_UnPrEdictAbLe_

Shifted to WordPress...

2006-03-07T06:17:00.000-08:00

Owing to really cool features provided by WordPress (www.wordpress.com), I have shifted to it.

http://unpredictablerulz.wordpress.com

PS: All posts of this blog (except this one) have been ported there, so there is no need to keep checking this one.

2006-03-03T05:26:00.000-08:00

Its been so hot these days, I mean the 'temperature has been high'. And as per Murphy's law, my fan has stopped working since two-three days. Its kind of difficult to keep alive, many people who visit my room are amazed at my tolerance capacity, hehe.

Anyways, these days, as you all know, the R&D showcase thing is going on. Not that I'm very much involved in it. I wasn't even told by anyone that I'd put up some project there. Actually, Tarun sir has his 'Information retrieval from Video' project, and my project is one of the extensions of it, the BTP I mean. So, I had to complete the pending work to make it functioning and ready for display. I'm not much happy about the project though, I mean the state in which it is right now. Big challenges are in the way right now, and hopefully next year, in R&D, people will be impressed. They wont react the way they do this time, the 'blah, thats so simple and useless' kind of look.

I HAD to put up the robotics project too, as it carried MARKS for putting up a project in R&D. But we weren't ready. So, we decided to 'lose marks' instead of getting humiliated. Lets hope I don't lose much from the perspective of grades.

Bush visiting ISB, this thing has been made so loudly audible. I mean, ISB isn't even visible from here, its so far (I know its far, I run upto ISB often). And still, they've to increase security in IIIT, ask us to keep windows closed and all. I seriously wished someone should kill Bush when he is in ISB. And thank god our government didn't make the 'fast breeders' also under the agreement between India and US. I read that we've developed expertise in processing fuel for fast breeders, which are some advanced kind of nuclear reactors, while US puts us in the 'developing and unsafe' category. If we had signed the agreement, it would have meant curbing all the research that went into that fast breeders and other processing stuff. Hail Manmohan!

Rest of the life is kind of fine. I'm still alive, in senses, very much stable (unlike what my friends think or believe).

Another thing we were talking about is, if you love someone, what does it mean by getting involved? Is there a way to stop somewhere in middle? I mean, when you love, its like it just goes on, keeps growing. Can you decide, okay fine, itna pyaar ho gaya, ab stop! Just because there is a risk, should people stop loving? And what does it mean by 'loving in safe limits'? As in, a state from where you can recover if something crashes! What I think is, this kind of risk is everywhere. I mean, when a person invests somewhere, or a company makes a new software, or even when we decide to opt for a course through ISAS, there is always a risk that things go wrong and we reach a very unfavorable state. Knowing all this, when investors don't stop, the companies don't stop, nor do students, why will a person who loves someone stop? And what can he stop, thinking about the other person, meeting him/her or even having a relationship? Conclusion: Risk is everywhere. Just do what your heart says and be optimistic. :)

Translating 'Rang De Basanti' song in English.

2006-02-25T01:20:00.000-08:00

Someone anonymous requested that I translate the song, Rang de basanti. I am not too good at Hindi or Punjabi, but still I want to give it a try. Please don't laugh if I go wrong. And if you can correct me, please do.

thodisi dhuul meri dharti ki mere watan ki
A little bit of soil of earth of my country,
thodisi Khushbuu baurai se mast pavan ki
A little bit of scent of the mad winds,
thodisi dhondhane waali dhak-dhak dhak-dhak dhak-dhak saansein
{dunno the meaning of dhondhane wali, maybe it means fast}
A little bit of lively and fast breaths,
jin mein ho junoon junoon voh boonde laal lahuu ki
Those red drops of blood, which have passion in them,
yeh sab tuu mila mila le phir rang tuu khila khila le - 2
You mix all of them, and create a new color,
aur mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
And friend, you color me saffron,
mohe tuu rang de basanti
mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti - 9
oh mohe rang de basanti basanti rang de basanti - 2
Color me saffron .. {repeated many times}

sapnen rang de, apne rang de
Color my dreams, color my beloved,
khushiyaan rang de, gam bhi rang de
Color the happiness, and the sadness too,
naslen rang de, faslein rang de
Color all species, color all crops,
rang de dhadkan, rang de sargam
Color the heart beats, color the notes,
aur mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
And friend, you color me saffron,
{after this, repeated from the first stanza}

dheemi aanch pe tuu zara ishq chadha
On a mild flame, put some love (to cook)
thode jharne laa, thodi nadi mila
Bring some waterfalls, mix some rivers,
thode saagar aa, thodi gaagar laa
Come here some oceans, bring some (water) pots,
thoda chhidak chhidak, thoda hila hila
Sprinkle a little, and then shake it,
phir ek rang tu khila khila
And then create ONE color,
mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
And friend, you color me saffron,
mohe tuu rang de basanti
Color me in saffron (color).

basti rang de, hasti rang de
Color the inhabitation, color the existance,
hans hans rang de, nas nas rang de
Color in jubiliation, color each vein (or artery, ;))
bachpan rang de, joban rang de
Color the childhood, color the joban {don't know what joban means}
ab der na kar sachmuch rang de
Don't delay it anymore, color me in reality,
rang rez mere sab kuchh rang de
O painter, color everything,
mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
And friend, you color me saffron,
{continued from the first stanza again}

I hope I was able to do justice with the translation, but this is only a word by word literal translation, don't know the 'deeper' meaning. Try to figure it out. Cheers!

