The Laptop Lament

Today is Vishwakarma Puja - the day to worship our tools and weapons. This festival is marked by worshipping the God of Architecture and Engineering, Vishwakarma, by industrial houses, artists, craftsmen, weavers etc. According to mythology, Vishwakarma, the son of Brahma is the one he who created the entire universe as well as the heaven and the earth. Vishwakarma is also credited for creating the missiles used in the mythological era, including the Vajra, the sacred weapon of Lord Indra, from the bones of sage Dadhichi. He is regarded as the architect of ancient cities like Hastinapur, Indraprastha, Dwarka and Sone Ki Lanka.

Being a Computer Engineer, my greatest tool is my computer since all my work revolves around it. My whole world comes to a dead halt when my laptop stops functioning properly. So, I have decided to worship it on this pious occasion by lighting an incense stick nearby (but carefully so that I don’t end up burning its parts J ), putting some petals over it and invoking prayers, all for its long life.

My laptop has troubled me from time immemorial. The most irksome fact is that it used to work fine and fantastic the whole semester but give up at the last moment during the practicals, when I needed it most. As a result I was often forced to borrow my friend’s laptop or their parts during exams. Sometimes it was the OS crashing, the adapter not working, keyboard malfunction or the erratic behavior of touchpad; I have experienced it all!

Despite its unreliability at decisive moments, my affection and devotion for it has never ever diminished, not even a little bit. I still love it from the core of heart and can’t spend a single day in peace without it.

Presently, my laptop has been diagnosed with a very serious disorder. The power jack of my laptop is damaged, perhaps one of the pins holding it onto the motherboard has dislodged from its place, causing to break the solder around it. The sad thing is that it cannot be repaired as a repair would mean replacement of its motherboard which would cost me around 13000 bucks, a little less than the price of a new desktop PC. I have just two options to bank upon, option one, go to a metro city like Delhi or Mumbai, and get the power jack soldered properly in its place (which is not an easy task either) or, two, keep using it as it is and be a witness to the scene when it takes its last breath! (The problem can cause further damage to the laptop.)

As of now, I don’t know what course of action I am going to take, but I really hope and pray that my beloved laptop gets well soon. God bless my lappy. Amen!

Love you dear Dubba J

Reservations and its Repercussions

Today the UP government took one additional step towards deepening the trench between classes. It has strictly ordered UPTU to waiver their entire tuition fees as well. Why do all SC’s ST’s and OBC’s need a fee waiver now? Don’t they get their admission forms at half the price of what a general category student gets? Shouldn’t these provisions only be for children of financially backward families regardless of the caste they belong to?

The government is fostering communalism rather than eradicating it by supporting quota system. Students from general quota have started despising those who are getting undue advantage of this reservation system. People have started to suspect the capabilities of SC’s, ST’s and OBC’s. Whenever such a student makes it to any top educational institution, we tend to say - ‘Oh him… he hails from a backward class, he is there only because of reservation.’

Why most of the Indian population is still economically downtrodden? Why the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer? Why we are technologically incompetent when compared to other countries? It’s because our government is invariably failing to identify who deserves to get a benefit out of the quota system and who does not. And the result - people lacking the requisite caliber are occupying offices, while those having it are roving on the roads.

I agree that the socially unprivileged classes have faced decades of oppression and their poor plight needs to be given a thought. But what about those who are already occupying high posts in government and private offices and are simply carefree about their children’s future; thanks to the Indian quota laws! Why doesn’t the government simplify things by making reservations completely income based?

Fortunately, 63 years old Independent India has been witnessing an absolute change in the mentality of its citizens towards the socially unprivileged classes. Today if you ask someone what caste he belongs to, you would be looked down upon by many eyes. Those who differentiate people on the basis of their castes are considered backward and impolite these days. So if the Government really wants to lend a helping hand to these unprivileged or should I say privileged classes, give them benefits at the elementary level. Make their education free up to class 12. But after that, let only the brightest shine!

If Government continues with its present reservation policies, soon there would be many undeserving Mayawatis holding key positions in the country and doing nothing but blowing their own trumpets shamelessly by erecting their own statues here and there!

Clarification: Posted above are the personal views of the author. No offence intended to any community.

