesnt,so a quick introduction.
A function f(x) is said to have a root at c if f(c)=0.Now consider an equation like f(x,y). The point (i,j) is a root if f(i,j)=0.
Consider an equation like x-cos(x+4)=0 or better still sin(x)-log(y) +6=0
I ask you to find a root of the equation.
To come to my point,I need 2 names.Lets take,err...preetha and preethi,for want of any better names:)).I give this problem to both of them, and allow them use of an elementary calculator.
Preetha,being a highly whimsical girl and a good programmer,insists on the following idiosyncrasy.She wants to arrive at the solution by chance alone,so with the help of a random number generator,she tries out numbers one after the other and tries to find if any of them is a root.Sometimes its love,oops! sorry, root at first sight.But often the random numbers turn out too random,and try as she might,picking a root by trial seems too difficult for some equations.But she is delighted whenever she does stumble on the root by chance:)
Preethi on the other hand is a girl singularly devoid of such eccentricity.She consults a book of numerical recipes and hits upon tried and tested techniques like the Golden Search method,Newton Raphson method,bisection method or for more complicated functions,Steepest Descent method and so on.The way these methods work is as follows.
Instead of choosing at random,from the general behavior of the given function,a smaller region is identified in the search space,where a root is likely to occur.Once the region is identified,simply do what Preetha does at random-try out numbers in the region and see which one fits.Notice that in the end, you dont accept a number as a root without checking its functional value.So you are not compromising in any way:))
The general name for such techniques is quite appropriate-Directed Search methods:))
Some more comments on this technique are warranted.An equation can have more than one root.But they all might not lie in the same search space.Also let us recognise a tacit assumption we have made that the equation in question has a real root,which might even be false.(sorry!!)
Assuming that both Preetha and Preethi arrive at the same solution,lets now explore the matter further.For one thing,would you expect that Preetha is happier than Preethi just because she "found" her root by chance alone?Likely not.Now how viable is Preetha's method? If she has time till kingdom come,its a foolproof method.But if you are short of time, then trusting the God of Randomness is not highly advised.
Then there is the problem of "irrational" roots:) In such cases people stop their search once they find an integer value sufficiently close to the root.:)How close?That's decided by the Convergence Criterion -the mathematical term for this.
Also let us remind ourselves that the best method actually would be to graph the function and simply determine all the roots by inspection. But such a process is feasible if you are looking from above ,which we are not.
Having said all that,when I have an equation of my own to solve,I will give the random numbers a chance first:)To my dearest random root finder I have this to say-I do wish with all my heart that the correct number pops up soon.Randomly,or with an algorithm,does it really matter ?:)
I believe in the fact that if you wish something for others,it comes true.And I say this in all seriousness.
Friday, August 03, 2007
Important dates of the second kind ! :)
If you are starting to read it thinking its about my dates,you are wrong.I have given up on that and am resigned to the fact that nothing like that will ever happen to me :))
This post is more to remind myself than about writing anything funny or concrete.
Today is August 3rd.Exactly a year ago on this day, I got my visa. Maybe not everyone will think that event noteworthy,but I know otherwise.I was put through an emotional shredder for a month before finally getting it.And so how does it feel,I ask myself, a year hence?
Well, it mostly feels like a dream, as though all that never happened.And yet there is a residue of the disappointment, the uncertainty,the prospect of seeing your dreams crumble, that gets me disturbed simply by thinking.Now sitting in the future,it sometimes feels that it was not anything to worry about.And thats the peculiar quality of the human psyche.
I once read a book by Dan Gilbert titled Stumbling on happiness,and it is this quality that he often talks about.
The inability of the human mind (or heart, whichever you prefer) to reconstruct effectively or accurately the emotions felt in the past.I have felt dissapointment before, joy and elation too,but every time is like a first time. It is as if my own past experiences are vicarious to my own self.
As I wrote once before, I remember dates.So it is that I recall some important events that happened in August in my life.
Two years ago I wrote the GRE exam on August 1st. I rushed back to college immediately from Bangalore because Delphi was coming to campus on the 2nd.I remember walking bleary eyed past the ad-block as I saw my friends ,dressed smartly, rush towards A-2 hall.I remember being congratulated for what then seemed like a great score.Next thing I saw was the written test paper- had lots of microprocessors and programming in it and so that was the end for me:)).
However it was not the end for Pattu.The only mech guy who cleared the written,I can recall vividly,his face flushed, outside my room window,waking me up from my afternoon nap,saying: "Shriram mera ho gaya!!!" :-) There are few times in ones life that you really,and I mean really feel delighted at another's success, but life in college gave me numerous such occasions.
There were more things that happened that month.On the 10th I wrote the TOEFL.On the 27th,Pawan and I got placed (but never joined the Tatas:). Infact I landed here on the 13th last year.Maybe August is a great month for me!