Good morning

2006-02-23T16:47:00.000-08:00

Good Morning, welcome 24 February 2006. Whats the occasion? Nothing, just another day. But from today, I've decided to welcome each day, and utilize it, live it to the fullest (possible). Yeah, I can't just go mindless and do whatever, so thats why 'fullest possible'.

Yesterday night, I leaned on to the bed for taking a small nap, and fell asleep. So that meant no dinner for me, hehe. Then I was like, kya yaar, if it was home, people would have given me food when I got up, hehe. Its okay, I wont die without one dinner. Missed eating the tablets too, god, eradicate that chest pain thing, its getting too dramatic now. And actually people have come to me and asked, howz your chest pain? I was like, woah, you people read my blog or what?

I had a general review meeting for the BTP yesterday. I didn't know what to do, as it was first of its kind. I just tried to complete the code, and made a 8 page ppt. The professor wasn't angry yesterday, he never is. Most people misunderstand him. I think Jawahar sir is the coolest professor in the college. Anyways, a lot of people were even confused about what they had to do. The professor wanted 'clear goals' and not 'progress made'. He later explained that we should be able to make even the most dumb person understand what we are talking about, and basically begin from the beginning, saying all the Raam kahani of the project, motivation, problems, goals, efforts, etc. It was quite inspiring. Almost every student there was like, woah, he has changed, he is so nice, and so inspiring. But I said, he always is, its just that in your fear, you don't understand him.

Anyways, so today I don't have any deadline and all, but will work on the BTP. My code is producing the FACE VIDEOS, but has some problems (none seen as yet, but my psychology says there is a problem). I'll correct it and embed it in the 24x7 system. Now the thing is, I WANT to make it work, I WANT that Jawahar sir sees my effort and becomes happy, not for the grades, but for the Excitement of Research. Oh, no, not for ExOR, but for the 'actual' Excitement of Research, hehe.

I came across another great blogger, Devil's own. Great at english, and I came to know that her IQ is 170! I didn't know what an IQ test is, but still tried out. Got a score of 137. Lets see if I can improve.

Couldn't talk to Tanu yesterday night, poor girl, kept on buzzing online, calling on phone, and smsing, but kumbhkaran was deep in sleep. Hope this day is like what I want it to be. Good morning!

Life goes on...

2006-02-22T08:35:00.000-08:00

Finally, Mid Sem 2 has come to an end. Everyone's first reaction is "wow, its over, what a relief!". But then after a while, when we come to senses, we realize that its just one of the struggles that has ended. There are many that lie ahead, just at the doorstep.

For most of the UG2K3, its time for project report submission of their BTP, including mine. People have been long asleep on this regard. Those who began afresh in January have nothing very concrete to show, and most of them are expected to showcase their projects in R&D showcase, which is about a week or 10 days later (3 March).

I am also worried about my BTP. Well, its not that I have nothing to show, or I don't have a plan to go forward, but still the major 'research' oriented part is still pending, and I keep avoiding to think about it. I was looking at the sphagetti code one fine morning. So, out of the blue, I decided to rewrite the whole project in a clean, modular, well-designed and well-distributed fashion. I've been quite successful too, and basically I have to do module testing and integration testing after the last module is done. And then, I've to deploy it and make it work real time with real news videos round the clock, hopefully before tomorrow afternoon. Thats something like a total of 10-15 hours of work. How am going to extract 15 hours from 15?

The other projects like Robotics project, J2ME project, etc. also need to be done before 5 March, and I am worried about them too. I'm like, I can't even have a prioritized time division, because there is no time left. Hopefully everything will be fine.

Since about 10-15 days, I've been having some kind of chest pain, pain in ribs, pain in the throat and problems in breathing. It could have been due to cough and cold maybe, or maybe its a little serious. I talked to mom about this though, and she suggested taking some antibiotics and antiallergic tablets. Lets see if things get better.

Before this, I just finished up with my Mid Sem 2. Though I anticipated that it will be as bad as was Mid Sem 1, this one was comparatively better. Even the vision paper was quite understandable, and Linear programming was superb. Software Engineering was a little bad as usual. I mean, why on earth do they have that subject? And why is it being taught so badly? I mean, why an exam for learning a method to develop software? Why not something practical? Is it like they have to have an exam on anything and everything? Can't they learn from Robotics?