Kalpavriksha in Kashi

Did you know that kalpavriksha exists in real? Yes, this morning I was bewildered after reading a newspaper report which said that there is a Kalpvriksha in Kashi and that too just a few steps from the doorstep of my house. People have already started thronging the Varanasi Cantonment area with hope of getting their wishes fulfilled. For those who are still unable to associate with this name – Kalpvriksha/Kalptaru/Devvriksh(wish fulfilling divine tree) is a mythological tree which finds its mention in our holy scriptures. Popular belief says that if you sit under the tree and desire for something, your wishes get granted. Hindu folklore has it that along with the Kamadhenu, or 'wish-giving cow', the Kalpavriksha originated during the Samudra Manthan or "churning of the milk ocean", and the King of the gods, Indra returned with it to his paradise. Symbolically, the Kalpavriksha is the symbol of one's identity and its potential. The roots are the deeper spiritual dimensions and the trunk one's constitution. The branches, leaves and fruits represent our constitution, abilities and skills, actions and achievement. Until today I used to believe that this is a fictional tree which might be present on this earth thousands of years ago but it’s not existent on this planet anymore. But the Dainik Jaagran report corrected me.

I had happened to pass by this tree many a time but had never imagined that it would come under the spotlight someday. The tree is peculiar enough to catch one’s attention on the first glance itself. I remember discussing about its peculiarity with my mom when we first saw it during an evening walk. The swollen trunk of the tree gave us the perception that it was not just one tree but two or three such trees are entwined together. The trunk is so thick that a motorcycle or even a car can pass through a hollow made through it. The body of the tree has a silvery sheen and is huge. Leaves resemble that of a bel tree. The tree looks very ancient. Kalpavrikshas are believed to have a life of more than 2500 years. There are only about 7-8 Kalpavrikshas known in the country till date. This one is the latest discovered by a team of forest department officers in Varanasi.

After reading the news I couldn’t stop myself exploring the internet to get the details of this mystic botanical species.

KALPAVRIKSHA

Scientific name: Adansonia digitata, Family: Bombacaceae

Common Names: (English) baobab, cream-of-tartar tree, guinea tamarind, lemonade tree, monkey bread tree, sour gourd, upside-down tree; (Hindi) gorak ali, gorak amla, gorak lichora, gorakh-cinch, gorakh-imli, kalpa-vriksha, khura-sani-imli

Physical Characteristics: The tree is characteristic of thorn woodlands of the African savannahs. A digitata is resistant to fire, termite and drought, and prefers a high watertable. Adansonia digitata is a large, round canopied tree with a swollen trunk, about 10-25 m in height, often with a bole of 3-10 m; bark is soft, smooth, fibrous, reddish-brown, greyish-brown or purplish-grey. Leaves are dark green, with short, soft hairs. Fruit has a hard, woody shell, covered with yellowish-grey velvety hairs. Flowers are waxy white with white, silky hairs inside, large, crinkly, spreading petals and bear an unpleasant scent. Digitata means hand shaped, referring to the shape of the leaf. The flowers are mostly pollinated by bats, which probably get attracted to its strong carrion smell. Natural regeneration occurs when the fruits fall off the tree and crack. Ants enter the fruit and feed on the pulp. In this way, soil is introduced into the fruit and it becomes moist with the onset of the rains, thereby allowing germination to take place.

Uses: Food: An edible white, powdery pulp found in the fruit is very rich in vitamin C and B2 and makes a refreshing drink. Young leaves are also rich in Vitamin C, contain uronic acids, and are high in demand in West Africa as a soup vegetable and a condiment. The small stem and roots of the seedlings are eaten as vegetable. Having high water content, the wood is chewed by humans and animals in case of extreme water scarcity. The wood can be used as a salt substitute. The acid pith is used as a substitute for cream of tartar in baking, to curdle milk and smoke fish. It is also roasted and used as a coffee substitute. The seeds contain appreciable quantities of tartaric acid and potassium bitar; they are refreshing to suck, and when soaked in water make a palatable drink.

Fodder: Young leaves, fruit, pods and seeds provide fodder for game and domestic animals. During drought, donkeys and game animals chew both the bark and fibrous wood for sap.

