A-nadya chi goshta

Life's good...

2009-08-13T20:07:00.000-07:00

<touchwood>

-K

The diva....

2009-07-11T21:04:00.002-07:00

One of my Dad's pictures... The artistic gene skipped me for some reason... :)

Kodak Moment

2009-06-18T22:40:00.001-07:00

Got my first Photo Byline... Though I still think this to not be my finest picture, people do ;)
Woohoo :)

K

Observation...

2009-05-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

I just noticed my blog frequency has dropped annually.. Damn!

Of D-SLRs and P&Ss

2009-05-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

It is no secret that I am dying to buy a DSLR. (Nikon D90 DSLR with 18-105mm AF-S DX VR Nikkor Lens + Nikon 70-300mm Lens.... sigh.... )

Well, today I got a mail from Schmap.com, a free digital travel publisher for global destinations (Ref: Wiki) They liked one of my pics (pictured here), and would like to consider its inclusion in the next Schmap edition for SFO ..
Yippee :)

So even though i will fulfil my dreams of a DSLR, my A-540 stays with me.

Photo Details:

Camera:	Canon Powershot A-540
Exposure:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture:	f/2.6
Focal Length:	5.8 mm
Flash:	Off, Red-eye reduction
ISO Speed:	233

Root Three

2009-03-03T22:49:00.000-08:00

Since today is Square root day, posting a very sweet video dealing with square roots..

adios
KN

Chin up!

2009-02-16T13:11:00.001-08:00

Read 'Papillon' middle of last year, though did not get around to penning it down.

It details the story of Henri Charriere, a French citizen who was wrongfully convicted of murder in the 14 years he spent at a 'bagne' (French prison colony) in French Guinea. In it he talks about the numerous attempts that he made to attain freedom, and the trials and tribulations he faced. Papillon (French word for butterfly) is Henri's nickname, derived from the butterfly tattoo he had on his chest.

From the outset of his imprisonment, he set tried to escape, convinced as he was of his innocence. During the 14 years narration he talks about various different stages of captivity. He talks of his escapes vividly, allowing us to imagine the entire setting. He talks of his emotions after seeing a gun pointed at him, after a failed attempt; as well as his attempts to keep him up and cheerful during long periods of solitary confinement awarded for his numerous antics at escape. During the period he made a lot of friends, some who stuck with him through thick and thin

The book puts forth a face of indomitable courage and belief that the future will hold a better light, provided people act to seek a solution. "Chin up" is the term that they used, and it literally means, 'Chin up' i.e. 'Don't be dejected, things will pick up'

PS: It is not a true autobiography. It is now considered as a narrative novel, combining the experiences of Charriere and his fellow inmates. However, this revelation will still find it difficult to reduce any excitement of reading the book. A must read for everyone.

Nice poem

2008-07-22T21:17:00.001-07:00

A Psychological Tip

Whenever you're called on to make up your mind,
and you're hampered by not having any,
the best way to solve the dilemma, you'll find,
is simply by spinning a penny.

No - not so that chance shall decide the affair
 while you're passively standing there moping;
but the moment the penny is up in the air,
you suddenly know what you're hoping

 	-- Piet Hein

A saying

2008-05-15T14:53:00.001-07:00

Was telling this to a friend, thought of putting it up as a self reminder... You need to work for everything and wait till it bears fruit...

"वक्त से पहले और औकाद से ज्यादा किसी को कुछ नही मिलता |"
-Yours truly (mostly, never heard it from anyone ;)

Pak plays

2008-04-24T18:32:00.001-07:00

There was this article about a Afghan-NATO incursion into Pakistani territory for pursuing Taliban militants.
Pakistan declared that any such incursions shall be considered as an invasion.. Nice, so we can wait for the next such incursion to have a NATO-Pakistan war..

;)
KN

My prayer

2008-03-18T13:43:00.001-07:00

The opening two lines of this poem were a friends status message one GTalk.. Compelled me to read the poem once again....

वेग्ल्याच पातळी ची कविता आहे... कुठेतरी फार आत रुतून जाते....

Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. ... :)

......

Posting the poem below..
KN

---

Where The Mind is Without Fear

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Give Me Strength

This is my prayer to thee, my lord---strike,
strike at the root of penury in my heart.
Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows.
Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service.
Give me the strength never to disown the poor
or bend my knees before insolent might.
Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.
And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love.

-- Rabindranath Tagore
(From Geetanjali, 1910)

Cogito and conspicio

2008-02-06T11:17:00.001-08:00

Rene Descartes was sitting in a bar once. A waitress asked him whether he would like to have a beer. Descartes replied, "I think not," and disappeared.

:)
KN

Ek Katha

2008-02-05T00:18:00.001-08:00

It was a dark wet evening in November. He had been waiting at the bus-stop for the better half of an hour, getting irritated by the minute. He had spent an extra hour clearing up the mess his boss had created. He cursed some, but quietened down, as the bus pulled up.

The driver greeted him with a wide smile and tried to indulge him in some small talk while he rummaged for some change. He took some time to find the last 1-dollar bill that he needed to complete the fare. Just as he was about to feed all of it in the machine, the driver said, "You don't need to buy a ticket, just give me the money."

It took him a moment to understand the driver's intentions. He blew his top.He launched into a tirade about ethics. He reiterated the fact that this was honestly earned money, and that it was immoral people like the driver that led to all of the problems in the society. He ranted about how he has to bear with all of this and more at his office, and took a seat still muttering. The driver gave a weak smile through all of it, but said nothing in his defense.

The driver's daughter had to make-do with a slice of bread that night.

-KN

PS: "Ek Katha" means "A story"
PPS: This story is a figment of my imagination, though I am pretty sure this will definitely have occurred in some form somewhere. It's an attempt to look at a socially frowned-upon action a different light.

Ek shaam ki dehleej par...

2007-11-11T23:04:00.001-08:00

One of my friends had dropped by in LA, and we had a nice time, nice
being an understatement.Had one of those lucky days, where we said
nothing and talked a lot, after a long time.

The most apt song is one thats been sung by Jagjit and Chitra Singh -
'Socha nahi achcha bura'
the relevant lines being,
Ek sshaam ki dehleej par,
baithe rahe vo der tak.
Aankhon se kii baatein bahut,
munh se kahan kuch bhi nahi.