Anyways, now I am a little tired and basically bored because I have no one to talk to. I mean, yeah there is Tanu, but I don't know why I don't feel like talking to her right now. By the way, this blog is a good listener, hehe. Ciao.

Yahoo! Answers and Carpel Tunnel

2006-02-19T22:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I came across a new thing, Yahoo! Answers Beta. Its a new concept by Yahoo! in which people post a question and specify the category and subcategory of the topic. There is a place to answer the questions. You get a list of posed questions, just click anyone you want to answer, and post a reply. There is a limit of the number of questions one can ask in a day, but replying is limitless. You get a +2 for replying and -2 for asking, with a opening balance of 100. Its really fun, and you get a reply to your question generally within 5 mins. Try it out!

I came to know what is a Carpel Tunnel through Yahoo! Answers. Its some disease caused due to stress on nerve fibres. Something like when you work on the computer or some other place for long hours, your nerve gets pressed and due to this, your hands will go numb or feel tickling or become weaker. This has cure from using pads to going for a surgery. After knowing all this, I have begun having symptoms of Carpel Tunnel. Hope its just psychology.

Computer Vision paper was fine. It was in English rather than Greek for a change. I did some usual blunders, but hopefully I'll get something acceptable. Lets prepare for LP.

Rang De Basanti

2006-02-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

Nothing much to say.. rest is said by this song..

ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
ding ding ding ding ding
thodisi dhuul meri dharti ki mere watan ki - 2
thodisi Khushbuu baurai se mast pavan ki
thodisi dhondhane waali dhak-dhak dhak-dhak dhak-dhak saansein
jin mein ho junoon junoon voh boonde laal lahuu ki
yeh sab tuu mila mila le phir rang tuu khila khila le - 2
aur mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
mohe tuu rang de basanti
mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti - 9
oh mohe rang de basanti basanti rang de basanti - 2
(ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
ding ding ding ding ding) - 2

sapnen rang de, apne rang de
khushiyaan rang de, gam bhi rang de
naslen rang de, faslein rang de
rang de dhadkan, rang de sargam
aur mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
mohe tuu rang de basanti
thodisi dhuul meri dharti ki mere watan ki - 2
thodisi Khushbuu baurai se mast pavan ki
thodisi dhondhane waali dhak-dhak dhak-dhak dhak-dhak saansein
jin mein ho junoon junoon voh boonde laal lahuu ki
yeh sab tuu mila mila le phir rang tuu khila khila le - 2
aur mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
mohe tuu rang de basanti

dheemi aanch pe tuu zara ishq chadha
thode jharne laa, thodi nadi mila
thode saagar aa, thodi gaagar laa
thoda chhidak chhidak, thoda hila hila
phir ek rang tu khila khila
mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
mohe tuu rang de basanti

basti rang de, hasti rang de
hans hans rang de, nas nas rang de
bachpan rang de, joban rang de
ab der na kar sachmuch rang de
rang rez mere sab kuchh rang de
mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
mohe tuu rang de basanti
thodisi dhuul meri dharti ki mere vatan ki - 2
thodisi KHushbuu baurai se mast pavan ki
thodisi dhondne waali dhak-dhak dhak-dhak dhak-dhak saansein
jin mein ho junoon junoon voh boonde laal lahuu ki
yeh sab tuu mila mila le phir rang tuu khila khila le - 2
mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti - 9
mohe rang de basanti basanti rang de basanti - 4
rang de rang de rang de basanti
(ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
ding ding ding ding ding) - 3
mohe rang de basanti basanti rang de basanti basanti
mohe rang de basanti rang de basanti rang de basanti yaara

Complete Pandemonium

2006-01-20T18:51:00.000-08:00

Its been really hectic and boring all these days. I was so helpless, it was as if I didn't want to go through Mid Sem 1, but did I have a choice? Anyways, its over now, hurray! Yeah, it was not all that good, but thats okay, we'll see in the next exam.

Even today I am surrounded by a lot of work and deadlines, meeting with Jawahar sir at 9, DIP project report, SE reflections report, SE UML assignment, BTP work (both BTPs .. for details contact Ashish ;)), Felicity Techfest work, Felicity website work, Riya's project, Robotics project, MB project, and the list goes on. Though there are not many classes today, but still the day looks jam packed! I mean, what the hell, this is the day when my exams have just ended, I am supposed to be free damn it.

Yesterday, Dean invited us for dinner for getting good grades in the 3rd and 4th sem. We also got some book and all, but most of us had a 'blah what is this?' kind of expression after seeing the book. The food was also useless, except for the biryani.

I hope that things start working, and I come out of this pandemonium soon.

ACCV'06 from my point of view.

2006-01-16T09:04:00.000-08:00

Woah! ACCV 2006, it was a roller coaster ride. It was as if we were in the dreamland. Though I didn't know much about research in Vision, or the researchers, or even the books, but still it was fascinating. It was really enjoyable to volunteer for the event. The biggest advantage was to be able to listen to many great people, and their great theories and ideas. Though I don't have an in depth knowledge of Vision, but still most of the 'good' talks had the inherent beauty of being exceptionally simple and understandable.