Apiculture: The tree is a source of fine quality honey. Wild bees manage to perforate the soft wood and lodge their honey in the holes. In many parts of Africa, the hollow trunks are used for beekeeping.

Fuel: The long-fibred wood is suitable for firewood. The shell and seeds are also used for fuel.

Fibre: The fibre from the bark used to make excellent cordage, ropes, harness straps, mats, snares and fishing lines, fibre cloth; musical instrument strings tethers, bed-springs and bow strings. Strong, tough and tear-resistant paper is produced from the fibre.

Timber: The wood is whitish, spongy and light. It is used for making canoes, rafts, insulating boards, wooden platters and trays, boxes and floats for fishing nets.

Gum or resin: Glue can be made by mixing flower pollen with water.

Tannin or dyestuff: The wood contains some tannins, and the acid pith is used to coagulate rubber. In East Africa, the roots produce a useful red dye.

Lipids: A non-drying, golden yellow oil of agreeable taste, which may be obtained by distilling the seeds, A.digitata seeds are also used as a substitute for cooking oil.

Alcohol: The Wasandawe of Tanzania uses the liquid from the pulp for brewing beer.

Poison: The bark is boiled for days to extract a substance poisonous to ants. Fruit pulp burns with an acrid, irritating smoke that can be used to deter insects troublesome to livestock.

Medicine: Hyposensitive and antihistamine properties are present in the leaves, which are used to treat kidney and bladder diseases, asthma, general fatigue, diarrhoea, insect bites, and guinea worm. Leaf and flower infusions are valued for respiratory problems, digestive disorders and eye inflammation. The seed paste is used for curing tooth and gum diseases. Gum from the bark is used for cleansing sores, as an expectorant and a diaphoretic. The bark is used in steam baths for calming shivering and high fever. A decoction of the roots is taken as a remedy for lassitude impotence and kwashiorkor. The bark is boiled and taken as a cure for body pains. This infusion is also used to treat colds, fever and influenza. Seeds are used to cure gastric, kidney and joint diseases; they are roasted then ground and the powder smeared on the affected part or drunk in water.

Other products: Ash from the shell, bark and seed, rich in potash, is widely used in making soap, prepared by boiling the bark and fruit ash in oil. The shell can be used as a dish, water dipper, vessel for liquids, snuffbox, fishing float; it also makes an excellent rat trap. The powdered husk may be smoked as a tobacco substitute or added to snuff to increase pungency. The pulp extract can be used as a hair wash.

Soil improver: Decaying wood of a tree that has died of old age or from lightning is spread on fields as a fertilizer. Ashes from the shell bark and seed are rich in potash and are useful as a fertilizer.

Ornamental: A. digitata is a popular species for bonsai specimens.

Other services: In dry regions, A. digitata plays a vital role in water storage; a hollowed trunk may hold 400 gallons, water stored in them is said to remain sweet for several years if the hollow is kept well closed. In East Africa the trunks are hollowed out to provide shelter and storage, and in West Africa the hollowed trunks are sometimes used as tombs.

With the plethora of uses cited above, the tree truly deserves to be called kalpvriksha because of its ability to amply provide for human needs. So next time, when you plan to visit Kashi, don’t forget to add this tree to your must-see list.

//Muley Brahma twachaa Vishnu shikhayaam Mahadev, patre patre devaaye Kalpavriksha namostutey//

Source : World AgroForestry Centre’s Tree Database, Wikipedia

Wasn't Orkut Enough?

I joined Orkut in 2006, two years after it registered its presence in the internet fraternity. One could join this social networking site only through an invite at that time. I myself had asked one of my ‘member’ friends to send me an invite, so that I too, could become a proud member of this vigorously burgeoning family. I still remember the kind of sentiments that this nascent site had invoked in me. I didn’t have a net access in my room that time and so I spent hours sitting in my internet lab either searching for long lost buddies or sprucing up my social profile. I didn’t even mind waiting in never ending queues in front of the locked doors of the room to be the first one to grab a seat. Believe it or not, personal thank you messages were sent to all visitors who used to land up in my profile either by chance or by choice. Rejecting friend requests was out of question; be it from a stranger or a mere acquaintance. Celebrations followed when the number of friends hit the hundredth mark. Number of scraps was the newest exhibitive among friend circles. Fan count became the status quo. Joining coolest communities became a rage.