Saying bye was bad, but we will meet again soon, so 'happy happy joy
joy for now :)
KN

Gat ashi ki

2007-11-06T13:59:00.001-08:00

Inadvertently the song most played these days on my mp3 player.. Don't like to hear it often because it makes it difficult to concentrate, for sometime... Makes me think and hope a lot.. Just posting the lyrics from http://www.indianguitartabs.com/showthread.php?p=224055 Will post the meaning soon, need to verify a few points

Ne majasi ne parat matrubhumila,
sagara praan talamalala.... ||dhru||

Bhumatechya charantala tuj dhuta
mee nitya pahila hota||
maj vadalasi anya deshi chal jau
srushtichi vividhata pahu||
taii jananihrid virahshankitahi jhale
pari tuvaa vachan teej didhale||
margadnya swaye meech prushthi vaaheen
twarit ya parat aanin||
vishwasalo ya tav vachani || mee
jagadanubhavyoge banuni || mee
tav adhik shakt uddharani || mee
yein tware, kathuni sodile tijala
sagara, praan talmalala ||1||

shuk panjari vaa harin shirava paashee
hi fasgat jhali taishi||
bhuvirah kasa satat sahu ya pudhati
dash-disha tamomay hoti||
gunsumane mee vechiyalee ya bhave
ki tine sugandha ghyave||
jari uddharani, vyay na tichya ho sacha
ha vyarth bhaar vidyecha||
tee aamravruksha vatsalata|| re
navkusumyuta tya sulata|| re
to baal gulabahi aata|| re
fulbaag mala hai parakha jhala
sagara praan talmalala||2||

nabhi nakshatre bahut ek pari pyara
maj bharatbhumicha taara||
praasad ithe bhavya pari maj bhari
aaichi jhopadi pyari||
tijveen nako rajya, maj pry saacha
vanvaas ticha jari vanicha
bhulavine vyarth he aata| re
bahu jivlag gamate chitta| re
tuj saritpate, jee sarita| re
tadvirahachi shapath ghalito tujala
sagara...||3||

ya fenmishe hasasi nirdaya kaisa
kaa vachan bhangisi aisa
twatswamitwa samprat jee miravite
bhiuni kaa aanglabhumita
mam matela abal mhanuni fasavisi
maj vivasnate deshi
tari aanglbhumee bhaybhita| re
abala na majhi hee mata| re
kathil he agastis aata| re
jo aachmani ek kshani tuj pyala
sagara...||4||

Appreciation

2007-10-31T14:32:00.001-07:00

These days I find myself appreciating poetry/ lyrics (especially Marathi n Hindi) much more than I did before.. Unknown 'facet' opening up... Nice!!

Diversifying,
KN

Saturdays :)

2007-08-19T12:39:00.001-07:00

The alarm broke my sleep on the Saturday morn. Though I continued sleeping, (it being a Sat), my "hyperactive" brain started thinking stuff...

And one concept made me really happy and had me grinning like mad in my sleep..
The fact that it was Saturday, a day that I could utilise to do all that I want, read all the books, and talk all that I want... :) and in case, I dint do these things to my minds fullest, I still had one mire day to do it :D

The entire thot made me get up and look around in a stupid, happy looking grin :D
I did utilise it to some extent, .... read, chatted,called, and exercised...

Vive la Saturday... or whatever... ;)

KN

Goals...

2007-07-14T13:25:00.001-07:00

You have built castles in the air.... Now start to building a foundation underneath it.... Build it with the sweat of your brow and the swing of the hammer... Keep on building till you have completed the spire... Now is the time when you wont see the effect of your actions.... cos results follow an exponential graph.... they change very slowly at the start... and its difficult to determine whether they are heading up or down... but once they pick up speed, the predetermined direction cant be reversed...

Tis time .. tis time to start... tis time to drop ur head down and put ur shoulder to the wheel... cos its a new dawn.. and a new start.... whether you make it count is what shall determine whether there shall be another dawn or not.......

KN

Maturity

2007-04-29T14:13:00.001-07:00

Whenever I look back in time, I realize I was immature and not-so-wise some time back..... And that realization is always correct

:-D
KN

देवनागरी in blogger

2007-04-22T12:10:00.000-07:00

अरे वा बराहा type-support in Blogger. कीती छान.
-- के एन

Perfection.....

2007-04-18T22:06:00.001-07:00

I have always set perfection as my goal. Though I generally am far from perfect, I yearn to achieve perfection, in all and any endeavor.
However, realised that some things are better when they are a bit less than perfect. Sometimes perfect things hurt the most....

Life is...

2007-04-07T14:25:00.001-07:00

During Dec, Gads,Mandy, Asmi n me had a long discussion in Electric Lotus on what life was...
It was not very philosophical, but we were just bringing up life's episodes that were good to remember/think about
Would like to add one to the list...

Life is...
calling up a friend just because he left an offliner saying that he was really bored, and making him laugh till he is back to normal

KN

Time squirrels by

2007-04-05T02:31:00.000-07:00

I spent my last week taking care of my friend Varun @ CalTech. Despite his surgery, this dude had the enthu to limp around to classes. After dropping him at one of his classes, I met a nice squirrel, which kept me engrossed for about 30 minutes....

It was a nice lesson dealing with many broad topics.... photography, patience, speed, stealth and finally the quirks of life.

Some snaps of the trblsome character below.

Few pointers, in the chronology that I learnt them:

Squirrels run around..... a LOT...
They are verrrry inquisitive, and can be lured by simple things like a hand-wave, or b
Half the times they don't catch you, if u r smart, and are content with munching on whatever they have found the latest.
Some planning is required, though sometimes a nice photo plops around without you doing anything :)
U need to be really fast and ready when the shot presents itself, unlike below :(
When the shot does present itself, it isn't necessary that you will capture it.If you do capture the shot, it isn't necessary that your memory card will store the image. :(( I executed an amazing snap, forcing the squirrel to jump, capturing it in mid-flight, after setting all the cam controls. The cam preview showed the squirrel frozen at the middle of the picture, between the fence and the tree, but the ^&%*%$* card dint record. I had missed a few previous snaps due to it, but missing this snap hurt the most :((

All in all, it was a great time... I found another squirrel and could get a few good snaps, before the card messed up again. :(

....... Squirrels are fun :D:D

Peace of mind...

2007-03-24T13:35:00.001-07:00

Was able to 'find' some peace of mind, after a couple of weeks..
as i have been saying recently,... "Tan ki Shanti, man ki shanti bournvita"
(shanti, is intended, no typos.. the bournivta is just becos the jingle felt incomplete w/o it ;)

Very apt song: Trouble by Coldplay

Peaceful,
N

Voice

2007-03-15T03:18:00.001-07:00

Voices can make such a big difference. Two examples.

1. Was returning home from someplace, stopped at a signal. A girl came up from behind, and I overheard her talking in marathi. Call me regionalistic, but unexpectedly hearing someone speak in my mother-tongue felt great. Am unable to describe in words, bt it was a great feeling. Felt as if someone had dipped my heart into elixir :)

2. Was slightly disturbed over some small things. Had generally called up a friend. We dint talk for more than 3-4 minutes, but at the end of that call I was smiling away to glory, (without hearing any anecdotes/witty comments).... Some voices just have that quality which borders on the 'bubbly/vibrant' or like in this case, "pure/innocent", which make you remember that the world is a cool place :) while others may make you morose or gloomy even after you may have won the biggest achievement of your life...