Another good thing that I benifitted from is the varied range of people which came into contact. Though I didn't talk to many explicitly, but then it was nice to listen to different accents of english, their way of presenting, and even their way of approaching the problem at hand. Some of the Chinese people didn't have great English, and it was a little difficult trying to communicate with them.

Most of the program went on smoothly, though I think that the program could have been improved. Most of the program was filled with Oral sessions. Though they contribute the maximum in distribution of knowledge, they tend to be boring and sleepy too. I think creating a more interactive environment, rather than a simple PowerPoint presentation system would have been good, though even I don't have much clear thoughts about a more interactive and interesting alternate solution.

The Taj Krishna Hotel is nice, great architecture, nice potraits and paintings on the walls, marble floor and lots of mirrors and jhoomars around. Its very beautifully lit, has some great sofas, really polite and efficient helpers. The conference halls were big, nicely lit, with good echo-proof audio system and a good enough stage. The food at Taj was lower than our expectations, though people suggested that it is to suit the international needs. The icecream with melting chocolate was the best thing in the world one could ever have. Amazingly all toilets were western and without water!

One of the girl had a presentation. I asked her whether she wanted to test her laptop on the projector. She couldn't understand it for a long time. All the time what she would do is, wear a cute confused smile on her face. I was noticing her all day, as coincidentally she kept sitting in the same room which I was managing. I thought she was really lonely, and didn't have anyone to talk to. I mean, if you had seen her, what she would do is, come to the empty conference hall and sit. Then she'd start reading the brochere for the zillionth time, close it, pack her bag, and go to the internet access room. Again pick herself up, and sit in the hall and read the brochere, or roam around wearing a really pathetic smile, not talking to anyone, just grinning. I couldn't gather the courage to go and talk to her for long, so I asked Nirnimesh sir to help. We went to her, chatted for a little while and clicked a few photographs. She told me that she has three friends here. Her name is Yuru Pei. She is a Phd student in China. I got her air tickets confirmed from Singapore Airlines. Scheduled departure 16.01.2006 9:20 PM.

We clicked many many photographs during the session. A lot of those which I clicked with my cellphone got blurred. I am still waiting for Varhman sir to release his cameras matter. I have some really good and really precious pictures in that camera.

One of the presenters did not come to the conference. He sent a ppt with embedded audio instead. Finally, I had to go and click the mouse to play it in front of the people. I made ONE mistake only, but it was fine I guess. Prof. PJN was saying that it was the only paper presented in ACCV from IIIT. I asked him about whether we will get any opportunity like this in the future. He suggested to write a paper, and present it in one of the conferences to get such an opportunity. This conference has really infused new spirit in me to do something. Lets hope I am successful.

Before this, we had the WCVGIP, which was another conference of similar type but a smaller scale adn magnitude. It was a nice one too.

To conclude, ACCV 2006 was a successful event, and a major event this year. Thanks to all the professors who gave us this opportunity and also thanks to all the great researchers who presented such great ideas. Finally, three cheers for the volunteers,
Hip hip ... Hurray!
Hip hip ... Hurray!
Hip hip ... Hurray!!!!

In the SE class: proposal and criticism of a new theory.

2006-01-09T22:15:00.000-08:00

Arun and I were sitting in the SE class, getting bored. I wrote a small paragraph, just for the sake of writing it, almost spontaneously. I don't know if it makes much sense, but here it is.

This world is a heart and we are the blood corpuscles flowing through it. It pumps us in different directions to fulfil varied tasks. Those of us which carry the positive attitude symbolizing Oxygen do good wherever we reach, while those with a cynical attitude impart pain and exhausion. The heart will pump us irrespective of our nature. It is we who decide whether to fuel it with our goodwill or spoil it, ruin it, destroy it.

After reading it, Arun and I had a conversation.

Arun: Every oxygen carrying RBC eventually carries carbon dioxide and vice versa. Does that mean there is inherent bad in people and in every cynic there is hope?

Me: A person who tries to extinguish fire gets his hands burnt, while even the person who bombed Hiroshima, felt for it.

Arun: What the hell are you saying?

Me: I guess I need a larger paragraph, you are dumb enough to not understand symbols.

Arun: Your analogies do not make sense. They're neither here nor there... just some random strings of words put together!

Me: I guess after I reply, you'd think those strings of words actually make sense.

Arun: Fat chance.

Me: Buzz Off!

I am lagging...

2006-01-08T21:34:00.000-08:00

Its been nice to remain in dreams till now. But now reality is striking back, making its presence felt. I felt that I was really stable, and could not go mad at any point of time. I thought it was wierd why people just lose sense of the present and start living in hallucinations. But this new year has brought in a new experience, absent mindedness. Even saying 'absent mindedness' would be toning it down. Something like forgetting the present, and going to deep sleep all the time would be a better explanation.