Facebook saw me as its user a year later, at the end of 2007. I did not join it on will; circumstances pushed me to do so. The incessant e-mail requests and reminders by friends pressed me to check out this latest fad. Though it was creating ripples in the virtual societies, it failed to inspire a thrill in me. Instead I was very unhappy to see new competitor sites coming up. I used to get anxious and annoyed when people talked about joining Facebook, Minglebox, Mypace or LinkedIn. Perhaps I was well aware of the future consequences of this latest trend. I didn’t want my contacts which I found after so many years with so much difficulty, to get drifted away to some other site so easily. After all, it meant my own migration as well because a network would be nothing without friends that constitute it. Keeping pace with one social network was in itself a big commitment with respect to time; I was not at all in favor of giving another chunk of my precious time to a site which served exactly the same purpose. I reluctantly joined in, but pledged to keep my loyalty with the elder brother. The extent of my despondency is very much clear from fact that its 2009, and I haven’t even filled up my profile information yet. I am there just because my friends are there.

I know for sure that majority of those reading this post would say that they prefer Facebook over Orkut. Facebook has become choice of the sophisticated whereas Orkut remains the love of tenderfoot. Those giving a preference to Orkut are looked upon as technologically backward. One of the possible reasons could be the false pride that Indians get by following American and European culture. Facebook is highly popular there, in contrast with Orkut which has a fan following majorly in Brazil and India only.

Recently I have been spending a lot of time on Facebook trying to uncover the basis of my mental bias against it. Some of points that I came across are as follows:

1. First impression is the last impression. The mundane white and blue background with painfully small fonts, make the user interface unappealing.
2. The whole space looks cluttered with all of the quiz and game results, comments, advertisements and updates thrown unkemptly at the same place.
3. Quizzes and games, albeit addictive, seems to me a total waste of time. They keep you unnecessarily logged in without serving any fruitful purpose. If am fond of gaming, I would rather play nicer and challenging ones elsewhere rather than satiating myself with the limited ones provided by Facebook!
4. There is a restriction on the amount of information that you can view about a stranger. This feature, in a way, hampers the basic purpose of a social networking sites as it becomes difficult to ensure whether a person is familiar to you or not. And social networks are also for making new contacts; how will one decide whether a particular person is worthy of making a friend unless he/she knows a little bit about him/her.
5. Navigating around in Facebook is a pain in the neck.
6. Too much of updates from friends, becomes irritating.
7. The additional features that many Facebook supporters argue about are nothing but time wasting tactics. A networking site is just meant for catching up with old friends and not getting trapped in the virtual arena all day long.
8. Orkut communities score far over Facebook groups because of features like discussion forum and polls.
9. Privacy control, which was earlier an issue, has now been incorporated in Orkut. You can sensibly choose for yourself what to conceal and what to reveal.
10. Some may put forward this agreement that Orkut is copying Facebook nowadays, I say, even Facebook is not lagging behind. After all who came up first with the innovative idea called “Social Network”
11. I am a strong believer in the ‘KISS principle’, Keep it short and simple. Orkut fits better to this definition.
12. And last but not the least, Google has established a brand value among its users in the recent years and I just love Google products.

Although choosing one out of the two is matter of choice and personal taste, your pick certainly affects your friends’ preference and so on. Now whenever I come online, I need to open both the sites to stay in touch with the latest, which is not something I approve of. So guys, what do you say –“Wasn’t Orkut enough? “

Wordly Wise

You must have asked yourself or your parents at some point of time or the other what your name means or signifies. But have you ever wondered at the meaning of your car’s or bike’s name?

Today as I was browsing through my dictionary, I stumbled over a word which was so much familiar that it never occurred to me to look up for its meaning until I read it somewhere as a part of a sentence. And then I went blank! So here, I present to you, a compiled list of such words with their literal meaning which you might miss otherwise, owing to their very familiarity.