I can continue in an in-depth blog.. but will stop here..
Heres a silent toast to all the positive voices in my life

Au revoir
KN

Every man dies, not every man lives

2007-02-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

Just watched "Braveheart".. A beautiful movie, to say the least. Its a wonder what a man, or more importantly his vision and his belief in it, can do.

William Wallace was able to raise the Scots into a unified army. He defeated the English twice, capturing the town of York, which was the biggest city in Northern England. Had he been properly supported by the Scottish nobles, Scotland could have been an independent nation, but treachery played against him.

The above words (title) are uttered by William Wallace when he is a night away from a painful death. The princess of England is pleading him to confess and ask for mercy (they show her to be romantically attached to Wallace, after being married of to a wimpy prince). Wallace denied her pleading to accept a painful death. He claims that if he accepts Edward as his king, then all that he is would be dead already. The Princess tells him that the King was old and there were chances of him dying soon , who is also shown to be on his deathbed during Wallace's execution

However the question now comes is that Wallace knew that the King could die soon. If he was indeed the smart guy he has been shown as, he would also have realized the fact that without him there was no hope for the Scots. In this case, should he have sworn allegiance to the king and hoped to bide his time till the King dies and the wimpy Prince ascends the throne?

The final question thus is that should you concentrate on yourself (Wallace's pride) or the greater cause (here Scottish freedom). In the movie, had Wallace lived enough to see the Kings death, maybe , just maybe the Princess would have helped him get out of prison and he could have lived his dream of a free Scotland.

Undecided,
KN

Treachery, the bane of men

2007-02-02T20:18:00.000-08:00

Just watched "Braveheart"... This movie doesnt stop amazing me.. The movie has portrayed the struggle of Scotland led by William Wallace against the English king Edward Longshanks. William was betrayed twice (according to the movie), once in a critical engagement of battle, and at the end he was invited to a meeting, which was but a trap.

Its a pity how nearly every nation and to extend, every ideal has succumbed to treachery. Its a pity how people have given in to the promises of the oppressor, knowing very well that he has later stabbed people in the back, with the hope that their fate shall be better, and that they shall get the riches and land and titles as promised. History is rife with such examples. Even LOTR says that men are corruptible (The Nazgul). Indian history is littered with such stories, where men have sold out.

It is a sad truth of life...
Heres a prayer to maximize the people who choose the right path.
Amen

भय इथले संपत नाही..

2007-01-20T22:07:00.000-08:00

Grace yanchi kavita parat post karat ahe... this is the full version, thanx to Mandar... dedicated to a few ppl...
KN

भय इथले संपत नाही...मज तुझी आठवण येते...
मी संध्याकाळी गातो...तू मला शिकविली गीते...

हे झरे चंद्र सजणांचे, ही धरती भगवी माया
झाडांशी निजलो आपण, झाडांत पुन्हा उगवाया

त्या वेळी नाजूक भोळ्या, वारयाला हसवून पळती
क्षितीजांचे तोरण घेऊन, दारावर आली भरती

तो बोल मंद हळवासा आयुष्य स्पर्शुनी गेला
सीतेच्या वनवासातील जणू राघव शेला

देऊळ पलिकडे तरीही, तुज ओंजळ फुटला खांब
थरथरत्या बुबूळापाशी, मी उरला सुरला थेंब

संध्येतील कमल फ़ुलासम, मी नटलो श्रृंगाराने
देहाच्या भवती रिंगण, घालती निळाईत राने

स्त्रोत्रात इंद्रिये अवघी, गुणगुणती दु:ख्ख कुणाचे
हे सरता संपत नाही, चांदणे तुझ्या स्मरणाचे

ते धुके अवेळी होते, की परतायची घाई
मेंदुतून ढळली माझ्या, निष्पर्ण तरुंची राई

Alarm clocks

2007-01-17T13:06:00.000-08:00

I sooooooo hate alarm clocks.... especially alarm clocks with snooze functions...
One of them ruined my dream today morning...
was dreaming about about something... lets keep it at 'something' ..... and the damn clock screamed... i shut it up, and mysteriously the dream continued.... the clock rang again... and again i shut it and surprisingly the dream went on....
The third time however the dream switched off... and I was -->_<-- close to the best part....

I sooo hate alarm clocks with snooze functions ;)

"Sulking"
KN

Bhay ithale sampat nahi

2007-01-07T23:27:00.000-08:00

A verry touching song...
-KN

Bhay ithale sampat nahi
maj tuzhi aathvan yete,
me sandyakali gato
tu mala shikavali gite.

Te zare chandra sajanache
Ti dharati bhagavi maya,
zadanshi nijalo aapan
zadant punha ugavaya.
To bol mand halvasa
ayushya sparshuni gela,
sitechya vanavasatil
janu angi raaghavshela

Stotrant indriye avaghi
gungunati dukha kunache,
he sarata sampat nahi
chandane tuzya smaranache.

Who said US isnt fun

2007-01-07T07:57:00.000-08:00

.....U shud just know whom to hang out with ;)

Just spent the best 14 days in the US, loungin/chatting/road-tripping/walking/strolling/eating/sleeping/roaming arnd LA/watching HIMYM etc
Gadya and Mandy 'dood' had been here... and along with Timtim and a few (sadly) guest apearances by Bhalu, we were "what is up LA" (ref to contxt How I met Ur Mother, Season 2, Episode 1)

So, US rules.. more updates sooon...
KN

Bond ROCKS!!!! .....

2006-12-09T01:20:00.000-08:00

Ameya Bondre, aka Bond, one of my most closest confidantes and among the very few people I respect/admire, got a job @ Grail Research. .....As has always been the case, Bond ROCKS!!

Way to go Bond... congrats

Remembering the panipuris at YP..... :'(
Happy n senti

If

2006-12-03T23:53:00.000-08:00

I was searching for some papers required for a term paper, and thought I had a lead, but it fizzled out.
My reaction was neutral, which surprised DJ, my roomie.

Remembered the line about 'victory and defeat' in the following poem, and so posting it.. Exams in 7 days, so no time for writing more..

IF - Rudyard Kipling's Verse

If you can keep your head when all about you
	Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
	But make allowance for their doubting too; 
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
	Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
	And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream-and not make dreams your master; 
	If you can think-and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
	And treat those two imposters just the same; 
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
	Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, 
	And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:
	
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
	And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, 
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
	And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
	To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you 
	Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
	Or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
 	If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
 	With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, 
	And-which is more-you'll be a Man, my son!