But Pattu's story doesnt end there. Very soon after there was a report in the ET that Delphi filed for bankruptcy.There is no end to the fun it brought us at Pattu's expense.I kept the copy of the newspaper in Pawan's room, and whenever this pest would bother us as we were having some discussion of great import (generally of a nature too scandalous to be mentioned in a blog:), Pawan would point to that newspaper by the corner.Pattu the Pest would then slink away sheepishly ;)
Let me dedicate this post to Pattu-that pestilential creature who figures in most of the good times that I have had- and due to whom I gained so much and despite what am gaining now, realise all that am losing.
This post is more to remind myself than about writing anything funny or concrete.
Today is August 3rd.Exactly a year ago on this day, I got my visa. Maybe not everyone will think that event noteworthy,but I know otherwise.I was put through an emotional shredder for a month before finally getting it.And so how does it feel,I ask myself, a year hence?
Well, it mostly feels like a dream, as though all that never happened.And yet there is a residue of the disappointment, the uncertainty,the prospect of seeing your dreams crumble, that gets me disturbed simply by thinking.Now sitting in the future,it sometimes feels that it was not anything to worry about.And thats the peculiar quality of the human psyche.
I once read a book by Dan Gilbert titled Stumbling on happiness,and it is this quality that he often talks about.
The inability of the human mind (or heart, whichever you prefer) to reconstruct effectively or accurately the emotions felt in the past.I have felt dissapointment before, joy and elation too,but every time is like a first time. It is as if my own past experiences are vicarious to my own self.
As I wrote once before, I remember dates.So it is that I recall some important events that happened in August in my life.
Two years ago I wrote the GRE exam on August 1st. I rushed back to college immediately from Bangalore because Delphi was coming to campus on the 2nd.I remember walking bleary eyed past the ad-block as I saw my friends ,dressed smartly, rush towards A-2 hall.I remember being congratulated for what then seemed like a great score.Next thing I saw was the written test paper- had lots of microprocessors and programming in it and so that was the end for me:)).
However it was not the end for Pattu.The only mech guy who cleared the written,I can recall vividly,his face flushed, outside my room window,waking me up from my afternoon nap,saying: "Shriram mera ho gaya!!!" :-) There are few times in ones life that you really,and I mean really feel delighted at another's success, but life in college gave me numerous such occasions.
There were more things that happened that month.On the 10th I wrote the TOEFL.On the 27th,Pawan and I got placed (but never joined the Tatas:). Infact I landed here on the 13th last year.Maybe August is a great month for me!
But Pattu's story doesnt end there. Very soon after there was a report in the ET that Delphi filed for bankruptcy.There is no end to the fun it brought us at Pattu's expense.I kept the copy of the newspaper in Pawan's room, and whenever this pest would bother us as we were having some discussion of great import (generally of a nature too scandalous to be mentioned in a blog:), Pawan would point to that newspaper by the corner.Pattu the Pest would then slink away sheepishly ;)
Let me dedicate this post to Pattu-that pestilential creature who figures in most of the good times that I have had- and due to whom I gained so much and despite what am gaining now, realise all that am losing.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Zipcodes and other matters of national importance
Its that time of the year again,when young men(women too before a feminist disapproves) with dreams in their eyes board flights to this land of 2% reduced fat milk and orange blossom honey.So naturally the question of my address came up, for hosting these new kids on the block.Incidentally, with several people of my college coming,it should be fun.But anyway while typing out my address the zip code caught my attention.
What a peculiar word- Zip code.
Instantly my fertile imagination began to conjure up appalling images of zips which open only with codes.What a cataclysm to befall the male bastion, I pondered.If zips were ever coded.Getting my cycle lock opened when its raining itself takes time, as I found out to my anguish a couple of days back.If nature ever puts you on notice, getting the....err..... zip( for once the author is short of words,and his alternatives all appear most inappropriate:) open in time can often be most challenging as most of you must definitely have found out a few times in your life.And imagine a three digit number lock on it, to compound matters.The prospect chills my bones to the very marrow.
And while we are at it let me digress and expound my views about the zip.A most versatile thing,the zip.Have any of you ever wondered why the zip was named the zip?Am sure you never have so I will proceed to elucidate my line of thought. Imagine trying to explain to a 4 year old boy what the zip is,without using the word zip.
The car zipped down the road. He zipped past in his cycle. Are these descriptions based on the the way the"zip" moves? Or indeed is the zip called zip because it goes "zip-zip-zip" when you pull it up or down?Does it indeed go "zip" or are we conditioned to hear it as zip because we named it zip?You see what I mean-I have run rings around you with this profound tautology.