No, its not laziness that surrounds me. Its the sudden outburst of zillions of thoughts, emotions, calculations, fears, pains, joys, constraints, and what not. During this short period of NINE days in this new year, at many points of time my brain has undergone unbearable activity. So much that I can LITERALLY hear a big siren ringing loudly and I can't even shut my ears to reduce the pain.

I cannot blame a single cause for the whole environment that exists around. Its been a mixture of things, emotional, practical, physical, technical. With this overwhelming chronology of sudden events around me, I wish that time just stopped for a few days, at least a month. The speed at which things are progressing, I am not able to cope with them.

How important is visual information in relation to friendship?

2006-01-06T18:22:00.000-08:00

I really warn people that I can be rude anytime I want. And they have to be ready for it. Generally, I am calm and sweet to people. But at some rare occassions, I just over-do it. I am really really rude, I just don't care what the other person might feel. But most of the time I do such a thing, I have a really concrete reason to do so. Why am I writing all this? Just a piece of information about me, hehe.

The days are passing as if I am not aware of them. I mean, I hardly remember whats the date today, and my mind has forgotten a time-map which was there. There is really no goal, no hope, its a state of utter confusion. I am confused whether I want to do GRE or MS from IIIT or a job. I need to decide this in a few months now. Lets see what happens.

Tanu has the NID exam a few hours from now. Hope she clears it. When she was talking, she was like, what the hell, let me take a break from padhai.. talk something else na. By the way, I keep telling her that one exam, one institute is not the end of the world. There is a lot still left to do.

My BTP is going on fine. I mean, there is very little activity, but still there is a somewhat defined path. I am being a little lazy too though. This mid sem exam I have very few papers. I have a Vision paper, and I am not sure whether there is a SE paper or not. So this means I have at max two papers.

We sent a gift to Riya, Tanu and me that is. She called me up to thank for it. I am kind of allergic to taking gifts. I mean, when you get a gift, you have to protect it, and keep it safe, still in front of you and all. Yes, it does make you happy, but its so much responsibility too. Especially if I am talking about me, whos room is a world war in itself, hehe.

We saw Kingkong the other day. Its a nice movie. Really good and real looking animation, nice sound effects, nice story, and a good senti ending. I know a lot of people will get bored of the part before the interval, but then nothing is perfect. This time the movie idea was of Bhanu. Thanks for that.

-------

I was thinking about how important is visual information? In todays world, most of us "chat" with people over the internet. Till date, most of it has been through TEXT. Some of us then start exchanging phone numbers and pictures. You have to certainly agree that AUDIO is a step ahead than TEXT, because it is more expressive.

Pictures on the other hand (not live ones) just show the other person how does the person on the other end look. How important is that? People say that looks are temporary, why bother? But here, I am not talking about LOOKS. I am talking about appearance, whether or not the other person is photogenic is a different issue.

Generally, when we make friends in person, the first thing we do is SEE him. While the natural process of friendship begins with SEEING, friendships on the internet generally get this facility months or years after it. Yeah, meeting the other person is the best that could happen, but my point is, by seeing the pictures, the other person can still create an image in the mind. Its really difficult to keep on talking to a person whos appearance you can just imagine.

Yeah, there are issues like people can morph the images and spread over the internet and all. But then, we're talking about FRIENDS, and not about some random person. Sometimes its difficult to scan and send images, atleast loads of them. Is it a sin to demand a picture of your friend, while the people who sit with him can take 15 images per second with their eyes? What wrong have the friends sitting so far away done to receive such treatment?

2006-01-02T19:45:00.000-08:00

Meri bheegi bheegi see...
palko pe reh gaye...
jaise mere sapne bikharke...
jale man tera bhee kisi ke milan ko...
anamika too bhee tarse...

Nice song and such nice lyrics. For the time being, this one is my favorite.

Yesterday night was cold and dark. I didn't eat anything all day, so I had to go out. In the hurry, I forgot wearing a sweater, and went there in a half-sleeves shirt. When we returned, I was frozen. Ashish said, "Yeh to ekdam chilled ho gaya hai" and I said "To serve kar do na". Anyways, after all that I was talking to friends on yahoo. Jaan (err... I mean Himanshu) came to my room at 2:30 AM. We decided to get up in the morning to exercise, but he was almost negative. I couldn't get up before Tanu called up. I missed the class anyway.

Today I have to begin work on my project. Lets see what Tarun has to say. Have a nice day!

Welcome 2006.

2006-01-02T01:42:00.000-08:00

Its the new year now, 2006. First thing I'd want to do is to learn to write '2006' while writing dates. Its really hard to get used to the new 'year' in the dates, and I confess that I'm still stuck at '2003'.