(Names of some popular four wheelers)

ACCORD - (v.) give, bestow; be in agreement, agree; match, fit; complement; (n.) agreement; settlement; harmony; (Music) three or more different notes that play at the same time

ALTO – (n.) a singing voice with a lower range than a Soprano, a person with an alto voice

AZURE - (n.) sky-blue color

BOLERO - (n.) Spanish dance; sweater, short coat

CAYENNE - (n.) capital city of French Guiana; (n.) type of plant that produce hot peppers; fruit of the cayenne plant; hot red spice made from the dried ground pods and seeds of hot peppers

COROLLA – (n.) petals of a flower

FIAT – (v.) do, let it be done (Latin); (n.) decree, command

FIESTA -holiday, festive celebration; celebration of a religious holiday (in Spain and Latin America)

FORD – (v.) cross a river; (n.) shallow place where a river can be crossed

GYPSY - (n.) member of a nomadic people originally from India; (adj.) of or pertaining to the Gypsy people; of or pertaining to the language of the Gypsy people; (n.) Romany, language of the Gypsy people

HONDA - (n.) knot at the end of a rope through which a loop can be pulled

IKON - (n.) figure, image; statue; idol, sacred image; image of holy person; holy statue of Jesus Christ or Virgin Mary

INDICA – (n.) class of cannabis(hemp plant) found in hot climate

LANCER – (n.) soldier on horseback armed with a lance(steel-tipped wooden spear)

MARINA - (n.) small harbor with docks and services for pleasure boats

MONTERO – (n.) hunter, huntsman, one who hunts; round Spanish cap with earflaps worn by hunters

NANO – (pref.) one billionth, extremely small

OMNI - (pref.) all; everything (Latin origin)

ROVER – (n.) wanderer, roamer, one who meanders; machine that stretches and twists fibers to prepare them for spinning; operator of a roving machine

SAFARI – (n.) expedition for hunting or exploration; people participating in a hunting or exploratory expedition; equipment needed for a hunting or exploratory expedition; long journey, adventure

SONATA – (n.) musical composition of three to four movements for one or two instruments

SUMO - (n.) form of Japanese wrestling in which a contestant loses if forced from the ring or if any part of his body except the soles of his feet touches the ground

ZEN – (n.) a Japanese form of Buddhism

(Names of some popular two-wheelers)

ALBA (Yamaha) - n. troubadour love song or poem

APACHE (TVS) - n. criminal, ruffian; n. member of the Apache tribe (American Indian tribe); name of an American military helicopter;

AQUILA (Kinetic) - n. constellation in the northern hemisphere lying across Milky Way portrayed by the figure of an eagle (Astronomy); eagle, genus of eagles (Ornithology); town in Italy; town in Mexico

AVENGER (Bajaj) - n. person who seeks revenge

CHARISMA (Hero Honda) - n. persuasive charm or attractiveness; person's flair; magnetism, leadership ability; (Christianity) given talent in a heavenly manner

CRUX (Yamaha) - n. heart of the matter, main point

GLADIATOR (Yamaha) - n. armed man who fought people or animals in public shows (in ancient Rome); one who participates in a public fight or controversy; boxer, wrestler

KINE (Kinetic) - n. tamed bovine animals as a group not taking into account sex or age; cattle or cows

LIBERO (Yamaha) - n. (Soccer) sweeper (defender who plays closest to his own goal behind the rest of the defenders)

MACHISMO (Bullet) - n. assertive masculinity which is often characterized by aggressiveness and dominance over women, male chauvinism, quality of being macho

NINJA (Kawasaki) - n. feudal mercenary agent trained in martial arts and employed for undercover operations such as assassination and sabotage (Japanese)

NOVA (Kinetic) - n. star which suddenly becomes very bright and then returns to its previous brightness over a period of time (Astronomy)

PULSAR (Bajaj) - n. (Astronomy) celestial body which radiates electromagnetic pulses at regular intervals (believed to be a rapidly spinning neutron star)

SPLENDOR (Hero Honda) - n. magnificence, grandeur; brilliance, brightness, radiance

UNICORN (Honda) - n. mythical horse-like creature with one spiraling horn growing from its forehead

ZEUS (Suzuki) - n. Olympian king of all gods and father of the human race (Greek mythology)

ZING (Kinetic) - v. move quickly; make a sharp whistling sound; n. energy, excitement; something lively; sharp whistling sound