Busy and lead-less, but Re-charged
KN

Heave-ho

2006-11-09T00:13:00.000-08:00

Am stealing the phrase from a friends blog. She had posted a series of "I have realized that" pics, of which the above struck me. I have changed the background becos it had a very pessimistic picture on it. The phrase struck me specifically because I was thinking about my faith and its beliefs and basis today. (Talk of coincidences :) )

Anyways, I had a few discussions back home about 'keeping faith' in God, where people said that 'faith' is important, and sticking to my decision to postpone that later, recently I have come to the conclusion that hard work is the best religion.

Sumedh had written a classic post on the concept of God. I find myself agreeing to the same, tho with a milder criticism of the human mentality. I think that the concept of God has been created to counter insomnia. Rather than face the fact that things might not go the way they are wanted, because of a lack of skill/effort/aptitude. Human nature forces us to have wants, but few people understand the fact that these should be limited, to their efforts. Increasing efforts ought to yield expected results.

In case there still is a dearth of results, then it means that there has been a lack of efforts .. nay not just back-breaking efforts, but those of directed, efficient, 'sensible' and if possible, elegant, efforts....

By efficient, I mean the efficiency that is observed in critical/super-critical times. This concept was gifted to me during my JEE training period by Prof M. Prakash was thus : "In the JEE you shall solve 105 problems in 180 min, that is you solve a problem in about 105 sec. At home when you are studying, how many problems do you complete in an hour?? Around 15-20... So now do you feel you are working hard enough?" Since then 'efficiency' has been among the sought after goals.

The word 'sensible' doesn't mean that the goals should be sensible, never!!, they should be 2 steps ahead of what you think you can achieve... 'Sensible' here means that the efforts should be just that... sensible. It definitely isnt just a conventional, tried and tested approach. It may be a proper conventional approach,a doomed but valiant fight, an arbit idea or in some cases it may be something crazy that makes you go "wooohoooo!!" But in the end it is .. well "sensible" ;)

Elegance in a solution is desirable. There may be some cases when brute force yields the best results, but that shall according to the problem at hand and the discretion of the solver.

I do not want to include luck into the equation of getting results, for three reasons. 1: The existence of luck needs some external agency for its creation, which then can be called as God :) and 2: I think luck is a function of your efforts. There is a phrase to the effect of "The hard worker is the luckiest." and 3: most important, I haven't given it much of a thought wrt the effect of penning it down. So to a first approximation, let us include just effort.

Here's to directed, sensible, efficient efforts. Would close off with a few rules, don't know if I have heard the first one anywhere, but the remaining 2 are by yours truly

Rule 1: "Aukaad se jyada aur vakt se pehle kisi ko kuch nahi milta"
Rule 2: "Aukaad is a function of your determination and efforts.
Corollary 1 to rule 1: "You don't get anything less or later than you deserve""

Trip to pasadena: 6$, food for a hungry frnd: 5.39$, bread for pav-bhaji: 4.59$, badbad till 0600: PRICELESS!!

2006-11-05T12:34:00.000-08:00

Had been to Bhalu's place at CalTech this weekend wth Timtim.... Had fun in the "going to Caltech" journey thanks to yours truly.. ;) Once there had some amazing pav-bhaji thanks to Bhalu n his roomie, Dev, and Asmi also for helping with the potatoes. :).

Called up mandy n gadya and chatted to glory over the speakerfone ....As is common with any get-together, chatted till 0600... during which called up Sanjyot at Purdue at 0515 PST (0815 EST) on Saturday... [devilish grin] ... Its a surprise she dint come over o LA to beat us up, on the basis of the ques that we asked her :)

Uske baad more general lukkha and timepass followed. had lunch at Baja fresh, (bhalus trt) [BTW Taco Bell rocks more than BFresh, in both taste n cost... ] followed by me "stealing" Bhalu's cycle for 2 months..

Roamed around Caltech, and were over in the time it took me to write this line, (well not quite, but its a small campus as compared to UCLA/IITB) Got some inspiration as to how one should laze, from a turtle at Turtle Pond... (tsk tsk tsk, life teaches you at strange places :D )

One story about Caltech exists that should be told. Caltech has a Cannon which is a traditinal cannon of one of the houses (hostels) there. Some highly enterprising chaps at MIT dint like the location very much, and hence came over, fooled CalTech security saying they were Movers n Packers, dismantled the cannon and drove it of to MIT. The CalTech ppl had to go back to retrieve it.. :) apparently now there is a fund in CalTech for "Pranks against MIT" ROTFLOL

A free cycle and lotsa badbad, on a weekend AFTER the exams .... i think this does fit a definition fo "good" weekends ......... :)

Happy happy joy joy!!

High speed camera of bullets going through several objects

2006-10-08T11:56:00.000-07:00


bulets n explosions.... artistic...

A very cool video, with decent animations

2006-10-08T11:45:00.000-07:00


Nice comic one.. K

Moonlight kiss.....

2006-10-07T17:14:00.000-07:00

Feeling a bit down-down.... heard the song... putting it up :)

fluctuating
K
---

I can feel my heart
And it's fit to burst
I try to clean it up
But I just get worse

Wish I could fall
On a night like this
Into your lovin' arms
For a moonlight kiss

I thought I saw your face
In the evenin' sky
On a lonesome cloud
That was driftin' by

I wish I could fall
On a night like this
Into your lovin' arms
For a moonlight kiss

You got someone else
Maybe it's for the best
Since I took the cure
For happiness

And I'd trade it all
On a night like this
For your lovin' arms
And a moonlight kiss

For your lovin' arms
And a moonlight kiss

Lovin' arms
And a moonlight kiss
Ooh, yeah

a nice weekend

2006-09-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

am back from a nice weekend filled with fun and sleep :)

had gone to San diego, to my cousins place after visiting the Malibu temple and Santa monica pier, (close to LA).... Had great fun at all the places...

The Malibu temple is amazng, carved in white stone... dediacated toVenkateswara, plus has a side temple dedicated to a few more gods....

After that we went to Sana Monica Pier, where I had my first view of the Pacific ocean... amazing... its mindblowing... with the surf n seagulls flying around in abandon.

after that spent sunday lazing out at Tushar dadas place... was gonna take the sunday evening bus but missed one andditched the plan... eating some more yummy food at his place :)
Ash tai had made amazing shrimp fry..(yeah... drool ye unlucky ppl!! :P )

reached UCLA on monday afternoon, and paid my fees .... which means that now I am an official Bruin :)

Ahoy from foreign shores

2006-09-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

My first post from foreign shores....

Am settling in to LA ... my body clock is yet to finetune it to pacific time.. it wildly is oscillating from Pacific time to Eastern time... ;) Flight was cooo. had a nice seat just ahead o the wng.. and so able to see both the view, as well as the thrust reversal during landing.... mandar's addition to Murphys law did aply, with me having a elderly couple for company... ~X( (mandar is gonna die ;) !)

