Bye bye and you are gone!!

Well, just sent away one of my closest friends. He has always been there in the last four years and now in a puff he is gone ... There are just too many memories with him for me to start any reminiscence. Will certainly miss Dilip, everytime i want to go on a walk, watch a movie, go home, eat out, write a c/c++ program or just need some help.
Rishabh too went away but I would get to see him in june .. not so with Dilip.

I ll be away from the campus too. Going to Swiss to visit my brother :D (hopefully I would be able to with no hassles). I would try to blog from there, otherwise expect the next post with the advent of may.

sunken friendships

I spent a year in chennai .. my 6th class. I was new to the place and ofcourse ignorant of tamil. There were a few telugu people in the class but everyone talked in tamil .. I was the only guy who couldnt understand (along with another guy who was a complete north-indian). I made a very close friend then (a telugu guy living in chennai). Any holiday, he would either come over to my home or I would go to his and spend the entire day. A whole year, he was my only friend. The next year, I came to hyderabad. Kept in touch with him through post initially but as it inevitably happens, lost contact.

Cut to the present day. The guy has come to hyderabad for some internship kind of thing. He finds out my address and phone number with great difficulty. Calls me and we talk a bit. He asks me whether it is possible to meet, I reply in affirmative but in heart, I am really not so interested!! Am I not supposed to be dying to meet this old friend of mine? As about my other friends before coming to IIIT, I am generally interested in meeting only a miniscule number of them. Though I do remember, that when in school I was very good friends with many many of them.

I guess only the real close friendships live on ....

blog!!

Good morning!!

After time immemorial, the day has come again! I was asleep before 12 in the night!! And yeah woke up at 5:30 am. But being awake at this time is nothing new to me. I have been able to eat breakfast daily for the last 7-10 days .. no .. i wasnt the good boy who wakes up in the morning, rather i was eating breakfast .. then going to bed. But today it shall be different.

It was soo dark just a couple of minutes ago and now it suddenly looks as if it were twilight. Early mornings are still enhanting though I have been enjoying them daily since the past few days, but then their magic never seems to wear off.


Its not that I am alone and bored in my wing, many of my wingmates and pseudo wingmates are still awake playing age or watching 24 etc. Dont know whats a pseudo wingmate? All those who technically dont belong to the wing but stay here most of their hostel time anyway ... we have many such people. Guess thats what brings colour to our wing.

Farewell ... now wat?

So, in a few weeks, we are expected to leave the institute. Most of my friends know where they are going to be. At max, they may change the company that they are currently placed in. Some of them know the institutes that they may join. But what about me? I dont even know the country I may end up in!! The whole process of this MS/Phd applications and the resultant irritations and frustrations certainly tempts the mind to question whether it is all worth it. The most major question is the financial aid part .. if you are not offered aid initially, you would have to spend atleast 5-8 Lakhs for the first semester (depending on the univ) and then hoping to get something for the next semester. Why all that when it is much easier to get MS admission here in IIIT that too with a income like 6K per month? Want of a new and better place?? Greater exposure and tougher competition? I have no idea.

Another major question that has once again started plaguing my mind is why am I even going for further studies? This last 3-4 sems, i have realised that I have totally lost the patience and zeal to sit, listen and learn in classes. On the other hand, I have gained interest in working on some problems and trying to solve them. Yeah, thats what Phd is all about, you may say, but most of MS or the first two years of Phd in any US univ would only involve taking courses and attending classes. Am I cut up to that now?? I seriously have no idea.

My earlier reasoning used to be, you have to do a job all your life anyway, why hurry now, why not spend more time studying? But somehow, now I ask, you have to do job anyway rite, why go through all this trouble .. why not get into job right away? Either way, it all depends on how you perform ... but then how you perform also depends on what you need to perform!! AAh ... its all a big tangle .. thats what it is.

Nooo, I dont intend to stop blogging ...

Yeah, its more than a month since my last post. I havent been busy at all during this time. I had loads of time. But never did i feel like blogging. I realised that I have mostly blogged on those days that I was jam-packed with things to do, days that I havent had a minute of leisure. Now that i dont have much to do, my blogging frequency has suffered!!