First of January Two Thousand and Six was a nice morning, mildly cold. I was with my family at Bhopal, wishing people on the phone with loud music and warm wishes around. At 4 AM, I had to leave my home state and board the train to come back to college. It does look quite sad, but then, I'm used to it now.

Back in college, I've a really bad cold, a partially swollen eye and loads of work. Basically, I am in a mess, and so is my room! I'm thinking to switch off breathing for a few hours as its really painful to do so. I'm now used to getting up lazily (mind it, I said LAZILY, not LATE). Its really difficult to do things in a haste.

Before all this, I went home on 17 December 2005. I had barely even worn the clothing for the journey, and dumped all luggage in my bags when I had to leave. Actually, the PR project report and some final touch-ups were the problem. I was struggling to finish work till about 2 PM. I had a bus journey at 4:40 PM. I somehow reached the bus stand, and boarded the bus. The journey was nice, though a little too chilly.

Being at home was fun. This time I didn't meet too many friends, I didn't do any work. I saw about 3 movies in the theatre with friends and 1 with my family. It was a nice experience to meet friends and all. Tanu also turned up for the movie, along with Tapan. It was nice to have her company.

I didn't have much time to spend with my friends. I couldn't meet Prerna and Vijay bhaiya. Hope they forgive me. I wanted to return to college with the Volvo bus, so that I'd get one more day at home. Anyways, here I am, back in college, back to work.

Tanu has a competetive exam in January. Hope she clears it. Tapan too has GRE in February and he is working hard for it. Hope he does it too. I have GRE some time soon too, along with TOEFL (hope the spelling is right), and hope I at least study for it. Anyways, first thing I want to do is to get a passport!

I have to do the Face Detection thing before 10th, and I haven't begun. Hopefully I'll do it before the deadline. Actually, I want to do an internship in the summers, and not work on the BTP. For that, I have to finish all expected work before April comes. That is why I am so serious about it. There are other pressures like the Mobile Blog project, DS&A TAship, DIP cum Tracking project, GRE preparation, etc, etc, etc.

When I look at life, its busy, its painful, sometimes sad and lonely, sometimes happy and celebrating. I do get time to meditate, to spend time with friends and family. Its really not exactly the way I wanted it to go, but its still along the same direction. Welcome 2006.

Dominos sucks, its really bullshit.

2005-12-15T09:36:00.000-08:00

Well, I know I am angered right now, but well, I have a good reason to be. It was 7:30 PM when I called up Dominos to place an order. At about 8:40 PM, when I called them again, they said "my identity is not verified, they'll call back shortly". At 9:30 PM, I asked Sumeet to call and ask. They said, my cell is not working! They took the order on his behalf, and we started eagerly waiting. At 11 PM did he arrive, and demanding a full payment! Dominos sucks, 30 minutes nahi to free is all bullshit. They've lost one customer for sure.

Right here, right now!

2005-12-13T20:40:00.000-08:00

Right here, right now.. hai khushi ka samaa...
Right here, right now.. hum hain is pal jahan...
Bhool jao .. muskurao...
Reh na jaye baat baaki...

Nice song! Nice lively thought.

Living in the present, how correct is it? Whining or boasting of the past, how wrong is it? India was a slave in the hands of the British. India was called Sone ki chidiya in the past. Two statements which explain exactly what I am talking about.

As we grow up, we gain some sense of being us, some conciousness. We understand the past, live in the present, and plan the future. I don't know when that sense came to me, maybe when I was 13 or a little older. Almost every human being, who is grown up enough has this kind of sense. But...

We come across so many people who are not actually in senses. One of the examples could be some bollywood star. Yes, a bollywood star. A bollywood star has almost completely forgotten that he is a human being. He is getting older day by day. He is on this planet to live. And that short stay is too short to waste it in being busy 24x7. He has stopped living like a human. He is just into making money and getting famous. Someone might say, an actor loves acting. He is actually doing what he wants to. There is where I want to say,
Ati ka bhala na bolna, ati ki bhali na choop,
Ati ka bhala na barasna, ati ki bhali na dhoop.
Which means, excess of anything is bad. Its not good to speak in excess, and nor is it good to keep shut. It is not good that it rains too much, nor is it good that there is too much sunlight.

Anyways, coming back to the point, most people have forgotten that they are human beings, their life is finite, and this life is the only chance they have. Most people just waste it in stupid things, or running after money and fame.

There are these others who are a class apart. They are not after anything, but they want to be cool. They want people to admire their coolness, their style. Most of them indulge in smoking, drinking, doping, etc. They flirt a lot, and generally don't behave in their own natural way. They talk to girls in an unusual way, always trying to get the girl's attention, and trying to 'use' her.

In my view, though I may be wrong, its not right to do it. First, be yourself. Accept the way you are. Once you accept yourself, people will accept you too. Behave in a consistant manner with everyone. Don't change behavior because you want some favor from someone. Okay fine, you'd say, what about talking to your friend and talking to the professor? I'd say, its really a good practice if you avoid filthy language even with friends.