In fact there are a lot of other words with positive and beautiful connotation used as brand names and product names which go unrecognized by us. To list a few more:

(From the computer world)

VISTA – n. prospect; (from Italian) view, sight, panorama; comprehensive mental view of a visualized future situation or event which will happen in the future

DELL – n. small valley, vale

FEDORA – n. type of hat

ADOBE – n. brick made from dried clay

UBUNTU – n. the idea that people are not only individuals but live in a community and must share and care for each other

…

So what are you waiting for, grab your dictionaries and let such rather unexplored words become a part of your vocabulary. And then flaunt your enviable vocab!

Courtesy: Babylon Pro English – English Dictionary

Feigning Morality

First, there came the news of fake notes crippling the Indian economy. Then, the cancerous tea made from white acrylic paint served at Hapur Junction hit the headlines of major news channels. Then, the story of adulterated Arhar Ki Daal, Mawa and Ghee found its place on the front page of leading dailies. The latest addition to this series, and the creepiest of all, is the report on fake and untested blood, made from diluted human or animal blood being sold at the hospitals.

On one side, we are debating on how, Sachh Ka Saamna, the most recent one in the realm of reality shows, is not suited to our Indian viewers as unlike the west, our moral values don’t allow us to reveal our brazen truths in front of our family and the general public. On the other side, such acts of fraud are becoming a common scene. Where does the same “Indian Morality” vanishes then? Do our values allow us to be so much selfish so as to risk the lives of millions of people for a little financial gain?The popular show might be in the gossip circuit from the day of its launch; still it is not seeing any short of participants ready to play the shallow game of truth in front of their loved ones. People from well-to-do families are willing to unfold their darkest and most embarrassing secrets for quick money. It’s not as if, families which are economically insecure are only making appearances on the show. It’s not as if, only poor people are getting involved in fake currency rackets. Most of the times, names of well educated youths from respectable families come under the scanner in relation to such rackets.

Being born on the great soil of India does not guarantee a good moral character. It’s a virtue which needs to be passed from one generation to the other and the role of parents becomes most important in this regard.

It’s all in the upbringing!

The Money Trap

Kudos to TOI’s timing. Exactly a day after I read a detailed article on Online Lottery Frauds, I saw a mail in my inbox congratulating me over my success in some Lotto, which I had never heard of. Had the article not been printed the day before, I would have been flushing with happiness and weaving dreams in my mind about how to spend the “not so small” amount. The email said:

As soon as I read the contents of this promising mail, I came to know in no time that it was a fake one. But still, in order to satiate my highly optimistic mind, I set out in the search of “Ms. Linna Martins”, the “Information Minister” of “God knows what country”, on Google. And not very surprisingly, a lot of search results showed up on the screen with a common term “fraud” in each of them. Soon the tides of joyous excitement calmed down and a feeling of resentment took over. What the heck, where do these desperate people dig out our email IDs from? Why doesn’t the cyber crime cell keep a tab of them? I was cussing the sender for arousing false hopes of monetary gains in me.

I don’t usually give in to the temptation of winning a lottery or any sort of freebie because I know that money does not come easy. A lot of offers appear these days through TV, newspapers, SMSs which claim to win you free gifts, movie tickets, cars, ipods, music systems, gold, cash etc. Some of us, perhaps, one out of a million, may, emerge as truly lucky but the truth is that most of us tend to lose huge sums playing with our fortune. I must admit that I have myself lost quite a few bucks through SMSs hoping to win a free movie ticket.

Recently, when I was flipping through the TV channels, my hands stopped at a channel which was asking the viewers to guess a celebrity, whose eyes they were flashing across the TV screen, for Rs 40,000. It was utterly ludicrous and nonsensical, since it was too easy to answer but despite this fact, a lot of people were shown calling in and answering incorrectly. Even my “not so Bollywood aware" mom could answer it in a fraction of a second. And to add to the funny part, the host of the program was urging callers to hold on the line; for “Unless you are ready to wait, you won’t win”. I am sure they must be fishing out a lot of rupees from the audiences’ pockets through their calling charges. The deceit was too obvious.