I had written a few posts about my travails with FYP link Also remember elaborating on the various difficulties with my fyp to all those uninterested and unconcerned. However, guess what? Mine is the first fyp to be officially over. Yeah was the first in the first panel of the final vivas. Yeah mine must also be the first unofficially completed fyp. Kudos to me :>

Cultural life seems to have come out of the hibernation. After the Cul nite, we now have Amalgam and then farewell. Everyone in my batch seems to be busy with their projects and vivas. The yearbook is going great guns and is sure to occupy much of my time in the coming days. I resolve to visit library everyday in these last few days of my stay at IIIT to compensate for my lack of use of its great facilities i.e books (non techie).

My status mesg: 'fyp? wats that?' a nice reply by dilip: 'a 1 day project (24 hrs) stretched over 8 months '. I add: 'with loads of reports and a lot of paper wastage'.

Why you shouldnt do a phd? link
The wait continues ... am getting bored of it.

Clocks - Coldplay

I felt really bored,
so, i called on you
And then i found out
that you had flu

So, i borrowed a cycle
from my barber
to cross the rivers
and check your weather

i pedalled along
on the dusty road
enjoying the moment,
no, i wasnt bored

soon, i came across
a wide and deep river
i jumped into the waters
and swam with a shiver

As i was crossing,
a croc tugged my feet
i kicked it away
and saved my meat

On the other bank
i was greeted by a tramp
he told i swam too slow
and that he was a champ

I warned the beggar,
told him he was wrong
i could swim a mile
and he, not a furlong

He challenged me to a duel
we jumped in to swim across
i thought it was cruel
to compete with such an old sauce

However, i was beaten
he swam too fast
i lagged behind
yeah, i came last

I was incredulous,
and bowed to his majesty
he smirked wickedly
and excused my earlier travesty

I had to swim back again
and visit you my dear
as i was cruising in the water
i saw my worst fear

the croc was in front of me
its wide mouth open wide
i could notice its glee
i couldnt even move aside

I swam directly into it
and it closed around my bones
i somehow felt nothing
just gave out a few moans

I realised i had my knife
So i stabbed its tongue
it screamed in pain
and out i sprung

I was ecstatic,
i defeated the croc again
so great was my victory
that it started to rain

I swam ashore
and reached your home
became a part of folk lore
from here to Rome

And now you tell me
that you were lying
you werent even ill
someone else, you are seeing!!

ofcourse, these arent the lyrics of the song, somehow strange it may seem, the song inspired me to start writing something ... and the something turned out to be this absurd story :D

Just thinking ...

With the pearly drops pushing the air in their attempt to reach the cold fresh green grass on the ground, the dust scarring the beauty and the purity of the air, invisible mostly but discovered suddenly by the world whenever they streak across a sunray, the sun dismissing the wintry cold and waking the world, burning its hydrogen to give life to yet another day, the grass absorbing the warmth and drying itself of the dew, the leaves moving with the breeze crackling with laughter, the dried ones embracing the ground, the flower coy and the bee endlessly flirting with it, the cook preparing his hot spicy sambhar to accompany the soft white idlies, the sweeper swishing his broom and cornering the dirt, the newspaper boy cycling back after a job mostly well done, the fledgling looking up at the sky, will this be the day it learns to fly?

and all this while i am lost in the dreams, blissfully oblivious to world around me.

Nope .. havent quit blogging

Dashing the hopes of some (particularly SUzeh), i am back. So, why havent i posted for so long? To tell the truth, i had nothing to say. This doesnt mean that i always had something to say when i blog ... but i was never in the mood of writing these past few weeks. The character William Forrester of Finding Forrester (played by Sean Connery) who is a well-known reclusive writer says, "When you write, write. Dont think." This had been the maxim for most of my posts. Recently however, i have started to post only when there was something worth to be told. Hence, havent blogged since long as nothing worth blogging has happened. No .. dont let your hopes rise, nothing interesting has happened now either.

