The Second Anniversary

Its something about this 'date' that just doesn't let me let it go without a blog-post. It is second the anniversary of IIT-JEE'09, the version of IIT-JEE that I'm familiar with; the one that I relate to; the one that I call My JEE.

Anyways, this post is not about the exam nor is it about the preparation or the value gained out of it. That is what was done last year. Now, the 'date' enforces up on me retrospection of what has happened in the last year;  not the year that ended on 31st December 2010, but the year marked in my life by this very day, 12th April. Today, one ends and a new one begins; and it is only customary to look at the year gone by, cherish the joyful moments and learn from those which brought tears.

The year has been a very dramatic one. Things have been learnt in unforeseen ways; in ways I could never imagine. Starting with my involvement in Techniche, which benefited me in more ways than I could have thought of; opening in front of me the world of the Free and/or Open Source Softwares (FOSS), getting me closer to computers and helping me know more about myself and those around me. Next, a difficult experience, was the experience of loss(es); loss in terms of 'a friend', 'a life' and 'a relationship'; losses that cannot be reverted, mistakes that cannot be corrected and their impact that cannot be forgotten.

In hindsight, these very things have taught me a lot about my own personality, my expectations out of life and out of people around me. I've learnt the hard way, that life might not be as long as we think, so make the most of it. This idea, itself, has brought about over a dozen changes in me. My attitudinal shift has left me a little more capable of observing those around and learning more about the intriguing human brain. I've learnt to accept various ideas and thoughts, not adopt but accept them as something 'understandable'.

In short, I feel far more mature and experienced than I was last year, and that is the way it should be. Progressing towards a better understanding of the humans and using the same knowledge to protect personal goals and help the society has 'now' become a priority. I use the word protect because this year has brought in front of me my vulnerabilities and weaknesses; somethings that I need to keep away from those who would intentionally (or unintentionally) try to dissuade me from my path.


I guess that is enough retrospection for now.
Happy 'IIT-JEE-09' anniversary to all. Happy New Year.

Stranger to a Friend

Life and friends; both are incomplete without each other. I have written about friends earlier, here and here, and I'm sure that will be the topic of discussion in many more posts to come. I owe a lot to my friends and I really can't imagine a life without them. But at the same time, I'm intrigued by the realisation that each one of them was once just another stranger to me and now, life without them, is unimaginable

The beginning of a friendship is something that always amazes me. It could be something as inconspicuous as ending up as room-mates or as neighbours; ending up as lab-partners; studying in the same class. It could begin at a discussion about common interests, common problems, "GIRLS" (yes,both boys and girls talk about 'girls' in different perspective though ;-) ) or even 'parents' . The possibilities are limitless.

And before you know it, the person you had just met, is now an integral part of your life. The same people whom you were shy/scared to talk to are now the people who know most about you; the same people whom you'd call by name, are now referred to by a variety of nick-names ( and the real name is even forgotten ); the same people you won't cry in front of, have already helped you through your worst times; the same people you called 'silent' are the one's that talk to you the most; the same people you cribbed about to your 'parents' or old-friends, are the one's you choose over parents to discuss a problem at hand.

All these words come out of mere retrospection of how I met my great friends, but I am sure there are many things about this 'unique' relation that I have missed out here. Feel free to share them with me ( in other words .. leave a comment .. ;-) )

Technology makes me lazy

My last post was about laziness and it was after posting it that I started realising how laziness affects each and every aspect of my life. It makes me who I am and makes the way I am. Some may like it, some may not. In fact, it explains my infatuation for computers and programs. I had once read an interesting quote

World's best programmers are lazy

And programming being a skill I'd like to excel at, the lazier I get, the happier I feel. (Recently, a similar lazy attitude led me to write an elegant script that has been documented here ).

Technology and laziness go hand in hand, in fact as explained in the last post, its a cycle. Laziness inspires some technological breakthrough and the use of such things leads to a further lazy life. My friend, in his blog, explores how we are so depended on technology. He goes on to question the future of such a dependence, bring into light the biggest fears of mankind with respect to the technological boom, control by machines.

Many before us have pondered over this reaching a variety of conclusions. Some deduce that such a scenario would never arise, some make references to science-fiction movies like Matrix to show how it might not be just a possibility.

But are we not 'already' controlled by machines? Be it the alarm clock, the i-pod, the laptop, the air-conditioner, the motor-vehicles or the cell-phone. Right from the moment we get up to the moment we get back to sleep, we constantly interact with different forms of technology. Now the real question; can we live without them?