BTW My apt rocks.... we have got a nice 2BHK apt for 5 of us... and everyone of us has settled in fine... Its close to the univ, the bank, as well as the local supermarket.... (10 min walk to all of these) ....we are on the lookout these days for any drawers or desks that we can lay our hands on... We have 'jugado-ed' abt 8 mattresses, 10 drawers, a few chairs, 3 sets of sofas.. :) I hit a jackpot today when I got my hands on to about 1-20 novels.. no idea when I will get the chance to read them once sem starts ... sicne I am planning to take 4 courses #-o :-ss

Speaking of Books am reading the fountainhead, by Ayn Rand.... it seems to be as gud as pl say it is.. ;) More critical comments later, when I finish it

Have started the gym.. as of ystrday.. the fitness centrerw rocks.. with rows after rows of nice advanced equipment(steppers/jogges/bikes) It has a few raquetball courts and a ROCK CLIMBING arena as well (*drool*)

Am currently writing this from the Powell building which acts as te main library.... more updates as events warrant
N

The last day....

2006-09-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

The para below was part of my blog some months back, during the valfi period.

"Sallu and Anshu infi senti hue.It broke my heart at times, to hear them talk.It made me think of the times that me and mandy have talked about the things that we will miss here.
We had become senti at the start of the acad year, and I still rememebr climbing the convo slope enroute to a lecture, when mandy had said, "today is the last x August we spend here, .. rather each day is the last 'that day' that we shall spend here"
May seem too senti, but thats the way life is..."

Well the time has come for the final day....
Note all "lasts" below imply "last for a 'small' amount of time", not eternal..

Today is the last day that I will be spending in Pune for a long time.... The day was gr8.. Was a flurry of packing ... had a haircut, which looks cool, I must say. The past few days were filled with lasts.... "last meeting with a,b,c", "last trip to place f,g,h" , "last food/trt at m,n,o", "last drive past q,r,s"

Had my last cold coffe @ durga, with a very beautiful friend... thanx 'chumu'.. I owe u many, not one ;) ... visited one more close friend.. M.

crappy coincidence .. :).... My clock just chimed 0000.....
pretty symbolic ... since from now on... there are no lasts.. only firsts.... first time i venture out.... first time I crack(IITian meaning) things in foreign soil... first schol.. first job.. first friendships... first kiss... [ if I allow myself to do a bit of daydreaming ;) :)) ]

Neways.... time to start working .. 1 bag needs to be packed. yet :O:O ... :) Day D shall be soon.. when I leave India, n reach US...

to the future firsts....
Kaustubh

Aim High, Stay positive, Stay happy

2006-09-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

.......

-Kaustubh

Rhyming out ....to glory?? /:)

2006-09-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

What started as a 'pakao'-ing session for one friend continued with another as follows....

DP$%^&: pan khooop dur (--- the primer, wrt a eatery that was to be visited the next day)
KbYN: me drives
KbYN: why u cries?
KbYN: let us all eat rice
KbYN: shaslik tastes nice
DP$%^&: never been ther fr lunch....so dunno
KbYN: have u had pepsi without ice
DP$%^&: yeah...shashlik is my fav too
KbYN: hope they dont ask us to wear ties
KbYN: else we will have to rob some tie-ed guys
DP$%^&: aaaaaaaaaaaaaavraaaaaaaaa!
KbYN: zamus is so gud that thr are no mice
DP$%^&: baaaaaaaaaaas
KbYN: else we all wud have to call on christ(chra-ist)
KbYN: who has cleared all avarice

Enter friend 2

G$%^&*: good for you, bitterbrain, that was so nice!
G$%^&*: especially because it came at no price
Kaustubh: was but a thought slice
G$%^&*: oh? i thought 'twas just some caprice.. :D
G$%^&*: no no my friend, this is no vice
i mean, no cheating, no lies!
true, Mr barron has given some advuce
oopsadaisy.. i meant advice

Kaustubh: advice u meant but
but the words got bent
G$%^&*: what I meant was mistakenly bent
Kaustubh: and tho this is not for the hearted-faint
G$%^&*: gosh, our thoughts are cogent!
Kaustubh: i wud thank u for thy ear that u lent
G$%^&*: of course, listening to a friend is a time worth spent

Kaustubh: let nothing be, that can leave our frensdship dent
G$%^&*: HOw do you manage that, mind-readers' monument
I was going to write a rhyme with 'dent' at the SAME moment!

Kaustubh: oh i believ it is god sent
u think there, and here it shall vent

G$%^&*: of course yes, by godspeed it went!
so you "believe" in God and let agnostics taint?

Kaustubh: Believe in god i not
we had talked over what i thot

G$%^&*: of course yes, that's why the subject was brought

Kaustubh: my thots over the whole lot..
are as varied as the veggies in a salad pot

G$%^&*: should be put up on a blog and what not!

Kaustubh: but for the fact that this is going too hot,
it wud have been a poetic roman juggernaught

Did themention of the 'naught bring thou to a halt,

if so then i will take it as my own fault

-----And so it continues.... :D
and post I shall news,
KyN

Back to the blog

2006-09-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

hullo every 1...
m back.. for how long no one knows.....
neways... news = me going to UCLA, for a PhD in Materials sci....

the last 3 months have been intense... and i wouldnt like to pen them down in detail.... They have been testing, emotionally, mentally, professionally n personally... They have made me strong and wise, and I hope that I can put to use whatever they have taught me......

The three months saw Day B[ref post dated April 4,06] (the day i decided to finally pursue Postgrad, thanx to my friends {Asmi n Mandy being the most significant} n family) and Day C ( a combo of the day [24th Jul] when my visa was put on probation and the day [29 Aug] it was released)

Am booked for a ticket on the morning of the 10th of Sept... by AI 137, o710... reaching LAX at 1635... Parag n Divyanshu have booked an apt.. and apparently have moved into it by now... hats off to them.....

feels diff to comprehend/believe that in less than a week I will be on the other side of the world.....

amti-damti left for Germany for 3months of exchange training at Univ of Koln from IIMA.. and that $^%^ is gonna be staring his apt with 4German girls... lucky dog ;)
Speaking of friends.. Shoan cracked a job at McKinsey.. the dude rocketh again.... as usual ;)
Suds cracked a seat at KEM for neuro @ MPth... rocking as usual.. tho she had to depart in a hurry to Bbay... :(
Rest all are busy with jobs/GRE :) so hhopefully everyone will be there soon....

Since am writing after aeons.. Pran got married in the meantime.. was one of the most rocking periods of my life.. the entire 5 day trip to Lknow was mindblowing...the fun level undescribbable.. the bonding infinite... :)

Also my dad shifted back to Pune, taking over as CEO of a company based in Pune.. ending as we joked.. "7 years of vanvaas n 1 year of adnyaatvaas" so atleast for a few days before i leave, we are enjoying together as the big happy family that we are... :D \:D/

I believe all major updaets done :).... will post later if any are left ;)

To sum up...
As i said to a friend today 'saagaratle don ondke.. pravahamule jitka sahvaas titkaach...'
(roughly translated to "we are but, two logs in a water current, together till the current takes us" taken from a 7th std marathi lesson on Anandi bai Joshi...)