Meanwhile, The congress mela happened adjacent to the insti .. had to crisscross a lot of politicians those two days ... made me feel exasperated that these are the people ruling our country and who will continue to rule the country (referring to politicians as such .. not to congress specifically). And yeah, like all good citizens, i shake my head, walk my way and forget all about it.
Meanwhile, co-authored a poster paper, then a research paper (will it be accepted?) and now have to write a team description paper.
Felicity came and went, this time was free enough to participate in the events ... and garner some money.
This is getting boring .. lets try some innovation (a very abused buzz word)

And so, ... walked away.

Things to do before leaving IIIT ...

Recently my students login was blocked because some stupid mail was sent from it to students. And that set me thinking ... What are the few things that i ought to do before i become another alumnus of IIIT ? The first one among them i.e getting my login was blocked was already achieved. I consulted with a few friends and here is a partial list that i came up with .. This list is specific to me and should not be taken as a standard by others. :P

* Send spam to students list and get login blocked ... [done]
* Give a press conference ... [done] (done twice :D)
* Drink, drink to the point of unconsciousness ... [waiting] (never even drank till now)
* Have a tiff with a professor ... [done]
* Quarrel with a senior ... [done]
* Have a physical fight with someone ... [waiting] (would i survive?)
* Go on a date with a girl ... [waiting]
* Conduct, invigilate and evaluate exams ... [done] (many many times)
* Go on a foreign tour ... [done]
* Learn a foreign language ... [waiting]
* Be incharge of a fest ... [done] (so what if it was a tech one)
* Represent the institute ... [done] (twice :D)
* Stand in elections ... [done] (twice again! )
* Do something and face the Disco (Disciplinary Comm)... [waiting] (but i should come out unscathed too!)
* Face an interview ... [done]
* Grow my hair long ... [done]

Any suggestions or additions to the list?

a week, some tests and interviews ...

[ I started writing this post a few weeks back but left it midway since had better things to do. Finally got around to completing it. ]

So after 6 writtens (and one dummy), I am still without a job. The question that is playing in my mind is whether I should even take a job. Attended my first ever interview in my whole life for microsoft. Wasnt a great experience. And served no purpose :D. I usually find that successful candidates mail/blog their interview experience so that it can benefit the future generations. But, we all need to know those other stories also right? And, those who have been selected are no great bloggers. So, I am now setting upon the noble action of narrating my M$ interview. Btw, the only reason i find we need to go to the M$ here in hyderabad is for the $ i.e Rs. Anyway, rewind back to monday, 19th december of year 2005.

The presentation was in the morning around 9 i think. And it was pretty decent (doesnt come anywhere close to that of yahoo though). After that we had a written test. They had a cut off of 7.5 Cgpa. The written test was just 8 questions. The first four questions which had 4 marks each were: What is the output of a C program, a question based on probabilities, a simple puzzle and some code was given and we need to find the errors in it. The next four questions of 6 marks each were: one is to write a program for something, the next question was to write test cases for the prev program and then two algorithm questions. All in all, it was a simple test, thankfully no aptitude test and no multiple choice questions. Guess, thats why i could get shortlisted. I also dont think i had any major errors in my answers and i hadnt left any question unanswered. From the experience of various written rounds that i failed to pass through, i think that one needs to answer almost the whole paper correctly for having a chance of being shortlisted.

Out of the 60 something people, they shortlisted 20 people for the interview. The results were supposed to have been released by 2 in the afternoon, but they finally came out at 4. Guess, they needed more time then they imagined to evaluate our answers. So, all the 20 shortlisted ones including me were asked to report immediately. So, we put on those formals, carried that folder which contains the resume, gradesheets and other certificates and rushed to the specified room. There, the HR lady announced 10 names and said that only those persons would be interviewed on that day and that the others would need to come back the next day morning. So, the unlucky 10 trudge back to the hostel and wait for the next day! In the night, we hear stories about the interviews from those who had been there and done it. Only 5 people were interviewed out of that lucky 10. The other 5 had to spend all evening just waiting for their turn. This is certainly one of the worst possible ways of spending an evening.