Of course I with my infinite wisdom can define it purely as a mechanism with interlocking teeth moving on a blah blah blah....but the child wont be impressed and probably ask me if I have been eating locoweed.
I can hear cries of people in my mind already, shouting-
chaat! (dismissive)
chattttttttttt !! (irritating)
chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat !!!( means if I could get your neck in my hands right now I would love to apply a sufficiently high moment so that torsional failure occurs:)
The last of these is typically reserved for me when I am in one of these moods. :-) One of my specialities and delights was to extract the above mentioned sentiment from perfectly nice people.Like Montmorency in 3 Men in a Boat, my day is never complete or satisfying if I don't do this to atleast one person.
By the way,the different contextual usages of the word chat is what distinguishes the NITTwit from his lesser brethren.But again if one is a nitwit by nature,you cant teach one to be a NITTwit.So I desist.
But to round up this matter of import-I finally found a solution that allowed me to breathe easy somewhat. I remember when I was a kid,if your..errr..zip wasn't properly zipped up,the concerned person used to be alerted that "his postbox is open".(I desist from talking anymore about this most wonderful metaphor)
And there you have it!! A perfectly close formed solution to our problem! Zip Codes...post boxes...the connection would be obvious even to morons!
For others motivated by this monograph,I would suggest that the word "pin code" as used in India might also yield interesting solutions upon introspection.That might be a rewarding line of thought.In fact if I could I would myself pursue it :)
What a peculiar word- Zip code.
Instantly my fertile imagination began to conjure up appalling images of zips which open only with codes.What a cataclysm to befall the male bastion, I pondered.If zips were ever coded.Getting my cycle lock opened when its raining itself takes time, as I found out to my anguish a couple of days back.If nature ever puts you on notice, getting the....err..... zip( for once the author is short of words,and his alternatives all appear most inappropriate:) open in time can often be most challenging as most of you must definitely have found out a few times in your life.And imagine a three digit number lock on it, to compound matters.The prospect chills my bones to the very marrow.
And while we are at it let me digress and expound my views about the zip.A most versatile thing,the zip.Have any of you ever wondered why the zip was named the zip?Am sure you never have so I will proceed to elucidate my line of thought. Imagine trying to explain to a 4 year old boy what the zip is,without using the word zip.
The car zipped down the road. He zipped past in his cycle. Are these descriptions based on the the way the"zip" moves? Or indeed is the zip called zip because it goes "zip-zip-zip" when you pull it up or down?Does it indeed go "zip" or are we conditioned to hear it as zip because we named it zip?You see what I mean-I have run rings around you with this profound tautology.
Of course I with my infinite wisdom can define it purely as a mechanism with interlocking teeth moving on a blah blah blah....but the child wont be impressed and probably ask me if I have been eating locoweed.
I can hear cries of people in my mind already, shouting-
chaat! (dismissive)
chattttttttttt !! (irritating)
chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat !!!( means if I could get your neck in my hands right now I would love to apply a sufficiently high moment so that torsional failure occurs:)
The last of these is typically reserved for me when I am in one of these moods. :-) One of my specialities and delights was to extract the above mentioned sentiment from perfectly nice people.Like Montmorency in 3 Men in a Boat, my day is never complete or satisfying if I don't do this to atleast one person.
By the way,the different contextual usages of the word chat is what distinguishes the NITTwit from his lesser brethren.But again if one is a nitwit by nature,you cant teach one to be a NITTwit.So I desist.
But to round up this matter of import-I finally found a solution that allowed me to breathe easy somewhat. I remember when I was a kid,if your..errr..zip wasn't properly zipped up,the concerned person used to be alerted that "his postbox is open".(I desist from talking anymore about this most wonderful metaphor)
And there you have it!! A perfectly close formed solution to our problem! Zip Codes...post boxes...the connection would be obvious even to morons!
For others motivated by this monograph,I would suggest that the word "pin code" as used in India might also yield interesting solutions upon introspection.That might be a rewarding line of thought.In fact if I could I would myself pursue it :)
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Idle ramblings
This is being written as a comment to this-
http://a-mavericks-foghorn.blogspot.com/2007/07/of-nit-t-niit-and-it.html
If you have finished reading that then you may proceed to read what I have to say.
I must say my friend had a perfectly acceptable explanation as to why he went about reading the same news item ,or rather different versions of the same news (should I use new as the singular of news??Very singular word -news..pun intended of course..How does this sound-sensational new,hot new etc..Anyway never mind!. He assures me its not because he is sitting jobless in summer at the very least(?)
The news item hardly surprised me-the branding of NITT as NIIT.Being the busy man that I am(!) I just laughed it off with typical sarcasm,but my friend here could not stand the perpetration of this outrage.After all a gold medal with NIIT inscribed on it is hardly worth the glister is it?:)
To continue-let me play Devil's Advocate.Let me try to explain that such errors are quite possible.It is all attributed to The Printer's Devil .(no relation to Devil's advocate,mind you)
To illustrate let me tell you a most instructive story.