So don’t get into the trap, just remember, no one would give you a single penny free in this materialistic world unless you are extraordinarily lucky, whose chances are, again, very rare.

A Tryst with Linux

I had started using Linux as my primary Operating System after being ditched by Windows several times on several crucial occasions. Initially I found it impossible to survive without Windows but soon I got acquainted with this new OS, so much so, that I could proudly say that I had erased the older one from my computer forever and for good. I was introduced to Linux in real only last semester when I had begun my final year project. Though its admirations had reached my ears even before I had its glimpse, it did not appeal much to me at the first sight. Well, everything has its own pace! Thanks to my project, I started catching up pretty fast with it. First the basics, then I progressed to li'l bit of programming. Very soon, I began spending most of my time with Linux only, as the situation required me to do so. But somewhere deep within my heart, it pinched. I used Linux not for myself but only for my project! The denial to accept the new OS had its reasons. I could not access net on Linux, something I can't live without. This caused me to switch between the two OS's which was a pain in itself, in a dual boot system. Necessities give rise to inventions. Very true! Though need for Internet access was backed by my project too. It took me some 10-20 days to figure out how to configure Linux to use the Internet. Heck of a time! Internet is something but not everything. I knew that still I was missing something and that too terribly. How can a person survive in the hostel without his/her daily dose of Bryan Adams, U2 or Pink Floyd. I could not, certainly. After all everyone needs a break from studies. I was dead sure that I would find some pre-installed players in Linux. I was right as there were certain applications, Rythmbox Player and alike. Elated, I transferred some .mp3 and .rm files from my Windows desktop to my pen drive and copied it to Linux desktop. But what I see - an error message - 'We do not have codecs to play these files'. I was shocked; not a single player worked. God only knows what format they understood. This question is still a cipher for me. Nevertheless, I did not lose hope as I knew what I wanted. With the weapon called Internet in my hands, I knew I could conquer the whole computer world if I wanted to. So the search began. It was not difficult to get my hands on a .rpm of Real Player from the Internet. But then what, I didn't know what to do with it. After checking out a huge number of Linux forums and some exhaustive search, I got my answers. Music was taken care of but what about movies, TV series and videos. Real Player couldn't handle them all. So will I have to go and knock at the Window's door again? Well, I found out the solution to this problem too. The next puzzle that shot up was “File Sharing on a LAN”. Though with li’l bit of patience, I crossed this hindrance too, I had started to feel the the absence of our very own, easy to run and work on, OS, Windows.

My short journey with Linux, was very enlightening and I experienced many of its advantages over Windows. But it would take a little more time for me to get used to it since it’s a rather complex OS unlike Windows. The situation is that I have reverted back to the good old Windows and planning to study Linux in detail later when I get time.

Thank you Microsoft, without you learning computer would have been very thorny.

P.S: If anyone is having a tough time looking up solutions to the aforementioned problems in Linux, don’t hesitate to contact me. J

Not My Mistake

I am not a very passionate reader. You may not consider reading as an activity involving a lot of passion but the book that I finished today said that everything is born out of passion. "The 3 mistakes of my life" by Chetan Bhagat. Oh don't get surprised, I know I am a bit late or should I say, too late, and probably the last one to review this book, but, hey, I already told you...reading has never been my piece of cake.

The Software Testing lecture in the class really tests your patience especially when you have nothing beneath your desk. Moreover it feels like a moron to gaze at the slides with your sleep deprived eyes when rest of the people are pursuing their much loved activity, reading novels or some other pursuing their dreams, I mean literally. Normally I carry my copy of Pune Times to the class hidden under my notebook pages to kill my boredom and sharpen my Sudoku skills. But these mind games consume a huge fraction of your brain which you intended to save by not paying attention to the professor. Thus the whole purpose gets defeated. The guilt of sitting idle during the class pushed me to find my solace in some other activity. My benchmate, Shweta, had just finished this book and the feedback was not discouraging. "Worth one time read". This comment was enough for me, as I cannot think of re-reading any book however promising it may be.