The next day i.e tuesday, everyone in the list of 20 reported in the morning at 8:30 am except the lucky few who finished all the three rounds on the previous day. On request from the volunteer leader, the HR lady allocated timings to the people. I was told that my first interview round would be at 11. So, I went around and whiled away two hours to return at the appointed time. Going by their past record, I expected to wait for some more time before I get the chance to face the first interview of my life, but as soon as I returned the lady ushered me towards the first interviewer- Deadface.

I name him so because his face did not disclose even a single expression the whole period of the one hour that I was with him. I was pretty nervous. As I entered the room, he asked me to sit down. There was no hi/hello or any sort of greeting. I silently sat down and I could clearly hear my heart beat :D. He asked me what courses I had taken. I asked whether he meant in the current sem. He said yes. And i blurted our 'Linear Programming'. And my mind went blank. I couldnt recollect the other courses. I was desperately trying to think and at the same time keep a straight face. Somewhere, on the boundary on my memory, hovered a name 'globalisation' and i promptly named that too. Also added that it was a humanities course. I knew i had taken another course also. But, its named stayed stubbornly beyond my memory's reach. It was almost humiliating. I couldnt even recollect the courses that i am currently pursuing?? He started looking at me with some alarm :D. Just in time, I announced "topics in algorithms"! Then i tried to explain away the fiasco by saying that it was a half sem course and had not started yet :D. Then he asked for the courses I had already completed. Those, i rattled off with ease. The discussion strayed onto my areas of interest and he understood that it was AI. So, he asked why that was the case especially since AI was pronounced dead a few years back and so on. I attempted to defend by saying that I expect AI to make great progress, we can already see that in Machine Learning and that all future stuff would require some sort of AI.

Then the actual stuff began. He asked me to write the code to merge two sorted linked lists! I asked him whether he preferred a recursive version or a non-recursive one. He had no preference. So i jotted down the recursive function. That function has been my favourite ever since the DS midsem in my first year :D. I felt my heart rate was lowering down to the normal range. I finished and showed it to him in a jiffy. He asked me what the problem with recursive functions was. I explained and then he asked me to write the non recursive one. I wrote that and then he asked me how it was better than the recursive one. I answered all these pretty easily. Then he asked me a puzzle. It was quite an interesting one. As he started explaining the puzzle, he inquired whether i had already heard it. I didnt. I solved the puzzle but it required four steps. He asked me to do it in three. I was thinking but didnt get much ahead. So, he gave me a hint but his choice of words led me to believe that he was changing the problem statement. After clarification, however i utilised the hint to come up with the optimal solution. Then he moved onto asking questions about passing by values and reference and so on which I could tackle easily. The hour was over before I realised and he said 'thankyou' . I left him. All through the interview, my major problem was that i couldnt figure out from his countenance whether he considered my answers to be right or wrong. As i said earlier, his face was an expression-less one. :D

I came out and chatted with other aspirants and soon it was time to face another interviewer. This person welcomed me with a smile and also greeted with a 'hi'. He asked me to tell about myself. I cheekily asked him whether he wanted it to be limited professionally or even about my personal life. He obviously said professional and i started with my third year, described some of my projects, and my interests. Also mentioned about RoboCup, my TAships and programming contests i.e ACM. He summarised it all by saying that my interests are AI, Data-mining, Algorithms and Data-Structures in that order. I nodded. So, he very sweetly asked me what 'deadlock' was. OS? Anyway, i told him in general terms what it was. He asked me to be more technical and also asked how i would find whether there was a deadlock. I did not rememeber anything about it as I had no preparation whatsoever for the interviews and my OS concepts were long lost and forgotten :D. So i did not remember about the resource allocation graph thing. I just blabbered on about it in general terms. He moved on and asked me to implement quicksort without recursion. I thought for a moment and told him the method. He asked me to write it down. And so I did. Meanwhile he went out and came back. I just finished and didnt check through the code. He assumed i finished and went through it. I explained the code to him. He kept looking at it for 5 minutes. Then, he asked me to write blackbox testcases for it. I did that. Then he asked me to make the program crash. I went through the code and came up with the input for which it would crash :D. It was a small condition which wasnt handled. He asked me to fix that which I did. Then he asked me what would happen if a null array was passed and asked me to handle that condition also. I did that also. He then asked whether I had any questions for him. I said no to which he replied as 'Come on man, ask something, atleast ask about me' :D. So, I asked what he did at m$ and for how long he had been there. He told that he had been at IDC since it was setup in 98 and is working on some mobile thing. I then asked him another question related to the interview process. I asked him what he was doing on the laptop while i was thinking of the solution or writing the code. He laughed and said that he wasnt doing any other work as I may have thought but was noting down his observations about me. And with that we bid goodbye to each other.