Once upon a time,The German crown prince was in England for a visit.
The newspaper headline went- "German crow prince in London"
Understandably outraged,the Germans demanded an apology which was duly tendered by the newspaper the next day.It read:" We apologise for our error in the story of the German clown prince".
Well,need I say more?.The Germans didnt ask for another apology.
That was my point, and may your cup of woe brimmeth, if you didnt get what I meant!!
To talk of more random issues regarding NITT, I think its fated that the NITTwit will never get his due. Back home in Calcutta in the days of yore when I was a young boy having just secured admission to NITT/REC Trichy,I remember friends of my dad in his office asking "Chele kothai podche?"( as in where is your son studying)
My dad, with suitable pride in his voice would reply to which they would ask:"Oita kothai, Bangalore?"(is that in Bangalore?:) My dad would be suitably miffed,while my ever present sarcasm would make me laugh.
There you have it- the tragedy of it all, NITT being reduced to a no entity near Bangalore.The joke is on Bangalore more than on NITT -this for the benefit of those among my readers whose heads are virtually cathode ray tubes (and I always suspect Iblog to belong to that set:)
The incident I narrated has happened too many times to pay any attention to.But now for an interesting case.
At the end of 3rd sem perhaps,I was bankrupt.But worse-Pattu and Ashwini were also bankrupt-worst of all I was bankrupt because I had lent money to Somnath (the eternally poor:).
I asked my dad to send me a DD.My dad, with his customary pride, addressed it to NIT Trichy instead of REC Trichy despite my warnings.The inevitable happened-the DD reached home after I came home for my holidays.
With that anecdote,this proud NITTian takes leave of you.I thoroughly enjoyed myself, pulling lots of legs in this post.
On a more serious note-congrats to the guy joining PSU and saying no to 23lpa.You will go places !Dont you worry!
http://a-mavericks-foghorn.blogspot.com/2007/07/of-nit-t-niit-and-it.html
If you have finished reading that then you may proceed to read what I have to say.
I must say my friend had a perfectly acceptable explanation as to why he went about reading the same news item ,or rather different versions of the same news (should I use new as the singular of news??Very singular word -news..pun intended of course..How does this sound-sensational new,hot new etc..Anyway never mind!. He assures me its not because he is sitting jobless in summer at the very least(?)
The news item hardly surprised me-the branding of NITT as NIIT.Being the busy man that I am(!) I just laughed it off with typical sarcasm,but my friend here could not stand the perpetration of this outrage.After all a gold medal with NIIT inscribed on it is hardly worth the glister is it?:)
To continue-let me play Devil's Advocate.Let me try to explain that such errors are quite possible.It is all attributed to The Printer's Devil .(no relation to Devil's advocate,mind you)
To illustrate let me tell you a most instructive story.
Once upon a time,The German crown prince was in England for a visit.
The newspaper headline went- "German crow prince in London"
Understandably outraged,the Germans demanded an apology which was duly tendered by the newspaper the next day.It read:" We apologise for our error in the story of the German clown prince".
Well,need I say more?.The Germans didnt ask for another apology.
That was my point, and may your cup of woe brimmeth, if you didnt get what I meant!!
To talk of more random issues regarding NITT, I think its fated that the NITTwit will never get his due. Back home in Calcutta in the days of yore when I was a young boy having just secured admission to NITT/REC Trichy,I remember friends of my dad in his office asking "Chele kothai podche?"( as in where is your son studying)
My dad, with suitable pride in his voice would reply to which they would ask:"Oita kothai, Bangalore?"(is that in Bangalore?:) My dad would be suitably miffed,while my ever present sarcasm would make me laugh.
There you have it- the tragedy of it all, NITT being reduced to a no entity near Bangalore.The joke is on Bangalore more than on NITT -this for the benefit of those among my readers whose heads are virtually cathode ray tubes (and I always suspect Iblog to belong to that set:)
The incident I narrated has happened too many times to pay any attention to.But now for an interesting case.
At the end of 3rd sem perhaps,I was bankrupt.But worse-Pattu and Ashwini were also bankrupt-worst of all I was bankrupt because I had lent money to Somnath (the eternally poor:).
I asked my dad to send me a DD.My dad, with his customary pride, addressed it to NIT Trichy instead of REC Trichy despite my warnings.The inevitable happened-the DD reached home after I came home for my holidays.
With that anecdote,this proud NITTian takes leave of you.I thoroughly enjoyed myself, pulling lots of legs in this post.
On a more serious note-congrats to the guy joining PSU and saying no to 23lpa.You will go places !Dont you worry!
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