Most people tend to get close to people and remove the respect part from the relation. For example, a lot of third year people now talk to the fourth years as too tera and all (actually English doesn't have those words). Yes, its good to get close, friendly. You both can become friends, do masti and whatever. But if someone is elder to you, whats wrong if you continue using aap? Getting friendly doesn't mean getting ruder, more impolite or respect less. These two concepts are generally mixed up.

Conclusion: Look at the past, live in the present and plan the future. Always remember who you are and try to remain that. Be polite to everyone, get close to people but don't drop the respect.

---

Anyways, I am fine today. Nice bright sunlight. Yesterday I was working on the PR project. Thank god, its been postponed to 16th. Hopefully I will do it by then. I took a DS&A tutorial class today, in the morning. The response was less, but I still managed to teach them some basics. I actually wanted to teach the other group too, as they are having problems in C++. Anyways, today most of the time I have to work on my PR project, and also talk to Jawahar sir regarding our BTP.

Good day!

Success and capability: the missing link.

2005-12-13T01:15:00.000-08:00

I never thought about it ever. I thought what I could achieve only depended on my capability. I have somehow found out that its not completely true. Though a major portion of it depends upon it, but some of it depends on some other factors. Yes, luck too matters, but what if I am the most unlucky person on earth. Can I survive just by making use of my ability? Is there anything else I can change?

The answer is YES! Yes, I can change something else too. I can change my perception. The way I look at things. I think that I did my best to tackle a problem because that is the best solution from MY PERSPECTIVE. What if I change the way I look at things? And as I have never tried to see things from some other angle, I cannot say that I am doing things the best way from other perspectives too.

Moral of the story: Try to look at problems from all possible perspectives. You might find a smart solution from some other angle.

Breaking news!!

2005-12-11T18:20:00.000-08:00

Its been all night, I've been awake and working on my project. All night I have been reading papers, trying to write code, change this somewhere, change that somewhere. Finally, I have some outputs. Though they are not too superb to boast about, but still quite respectable.
Three cheers for me...
Hip hip hurray!
Hip hip hurray!
Hip hip hurray!

Sid's party.

2005-12-11T10:22:00.000-08:00

It was party time tonight. Sid bhaiya got placed in some nice company, and called for a party. He's the first one in his batch to get placed. Congrats to him!

Anyways, we went to Central in the evening. First, we all were randomly roaming in the whole mall, looking at things we could possibly buy, or just casually following some hot girls, hehe.

After a while, we went into some restaurant called 'Bombay Blues'. Nice restaurant, nice atmosphere, nice co-eaters, hehe. We all ordered Sizzlers. I had no idea of what does it mean, or look like. It was simply superb. Almost all flavors of vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian sizzlers were great. Some people did have alcohol too. Well, I am writing as if "drinking" is really bad or something, hehe. Anyways, we had a really fun time there.

On the return, we kept on singing in unision, though none of us were in tune, but it was all great, the atmosphere, the vibe. Finally, three cheers for Sid bhaiya,
Hip hip hurray!
Hip hip hurray!
Hip hip hurray!

Prior to all this, the day started as usual. I woke up at 6 AM for my GRE class. I had been working on my project till about 4 AM, so I decided to skip the class, or otherwise I'll get exhausted due to overwork. Sugandh returned from the hospital in the afternoon. He is all fine, just some minor stitches on the chin. This all happened because our Shahrukh Sugu was a little too adventurous on the steep slope. He'll be fine.

Piece of advice: Ramji London wale is a nice movie. Not good, nor excellent, but quite okay for the "Indian public".

I finally joined as the DS TA, and got a schedule to teach. I heard that people are facing problem in getting along with DS. Lets hope I can be of some help to them. Okay fine, I have to go now. There is this CV class in the morning, and I don't want to miss it third time in a row. Good night!

2005-12-10T12:00:00.000-08:00

Suddenly everything has turned me inside out...
Suddenly Love is the thing, that I can't live without...

Nice song, soft, very-english, romantic, nice tune.

Anyways, here I am, 1:32 AM, sitting in my room, its cold, its lonely, and there is a hell lot of work! Fouzia is online though, she's just investigating my heart, trying to ask me "Do I love someone?". Well, I told her very precisely and clearly that I don't love anyone, and I want to concentrate on my studies. She's just trying to convince me, but am rigid, afterall, I know myself.

Anyways, finally, the CV test was held, even after repeatedly trying. Actually some of the MTech students had some PROBLEM. I don't know why people behave so plastic, can't they understand when someone says PLEASE. Some of the UG3 guys were not any less than those people. I got even more pissed when after the test, I didn't get to play CS, because the server was full. Though it might look kiddish, but I am really pissed with the guy who didn't restart the server for me, after something like 10 times of saying PLEASE.