Imagine your life without any 'one' of the things that you own and value. Do you think it would be the same? So, aren't we already under the control of the 'army of gadgets'? If one thing breaks down, our life comes to a halt. Now, if we were to assume that the gadgets were little more intelligent, can't we conclude that they do it on purpose ? This reminds me of the Murphy's law

If anything can go wrong, it will

Coming back to the real scenario, it would be worth considering our dependence on technology around us.Imagine a day without your favourite tools and gadgets around you, and share with us how it would be?

Why we can(not) change the world ?

All of us have had those sudden ideas that could revolutionize how we live; could significantly change how we live, but how many of us have actually got a head start on that idea.

Every morning I (and I'm sure many of the readers) plan to get up 3 hours prior to their first appointment, hoping to get done with a lot of pending tasks and give the day a great start. But everyday, I hit the snooze button until its just 5 minutes to the first thing that I must do; long story short, laziness and procrastination prevent me from becoming the NEXT BIG THING in this universe.

But isn't that true for everyone or for that matter, isn't 'laziness' the cause of half the problems of the world we live in? Disagree? Lets take some examples. Each one of us would like to save water, coal, electricity and what not, but what prevents us? Laziness; laziness to get up and switch off the lights; laziness to turn off the tap that is flowing gallons of water; laziness to walk to the market instead of driving till there. And these are just the most conspicuous effects of the greatest possible sin of mankind. Think of that assignment you have been procrastinating for weeks or the backlog on the mails or that cooking class we all intend to join or that exercise schedule that you postpone by one day 'each' morning. Some call it lack of will, I call it laziness; and I doubt there's much of a difference between the two.

But lets not deny the virtues of 'laziness'. This can be aptly summarized by the following quote

All of the biggest technological inventions created by man - the airplane, the automobile, the computer - says little about his intelligence, but speaks volumes about his laziness.

The above words by Mark Kennedy explain why its not all that bad to be lazy at times. Also, in the words of the famous author Agatha Christie

I don't think necessity is the mother of invention. Invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness - to save oneself trouble.

So after all, laziness is like a double-edged sword, the moment you lose control over it, you risk your own life. And that is as true as it gets.

So with that lesson learnt, go grab a cup of coffee (or tea if you prefer) and then lets get cracking. Talking about procrastination won't help (neither you nor me), so I thought I could share some links that might help to counter it : -

1. Top 10 motivation boosters and procrastination killers
2. The Now Habit : Overcoming Procrastination, Enjoying Guilt-Free Play
3. Getting things done with structured procrastination

PS : This post itself came out after a lot of procrastination; and finally it was idleness (or avoiding other more important tasks on the to-do list) that got me working on this.

A computer as my brain !!!

All through my life, I've understood brain as nothing more than a 'super-duper' computer. But as things happen and life gets more complicated, the 'basic' understanding seems so wrong.

How I wish the brain was a computer? Why do I think so, following are the reasons :-

1. It would be possible to 'clearly' enunciate all the thoughts in the mind (in technical jargon, all the processes running) and pick out the ones you would like to eliminate.

2. Your brain would be rendered incapable of playing tricks on your while you were sleeping by introducing thoughts and ideas that only use the 'processor' power and yield no outcome at all.

3. There would be an option to 'erase' memories; you could erase that you dislike or that cause a conflict with other 'memories' and thoughts.

4. Thoughts/memories once erased need not POP-UP and it would be impossible to relate to something you don't want, no matter how much one forces you to.

5. One could achieve a more 'emotionless' state and not get attached to every other thing or person in this life, making things so much more simpler and making life all about survival WITHOUT PURPOSE.

6. One would feel no pain, physical or psychological.

7. It would be easier for anyone else to look into a person and understand his state, and hence would resolve a lot of communication gaps.

Well, most of the 'advantages' listed above could easily be overpowered by something like a virus, but here I'm talking about more secure systems, preferably GNU/Linux based systems. ;-)

In any case, such a situation is entirely a DREAM, which itself is a concept of the mind, and would be absent from something that resembles a computer. Dream, a concept which can be as lethal as it is beautiful.

As can be seen in the small discussion above, this brain of mine just doesn't know what it wants and that is the 'worst' and the 'best' part of this exceptional piece of work. What do you guys think would be the advantages or disadvantages of having a computer instead of a brain ?