Although I have not read Mr. Bhagat's previous two works, I am pretty familiar with their plots. Thanks to the movie "Hello - a night @ the call center", I would never dare to open his second book even if given the original copy free of cost. Five point someone, the first one; the credit for my familiarity with this book goes to one of my then roommates. I remember how she loved to read it and narrate a few catching paragraphs to us. Fascinated by her enthusiasm, sometimes in her absence, I used to flip across a few pages and read them in a single breath. I lacked enough of those to complete the entire book though.

According to me a good book is one which keeps you hooked until you finish it and this book certainly passes this definition, at least in my own case. I finished it, in 9 hrs flat. It was entertaining enough to keep me away from my laptop for a while, which I should tell you, is a rare scene. A big accomplishment for the book, I must say! Though there is nothing much remarkable about the writing style, simple text that does not require you to struggle with words, written with a hint of humor makes it a perfect read. The love story running parallel gives it a romantic flavor. Indian context makes it for us simple to relate to the story. Some portions may appear to run slow but the book soon catches up its speed. No major halts. Some parts appear too good to be true, for e.g. The easy trip to Australia. In all, the book is an overcooked khichadi of ambition, celebration, passion, friendship, love, loss, hatred, regret. The ending is a li'l weak and looses its appeal as the climax goes unrealistic and borrows from typical Bollywood flicks. The story brings smile anyways when it ends on a cheerful note. In all, I can promise that reading this book will not come out to you as your mistake.

The story revolves around three friends, Govind, Ish and Omi. Govind is an ambitious boy who dreams to make it big in the business world. He has one more passion, maths. He is too good in this subject and is well known in his locality for hitting a 100 in XII boards. For Ish, cricket is his one and only love. He loves watching matches as much as playing them himself and he has the prestigious tag of district level player attached to his identity. Omi is the son of a temple priest and he is willing to do anything but take up his dad's profession. Basically three youths whose dreams are caged by lack of resources and money in the small town called Ahmadabad. Govind, our protagonist, one day decides to step into the most coveted profession of Gujarati's, Business. He realizes that he cannot afford everything by himself, so convinces his too best friends to be partners in this venture. Sports equipment sellers in the temple premises - thus it combined the interests of all three of them. They put their sweat as well as their brains in their business. Their hard work had just started to pay off, when calamity hit upon them. Their newly leased shop turned into pile of rubbles in front of their eyes when the 26th Jan earthquake rocked the state. They incurred huge losses. But Govind's newly formed faith in God helped him overcome the greatest misery of his life…and soon they saw a sunny day. Apart from running the shop, they had taken up other jobs to add to their earnings. For example Ish used to provide cricket coaching to budding cricketers of the neighborhood. Omi used to help his uncle, a politics enthusiast in organizing rallies and publicity for elections. Govind had a part time job of a maths tutor. The story proceeds as Ish spots a future Team India player in a 10 year old called Ali. He wants him to get him the best coaching as Ali is born with a natural gift- the gift of hyper reflexes, which makes him hit a six every time he picks a bat. Ish could do anything to get the wonder boy noticed. He even digs his pocket deep to take him along with his two business partners to Australia to test the boy's luck. Everything was going fine when love for motherland comes into picture and Ali refuses to play for the Australian team in lieu of the cricket scholarship. Ish too was proud of his boy's decision. Back home, Omi's mama, whose shop Govind and Co. were using for their business, starts preparing for the forthcoming elections, their main issue being the Ramjanmabhoomi strife in Ayodhya. Mama never liked the idea of Ish tutoring Ali, reason one, he being a Muslim boy and two, he being the son of the leader of their rival party. Trouble starts brewing with Mama's 14 year old son gets killed along with fifty others when the S6 bogie of Sabarmati Express is set ablaze in Godhra. Bittoo Mama, blinded by the thirst to take revenge, sets on to slaughter every single Muslim he encounters in the neighborhood. His thirst did not quench even after his own nephew Omi, gets killed by his own hands in an attempt to save Ali, from his wrath. Ish and Govind emerge as heroes in the whole fiasco. They endangered their lives to save life of the kid and they put an end to Mama's cruelties. The climax has one more angle, the friendship of Ish and Govind gets bitter when Ish discovers that Govind in the name of providing tutions to his sister Vidya, has broken the most important protocol of friendship- Never date your best friend's sister.

Happy Ending...

Still have questions about the last scene?