-To everyone, and all new things to come, n to life for the rocking thing that it so is.....
Urs truly n forever,
Kb-YN

dayaa mach gayi.. :(

2006-05-23T07:13:00.000-07:00

...................Nothing to write...
Started of with a nice "lets blog now!!" and then by the time the site loaded up.. have nothing to write .. :(

So hope ye all have a gud day....

Hmmmm...

2006-05-20T07:43:00.000-07:00

Well its been like 40-45 days since my last blog... the hiatus was due to the lack of an urge to write.... quite a few things happened since then..

I became an Engineer. feels wierd, sicne nothings changed but everythinsg changed The entire procedure to become one was slightly trroublesome,.... but alls well hat ends well :D
Am doing a course on Entrepreneurship and Management conducted by FME India, wich rocks big time... Would advise any one who reads this and is lukkha enuf to attend the course.
My exercise regimen has been shot to death :(
My "company" said that I haev to join ,my job from the19th of June.
I havent got a schol as yet.. so life sorta' sucks :(
On the other hand, Ankit cracked UCLA schol, Manish cracked Gatech
Speaking of apps, Vkanade and mandar got their Visas today :D:D Gadya will get his in a ferw days, nay got his visa now... :D (msged so)
Speaking of Ankit, he left for home today
Speaking of today, got caught by cops for turning right where it wasnt allowed... wiljave to get my license cleared tomm... :(
Spent ystrday nite and today morn at Shoans place at Yarri road. Me shoan, shalaa and Meghana ... was fun had delicious chicken Biryani :D...yummm

Shud be regular from now on.. but that depends on the spurts of will that i mite get

My valfi

2006-04-04T09:44:00.000-07:00

Am sorry for the long post that the last one was... Couldnt control, [shall use small fonts from now on ;) ]

My valfi was great. Got a sports Citation for swimming (an award to cap the things that I did for the hostel for the last 4 years in swimming)

The food was something thats best not mentioned, though it would be a crime not to mention the delicious fish fingers. Profile-reading started hust 45 min late but considering history tha was great. Mayank recvd a Roll of Honour from us, its the ghighest award that any person from the hostel can dream to achieve, and due to his ill-luck he was unable to recieve it oficially.

Profiles went till 730 in the morn, and am proud to say that I stayed till then. the last profile was of Deva and Ashish Bhansali. My profile was after Mandy's arnd 515.I must admit, mandy did a fine thing of writing it up, which i am sure bond and the rest have helpedin. As usual dint get choked up during the profile. but yes! that sort of a senti high will never be achieved again.Sitting on a stage, surrounded byyour friends, the people who have pulled and pushedu, and whom u have returned the favours, (called favours due to an inability to find the perfect word) it was a experience that I wont forget....

Had a breaker after ages in the mess, with a few friends who had seen all the profiles.... and slept at 9am :D Luckily there isno valfi today.. so will get some much-reqd sleep

I mark this day as DAY A of my life (a habit that I have decided to initiate after reading about Col Jakob of the Israeli AF who served arnd the second Israeli Arab war. He marked all the important, not necess happy days of his life by letters in his diary. I plan to do the same.)

Hoping to see DAY B soon, and happy about all the unmarked DAYs till now
Nadya

Start of the valfi-s

2006-04-03T02:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (2nd April) was the second valfi (H7, kelu, yeda heda, llaad, tyagi, sallu, poonia, khandu). 1st April was the second valfi (H13, Bond, Ansh, Mannu, Gadde, Valya) and 31st was the first (H8, Anish Chandak)

Valfi is short for valedictory function. It is primarily on a hostel level, (Insti ad dept level pe jyada aukad nahi rahti ;) ) It is one of the most senti things in IIT, and frankly, I am getting choked up abit when i am typing on that topic now

It is generally the time where most people realise tha they are about to step out of the protection of the insti... Ppl get senti, and a significant number of us cry

Profiles is a puraan of all you have don till date. Its a mixture of ur traits and cracks and haggas in hostel life as well as life, though tese days they are starting to monotonically tend to "ras-leela"......... It is a time of revelation, of sorts... genrally for friends about some of ur unknown traits, or sometimes to urself eg poonia: who came to know that the girl who he was chatting with over the last few months was none but his friend from H13:))

Neways in the hostel it is celebrated by food, profiles , awards and booze :D -- generally in that order

13 ke valfi mein Anshu ne roke raat kharaab ki... 7 mein ye kaam sallu ne kiya...
these events made me realise the enormity, The 'senti' nature tho always acknowledged, isnever felt unlessu are the one sitting in the bucket chair (generally used in all hostels) yourself. I personally dont know what my reaction will be tonight (3rd April)...

Sallu and Anshu infi senti hue the broke my heart at times, to hear them talk.It made me think of the times that me and mandy have talked about the things that we will miss here.
We had become senti at the start of the acad year, and I still rememebr climbing the convo slope enroute to a lecture, when mandy had said, "today is the last x August we spendhere, .. rather each day is the last 'that day' that we shall spend here"
May seem too senti, but thats the way life is...

Glancing back on the year since thn... I am proud ki as usual ghaggamaara hai .. not a year exactly to be proud of.. did a few good things but overall efficiency is down...
Have spent a lot of time with friends, but that isnt a waste. Had fun at max efficiency.
Hagga-ed at GRE, OK-ed toefl, screwed up last sem compared to others [me, mandy hagga-ed the same with a 8.11; though when I informed him that our SPI was 8.11 over YM,our instantaneous reactions were \:d/ ], and screwed up the BTP oon an absolute scale

Made a few friends, strengthened a lot fo friendships, and let loose a couple, Helped a few friends significantly, was depressed by minimum, was hurt by none, (thankfully)
Learnt a lot of things, forgot a few, taught a few & dropped a few teachings (though cant be sure ;) cos if i knew what i dropped, then technically i havent dropped it yet ;) )....

Have become neutral on things like God,(but do find myself praying, even if its a general prayer like"for the betterment of the country/gloabal entities, not limitedto me or my circles) and am unsure on the exisence of meta physical activities...

Had a lot of discussions with a few people, spammed amongst friends on gud ideas (some related to RDB), saw friends commit and break up and broken friends recommit. fell out of love, and fell in love with love.