I came out and resumed chatting with my friends. I was informed that many people had already been sent away after their first round. The HR lady came and told us all to go for lunch and return at 2:30. So, we returned at the time. Till then more than 5 people did not have even a single interview round. The others either completed all rounds and awaiting the results, or were shown the door or were still in the process like me. After lunch, as i went in, the HR lady called me and asked me to be seated. That was a clear signal that I was being booted out of the process and that I havent done well enough to be considered for the third round of the interview process. As soon as she asked me to be seated it was pretty clear that i was out. I had heard and even seen how she was breaking the bad news to others. So, when she told me to sit down, i pretty much wanted to just walk out. But she dillydallied for 5 minutes by asking how i felt the interview was, whether the questions were difficult and so on. She then told the news. She was acting as if she was really sorry and tried to comfort by saying that i could apply in 6 months off-campus. I wanted to tell her that i would certainly not apply again but refrained for fear of prolonging her monologue. She gave the same reason for my rejection as she was giving to the others i.e basics need to be improved and so on.

And so ended the first and last interview in life (as of now). When would i next attend an interview process? Hopefully not any time soon. And what did I learn from the whole experience? Nothing much :D.
So after Adobe, Google, Microsoft, De-Shaw, Yahoo and CA (and Novell as a dummy), I am without any offer and it doesnt concern me at all now :). The process has only made my resolve of going for futher studies stronger :D. [this post is not edited ... so dont comment about any errors if any :D]

Applications and Frustrations ...

Applying to US universities for MS/Phd is like one of the most irritating things around. The whole process is totally convoluted and brazenly costly. Reporting the Gre Toefl scores tops it all. Sop, they want a statement of purpose. All Sops start in the same general way about how the field interests them, how it is an important research area, the experience they have and other related stuff, how this university is ideal for them and how they plan to be enriched by it. All of them are the same. So i tried this one differently. But am wise enough not to send it and waste my 100$ that is spent on the application proces to a single university. I do not have access to the different introduction right now otherwise would have posted it here. Other things that add to the burgeoning frustration level is the fast approaching deadlines, still not having hold of all the required documents, fyp deadlines and reports which have to be written though i have done nothing at all and the job-placement process in which i am performing at the very worst. Ofcourse, doing no preparation whatsoever does contribute, but nevertheless, i still seem to suck at them. But how does it matter? I dont think i would want to go for a job now anyway. But then, am i sure about doing phd? Not at all, but it certainly seems as the better option. I thought i was now beyond supervising and explaining projects as the 22 credits i mentored last sem have ended. But no. Some enterprising second years wanted a project under Dr. Pjn and what does he suggest? Our itws3 project .. right out of the blue? How come he even remembers it?? So, had to dust the project out of the archives, make it run all over again and then explain it to them after recollecting what it was.
And, there are few other things which contribute generously to frustration.

My gmail id is quite a popular one. I recieve very fews mails meant for me. I have been blessed with mails containing some assignment some student of some forsaken institute wanted to send to some lecturer of his/her, a lot of offers from companies asking for my resume, the latest ones being from Cognizant, a mail from Microsoft Technical Recruiter giving me his email in continuation of our previous day conversation on phone. And today, i got a mail from some poor soul requesting me to find him a job in some bpo. I wished him all the best :).

Someone search for profs in the universities and send them mails.
Someone finish my sop and fill the application forms.
Someone collect the recos and transcripts and post them.
Someone mail those researchers for the papers and read the papers and write the report.
Someone give me a long vacation that i have deserved for sooo long.
Someone give me a good reason to feel like waking up the next day....

Yet yet Another Tag Post ...