The year was filled with blunders (BTP choice), and good decisions( Robotics, NKK courses) badluck (rescheduling NKKs lecture) and miracles (first stage BTP presentation ;) ) and hoped miracles (BTP second stage :)) =)) ) and hoped good choices (NEMP)

The year saw Gads crack a GOD strike rate wrt Univs, Bhalu a full schol at CalTech, Mandar a late full schol to ASU, Asmi a lateee reject to Stanfy [poor female :( ], and me a early but stuckup app at UCLA. I also saw ppl notcutting their hair for each others schol and apps :)) (who else but vkanade, purshya and mandy)

Did min of sports, had 3 failed attempts to maintain a regular regimen of exercise, no injuries acquired consequently

Though I had started on valfies, I ended up capping up my year till date.. not badd,

Lets c what happens at my valfi today :D
Signing off,
Senti
N

Best PAF of a lifetime

2006-03-28T13:23:00.000-08:00

Today(28 March) was an exceptional day in my life

It marked the start of the firsts among the "lasts" at IIT. It was the occasion of the last PAF, last Public Nite, last prize distribution inIIT as a student...

The PAF rockedddd.... BIG TIME...
It depicted a story of a IIT-ian who is having a few backlogs. It talked of the frust that exists in people at IIT, more so typically if they have a poor CPI...

The entire idea was central to everyones exitstance at IIT, either firsthand or experienced thru a friend. The start turned out to be pretty unlinked...
But they finished the first section with the suicide of a student whio fails to clear the JEE. Moreover, that year the results were khatched (circa 1998)

Second secttion onwards what we got to see was pure unadulterated senstaional work... 0, and i mean 0.00 putches.. GOD prod, with attention to detail (the dangling 'f' on the main gate sign ..)

There was a classic scene: The lead is going to commit suicide, when his friend dashes in,informing about the suicide of a common friend. The chaps emotions and dialogues on seeing a second friend ready to suicide were amazingly executed...
Really touching

This was the first time that I witnessed a PAF gettibng a standing ovation, that too after a chapter, not post the play... Afer the end of th play, people did rise in their places, and surprisingly noone stirrred for bout8-10 min
This was the first time such a scene was witnessed.

Best part was that the hostels performing this PAF had given such a miserable performance last year (they had forgotten abt the last chapter totally).

Apart from the PAF there were a lot of prizes.
Mandar, Rahul and Bhalu got Tech Citations and Ashish got the Roll of Honour, the highest a person can achieve in the tech scene in IITB.

Overall, a touching yet happy day
:D
Nadya

PAF sucked :((

2006-03-25T09:57:00.001-08:00

Today was the third PAF...
Its a pity it even existed... It sucked big time...
Infinite Putches....
The PAF dealt wih the story of Kanwaljit, a Delhi basede person who has made a tremendous profitin the flesh trade ... (facts say daily earnings of 12-15Lacs, property of 100Cr was confiscated from him in 2004...

Apart from infinite puthces in Choreo, lighting, music and line delivery (Miss India being the best)
The PAF lacked the fact that the theme wasnt carried over to the audience... The dialogue delivery lacked panache...

The ppl had tried to touch upon a important topic... Me no thinks they succeeded...
Bhalu ni infi maaaz kelela ki lights var coding and all kellela ahe...
its a pity he spent so mch time.. :D

Neways...
H2 ke chances achche hai :D:D
\:D/

N

Economics and emottions at play

2006-03-22T08:43:00.000-08:00

Information assynmetry. ocurs when someone sells something to somebody. Now somebody cant verify the true value of the something, becos he doesnt share someone's knowledge about something... Somebody has to make a guess about the value of something and the authenticity of someone's claims.... And more often than notsomebody may lose a bit in the deal...

It is also possible that someone oversells tosomebody bcos somebody knows that the tprice he is paying is afraction of the profit that he will have... This yields in opposite asymmetry..

The reason i broached his topic is that I sold off my good ol cell (Nokia 2100) and bought a Nokia 1600 in place of that. For reasons that I will answer personally, I was in the debate whether to hardsell or not... In the end, I gave in to capitalist tendecies, and hardsold.. The fact tat I got 1950 for that is astounding... The negative aspect of hardselling is mitigated only by the fact that the cell is in significantly great condition, consid the fact that it is less than 2 years old.

New cell has a lo of cool feratures, bnnotto mentioon the fact thatI am gonna trade this with Dad to get a 6610 >:) >:)
I am selfish ;)

Enjoying-the-features-of-1600
N

Trying to prevent the devil

2006-03-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

An empty mind is a devils workshop is what is said,....
Tryiing to prevent that from happening... ;)
Just took a test.. and here are the results
Acc to them I can succeed in 15 diff profesions ;) :D:D

Slightly bored
N

Your #1 Match: ESTJ

The Guardian

You're a natural leader and quick, logical decision maker.
Goals are important in your life, and you take many steps to acheive them.
You enjoy interacting with others, mostly through work related activities.
Your high energy level means you are great at getting things done!

You would make a great teacher, judge, or police detective.

Your #2 Match: ENTJ

The Executive

You are a natural leader - with confidence and strength that inspires others.
Driven to succeed, you are always looking for ways to gain, power, knowledge, and expertise.
Sometimes you aren't the most considerate person, especially to those who are a bit slow.
You are not easily intimidated - and you have a commanding, awe-inspiring presence.

You would make a great CEO, entrepreneur, or consultant.

Your #3 Match: ESTP

The Doer

You are adventurous and risk taking. You act first, think second.
You love being the center of attention. Chances are you were the class clown.
Competitive, charming, and charasmatic - you have your own code of honor.
You live a flexible life, bouncing between a series of activies that interest you.

You would make a great salesperson, marketing director, or entrepreneur.

Your #4 Match: ENTP

The Visionary

You are charming, outgoing, friendly. You make a good first impression.
You possess good negotiating skills and can convince anyone of anything.
Happy to be the center of attention, you love to tell stories and show off.
You're very clever, but not disciplined enough to do well in structured environments.

You would make a great entrpreneur, marketing executive, or actor.

Your #5 Match: ESFJ

The Caregiver

You are sympathetic and caring, putting friends and family first.
A creature of habit, you prefer routines and have trouble with change.
You love being in groups - whether you're helping people or working on a project.
You are good at listening, laughing, and bringing out the best in people.

You would make a great nurse, social worker, or teacher.

What's Your Personality Type?

Incomplete Thots on betraying

2006-03-19T10:09:00.000-08:00

Today my hsotel H2, IITB performed the first PAF of 2006. which shall be the last PAF I shall see as a student. The entire PAF went without a putch.. minor lites ones excluded.. And Ithink it mite go on to win the Trophy

It was a pretty strange tale.. and focuses on the Shahjahans journey of life....
from that of his ascension to the throne via a struggle -> his reign as a king who appreciates arts and how his Vizier is able to make him take the path of war andexpansion

This is where the story takes a twist
It was shown that he loses a battle and realises that his name may not last in the annals of time., cos there mite be ppl who are better expansionists than him....