And this time the focus is 7. And have been tagged by 2 people - Rao and Khurana. However, this one is quite tougher. Anyways, lets face the challenge ...


Seven Things I want to do in my life:

1. Travel around the world and maybe beyond 8->
2. Be rich and renowned 8->
3. Start a hugely successful company ...
4. Drive the best convertible around :D
5. Live in a lot of countries (should atleast cover all continents even antartica!)
6. Fund a help organisation and see that it does its work honestly
7. Write a novel ..
8. Maintain a library in my house :D
More than 7? so what? A lot more havent been mentioned for scarcity of space and time

Seven Things I can do:

1. Blog
2. Write about any topic (even if i have no idea about it)
3. Act as if i have understood everything even when i have no idea what was said
4. Survive a day or two without any food
5. Keep chatting and chatting ...
6. Keep secrets .. :D
7. Write computer programs i.e programming .. (almost forgot :D)

Seven Things I say the most:

1. hmm
2. really?
3. chaa
4. crap
5. sucks
6. what rubbish
7. cool
(am not sure about the veracity of these answers .. the people around may know better)

Seven Things I can't do:

1. Not blush when being teased (tried a lot)
2. Play any game well (didnt try that much :D)
3. Stay away from checking mail ever so often
4. Feel comfortable when with new acquaintances
5. See (without my spects i mean)
6. Not use smileys when using the keyboard :D
7. Stay awake in classes (:|

Seven Things that attract me to the opposite sex:

1. Intelligence
2. Versatility
3. Taking everything coolly without much ado
4. Simple appearance (lack of make-up, jewellery .. natural beauty ?)
5. Slim Figure :D
6. Ability to keep a conversation going and interesting ...
7. Smile

Seven Celebrity Crushes:

1. Catherine Zeta jones
2. Alizee
3. Kajol
4. Amrita Rao
5. Meg Ryan
6. Liv Tyler
7. Hilary Duff

Seven People I Tag:
Not many left untagged .. and those left untagged probably wont respond.

1. Persephone (prove me wrong :P)
2. Su_cooldude (you would never even read this)
3. Pati (guess u ll do this :P)
4. Optimist
5. Ravi (mareenu ra nuvvu ... resume blogging)
6. Lord
7. Kunal (another tag for u :p)

FYP - Find Your own Project ??

Was supposed to have been a cool MSBR i.e dual degree student. After the success of the honours project, was looking around for a challenging topic. The semester was quite busy and was lost in a great many things ... though at hindsight, cant identify what exactly kept me busy :-s. Yeah, wrote Gre, searched for good universities to apply to. But was supposed to have been doing MS right? Yeah, it all depended whether I got through or not. Looked around when people around me slogged for deciding their FYPs and then later for writing their FYP report1. One fine day, get a mail from your advisor asking to meet him. He informs you coolly that you are no longer a research student, but a Btech final year like most of the others (fired?) and that you better buck up and start submitting Fyp reports from the next deadline. In shock, initially, quickly recover and start searching for an Fyp.

So, listen to the ideas, try to understand what exactly is required. Feel that most of the suggestions are impossible to be accomplished (atleast in the limited time available). Just in time, for the first report (second for the others), the topic is decided. But the topic is so vast that there have been conferences conducted specifically on it! What exactly is supposed to be done? No clear idea at all ... Slog around the papers sometimes, talk to the experienced and try to make sense of what my Fyp is supposed to be. After lot of contemplation and great many discussions, the position wasnt any better. Approaching the next deadline soon. And today, found out that the atleast the first part of my Fyp is to find a suitable topic. Find out all that has been done in the area, the technologies, the challenges tackled and those that havent been tackled and those that havent yet been discovered. In short a survey .... and later what? We shall see ....

Sop? Applications and Jobs ....