Hence hetells his Vizier to think of a plan whereby he cna stay etched in the annals of time permenantly.....At thsi juncture his son showshim a model of the would-be taj mahal....

The scene fast forwards to the place when aurangjeb imprisons Shahjahan. The scene again goes back to flashback, to the point where shahjahan sees the model of Tajmahal.. at that juncture the says that he shall make a monument to show his love for his wife.... and then decrieds that she be Killed for him to get the chance to show his love...

Though the entire script is a shocker, there is no way for me to verifyu the authenticity of the claim...

But it does put u into thinking
How many such secrets are hidden in the entire world? where briothers have killed their kin for paltry things like riches and kingdoms... And how many of these brothers have been then crowned and then revered as gods...
Apart from the fricking Mughal rulers in whose line it was necessary to kill to succeed, I think this was a second nature to each and every family with more than 1 heir... or even in that case it cud very well be the heir's uncles daughters husbands brothers son who puts a knife and becomes the king...

One prob with the script was the fact that it did glorify the Mughals...
It is not limited to the script,, tho... Any book on history wud be glorifying the Mughals...
Isnt this not the person who invaded and raped your lands... defiled ur temples and laid waste entire towns???
True they may have brought in a stable rule, centralised currency and al that crap.. but that was for ensuring that they stay in power... not for the betterment of the people...

A quote is remembered, which says that 'the meat, bread and clothes that we get frome the butcher, the baker and the tailor are not becos of their benevolence but becos of their hunger'

Troubled
Nadya

Friends Forever

2006-03-17T10:09:00.000-08:00

Dejection fills the ranks...
BTP projects have to follow Murphy's law to the letter....
My happiness of 'gud work' wrt BTP was short lived... Had a lot of discoloration on the pellets, plus apparently 'sintering changes the XRD of a specimen' >:P>:P
Neways... there is always a nxt time...

Celebrated Mandys bday today

Gifted him a 'friends forever' pic (left exhibit)
The roly-poly chap in the lower-left of the pic is Sumedh, Mandar and bond in the lower-middle pic, and me and Mandar in the central pic (taken in 2nd year)

Treted us to pizzzas... 2 Domino's Double cheese Crunches... + 2 from Pizza-Hut
:D Talk about "not marching on an empty stomach"
Sumedh missed it all due to the fact that he had left for Pune...none of us did mind tho...

Talked with Muki abt whether there is any sense in 'trying to change the system'. I found myself taking a pessimistic view.....
A slightly over-generalisation is that most such efforts tend to end up as just an "addition to statistics"... to put it very harshly.....
Tho he cudnt refute it, what he said was that u need to do all that u can w/o anyones help... But is it possible?? In a place where people wreck other people's lives/loves just to satisfy their own egos, where people are killed to avenge a slight excess in festivities...

Is it possible to act out on ur own???
I accept that there exst miracle stories where a single person made a difference...
BUT THEN, we ignore the fact tha they may have had help silent and vocal, from sources....

Thus the ques does come.. whether wall our actions just add to the staistics.. or do the even make a difference....

Yearning-for-an-answer
Kb-YN

One

Holi hai!!

2006-03-15T09:59:00.000-08:00

Day 3 of blogging :D

My first blog initiated a reaction from Gadya (Fresh as rain on a Summer's day). feels gud that I made atleast one person contemplate, something... Now i think he has become too senti.. (Nice guys finish last, and other random thoughts) >:)
It feels so nice to wreak someones gud mood :D
Hey Gads, chill man... there are worse things in life.. (like me mite come to pune sometim next weekend :P:P )

Now that he has been consoled...
Spent 5 hours inthe lab today.. pelletised and placed the powders for sintering. Well atleast now the entire thing has been set in motion... Had got a reprimand from the Doctorate student a couple days back.. Frankly neither of us is happy with the way the entire proj is progressing.
Wish, cud have done a better job. Wud have helped if the topic wasnt a major retardant.. so wish, had chosen a better topic.. :((

But neways.. as is said... "No regrets!" followed by "Carpe diem!" :D
its time to work as much a possib... (mood ~ sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab humare dil mein hain)

The blog wud be incmplete if i dont mention the state of the hostel after holi today morning... the ground floor is nice and brown... The entire pool was filled with coloured water which then turned to a brownish slurry-liquid... sheesh.. glad i skipped it...
Not being prudish (lack of a proper word...:( ) but dint have the enthu to get in...

Happy Holi
N

the 'goshta' continues

2006-03-14T11:35:00.000-08:00

Today I attended the robotics lecture after about 2 weeks.....Tis nice when the prof doesnt take attendance :D:D. Bhalu ended up giving an introductory lecture on 8051. And hail NKK that I neednt have to pay attention to him...

In the next lecture was discussing whether thereis an meaing in the term "social norm" with P3.. we cudnt reach any conclusion.. but heck.. was a nice debate..... tho it lasted for only 10 min :-(

Had a swimming-club treat inthe evening at Saffron Spice, treat couretesy Abhishek Maheshwari who got a scholarship to Univ of Mass., Boston... 3 cheers to him.... (makes me wonder about when I get to treat people...)

Tonite is Mandy's bday.. but the nut has gone home for holi.. so no cake . boo-hoo :( :((

So here wishin Mandy a very happy bday :D

--Nadya

The start of a journey

2006-03-13T07:12:00.000-08:00

Had been contemplating whether to start a blog for quite some time...
Had created this accoun months back, but apart from the usual laziness, there was a lack of incentive that prevented a initiation to this entity.

Two things have jolted me out of inaction
1: A book called "Zanek!" by William Stevenson. This book showcases the Israeli Air Force and the life of its pilots during the 1967-72 period.... It talks about the life of the pilots, the hardships they faced, etc(more on this tomm.) In it the author has talked about a IAF pilot called Jakob, who has this habit of denoting the days of his life by the alphabets whenever they turned out to be life-altering.. (eg, th day he was sent to the concentration camps, his release, his graduation etc)

2: The second was something as ordinary as a glass of Cold-coffee..the best though, mind you.
There is this place a stone's throw from my house in Pune, called Durga. U get amazing Cold coffee for 8 bucks. Had "ek cold" before boarding the bus to bbay... That 'cold' made me realise the fleeting nature of the moments in our life.... since (hopefully) in a few months it wud be geographically impossible for me to have a cold @ Durga.

These two things imparted just the right amount of impetus to get me rolling wrt the blog part.... May look like pretty insignificant things.... but considering the fact that I had beeen restless for the last couple of weeks, it was a simple 1+ 1 = 2

Will sign off with a quote that I composed 2 days back in a fit of inspiration and 'delta' frustraion about the current motionless state of life.....

"There are only two things in the world that are yours the instant you claim them to be:

Ur Limitations &
Ur Freedom"

Signin off...
Nadya