Lots of things going on as usual. As usual, i have some very tough deadlines to meet. As usual, i have brought this condition unto myself through the fine art of procrastination. :-s
Am supposed to write my 'statement of purpose' soon. Actually am supposed to have already written it by now. Most of my peers are atleast half way done. And, i have been waiting all this time for some kind of an inspiration and then hoped to do it quickly like say in a day after which just some minor editing would be needed. Sadly, the inspiration has been as elusive as ever. Or maybe the 'inspiration' is the approaching deadline?? When i asked our sage for advice, he replies as: "Answer one question - what do you want to see yourself as in the future?". Well, as i have oft said, the answer is "I dont know". I rather believe in taking life one step at a time. Did i even think of going in for further studies when i joined IIIT? Not at all. I had no idea what i wanted to do next. Same now. All i know is that i was to post graduate doing some research in the field of AI preferably agents (as i am acquainted with that). Guess, thats where the whole problem lies in. However, most of the 'Statement ofPurpose' or Sop is generally devoted to your past achievements and academic pursuits.

Theres the other thing too, placements .. jobs. Supposed to select 3 dream companies. My dream companies? Unless i know the kind of work i would have to be doing in them, i have no criteria on which to decide my 'dream' company. Ofcourse the pay package is always a major factor :D. My fyp? Its in the doldrums ... waiting and waiting ... when will it progress?? Nothing seems to going right or rather going at all. Even the choice for an open elective does not seem to be easily settled. But, that doesnt have any space in my thoughts right now .... :-s :-?

Felt like writing a poem, hence ....

And so you thought i didnt exist
or maybe you just wished me away.
You hoped I vanish into the mist
or that maybe with time, I would decay.

I stood firm to my ground.
Not an inch did I displace.
I slowly grew tall and round.
Your rejection, I had to embrace.

You knew me when I was a seed.
You ate my house and threw me out.
I had to live among the grass and weed.
The injustice! To whom could i mouth?

During sun and rain, day and night
I grew stronger with the resolve
I was just a kid, yet had to fight
and so my character soon did evolve

I now had leaves and deep roots
I altered the beauty of your lawn
The world now enjoyed my fruits
The birds nested and the squirrels ran.

Finally, I was taller than your home
My shade was my gratitude to you
So you called up a truck and an axe!!

Being a tree ..
I could
never be free ...

Various things and none in particular

Well, yeah i have been to and back from kolkatta. This post is not about the trip. That is going to make a nice story with all the regular elements of drama like suffering, disappointment, frustration, elation and exhaustion. The exhausting post about the trip will be written rather typed later. Yeah, it needs considerable amount of patience and energy. "It is a thrilling tale, I wish to do it justice." by Dumbledore is quite applicable here. Finally started reading the sixth book of the hari-puttar series. Thought i had the time but sadly i was mistaken. Yet, once started, guess it will be completed quite quickly.

The Brother of Agastya aka the Sage has been stalking the corridors of our hostel to collect monetary contribution to the Kashmir quake fund. I admire his perseverence and determination. He spent around 5 hours, met around 150 people and collected significant amount. No idea how he can spare so much time for this. It is being discussed by people as to whether it is prudent to contribute to Pakistan and whether the money may not finally end up financing the terrorists of the like who recently bombed delhi etc. My take on this, .......... no idea. I guess I would feel more confortable if i knew where the money is going and how it would be used. Though, the question i ask is, "Is a disaster a prerequisite to do some charity?" There are needy people all around our city, state and country and abroad. Yeah, the people affected by a disaster need help since, their lives have been considerably worsened by the incident. But what about the people whose lives are in the same kind of state without even having to face a calamity? They are much much more in number and are always in need of help. Charity should be a continuous process and not a one off event that succeeds every large scale disaster. Guess, our IIIT's 'muskaan' is a great endeavour. We should expand this activity so that it touches many more lives. Enough of preaching for today :D.

Have so many things to do in the coming days that i am forced to keep a todo list. A todo list which tells me what are all the things that are yet to be done as quickly as possible. Yeah, just added 'write the acm post' to the list. I have had two small figurines on my table since first year. One is a cute Laughing-Buddha and the other a tiny statue of Lord Ganesha. No idea why they have been with me. Never been a religious person. Dont even remember the last time i was taken to a temple. I dont think i ever went to one on my own accord. I just recollected when i last went to a temple. It was in Kyoto. Went to a lot of temples that day.
Time to get back to the non-muggle world. Bye for now, my friendly muggles.