Finally, I decided to do the normal thing, count till 10. I did it once, twice, thrice. It didn't work. Then I called up Riya, and I don't know when, it all slowly went away. She's so nice to talk to, hehe. Oh, my balance is also over now, shit.

I have this PR project to work on. Its nothing actually, just one combination that will start working, but god! Its not working. I have tried and re-tried, and re-re-tried. Lets see if I can change the code, and do something else. Today is 11th, and I have to submit it on 13th. God, help me.

I am feeling quite sleepy now, and its about 2 AM. I have to get up at 6 AM to go to GRE class, and I am not able to decide whether to sleep or stay awake. Lets see.

Piece of advice: Don't expect anything from anyone, they all turn you down.

Bad day.

2005-12-09T23:49:00.000-08:00

Man! I am caught up in such a bad situation. All my time management has completely failed. SE report, GRE test, CV test preparation, PR project work, PR report submission. Oh god, all at one time. There is no time for anything. I lost my notebook, DIP notes, PR notes, CV notes, SE notes, all in that. All my work of last sem, and whatever till today in this sem, gone! I have mailed all people, but no hope of getting anything back. God, help me.

I am still alive though, hehe. Apparently, I am not sad about the whole thing. Its okay, I mean bad things do happen. I think I will somehow manage. The only good thing that happened was that I talked to Riya today. She was so happy again, hehe. She had shown her birthday gift to her sister. Her sister also said that those were good, and it was nice that we sent those. Sometimes, I feel, Riya is such a nice girl. I mean, we started with just a "hi, asl please" a few years back. And now, its like she's an inseparable part of my life. I guess, when I meet her, that'd be the happiest moment of my life.

Ok, fine, cut the crap. I am going for lunch now. Will hopefully finish all tasks successfully. And hopefully someone will find my notebook and return it to me. Fingers crossed, hehe. Ciao.

2005-12-09T03:14:00.000-08:00

Bheega bheega sa yeh December hai,
Yeh December ka sard paani hai,
Tez dhadkan hai, Garm saansein hain,
Bheegi bheegi see ik kahani hai,
Bheega bheega sa yeh December hai...

Nice song, I've been listening to this one repeatedly. The tune, the voice, the lyrics, wow! My favorite song of the week!

Anyways, Sumeet said, what the hell? You writing your daily time-table in your blog? Why? I mean, blog is to write some "interesting" things. Well, yeah, the day to day life is kind of boring. There are a lot of reasons. First, I want to keep a record. Second, its really nice to write everything down, its easier to sum up the entire day's work/thoughts. Third, it makes my own ideas/thoughts/viewpoints/stands more firm and confident. When I write this blog, I analyze everything again. This way I know exactly what went wrong, was I wrong or the other person and what to do next! It might as well convey some message directly to some person. Last, but not the least, I am free!

Today, I didn't do much. I got up quite late. We kind of sorted out the SE offline questions. A lot of them were asked for the sake of asking, especially people like Sarath Chandra. Anyways, lets hope we finish answering soon.

I have to execute whatever I said about the PR project too. I missed the Vision tutorial too. God knows what am I going to do. I'll contact Nikhil and find out. Rest is I guess fine. Kubuntu 5.10 Breezy didn't work. Have to redownload the ISO.

Piece of advice: Kulbir Saini's Linux blog is worth reading.

Alvy came online today. Lami aka Baby aka Nopy has no cell these days. Busy in studies I guess. Let her study. Best of luck to her. :)

Chalo then, Ciao.

PR project... pain in the a**

2005-12-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

Nice day today. I got up at 9 AM. My first reaction was, what the hell, CV class again gone! Two classes in a row! Man, got to do something about it now. Anyways, Srikanth did give me a proxy. I hope that works. Then, at about 10:30 AM, I came to know that I have to leave for Visu at 12. I had to register my BTP too. Nikhil had a class at 11:30, and Srikanth was down with fever. I hurriedly got ready and rushed to Prof. Jawahar.

We registered for a BTP, as one team, a team of three. But, sir suggested to do it 2+1 or 1+1+1 instead of all three in one team. We waguely agreed. Lets see what happens. Sir also told me that I had been selected for the DS TAship, and I should report for work as soon as possible. Hurray! He asked me why did I miss two classes in a row. Oh my god! Does he know that I didn't come today? Does he know that I was absent today? Ofcourse he does! Did he mark me absent then? Anyways, lets hope that I get the attendance for today.

Oh, and by the way, I chose Prof. Jawahar finally, after one night of dilemma. I guess we'll do quite well under him. Lets hope for the best.

We went to Visu today. Lakshmi and Bhanu couldn't make it due to I don't know what! Anyways, we reached quite very much in time there. We finally enrolled for the classes. Thursdays and Sundays, a total of 8 hours a week and 4 hours of self study per day. It looks to be tough. I hope I can do it.

I called up Riya when I was in Visu. Her DIP paper was nice. Most of it was morphological things. And she was like, bye bye bye, keep down the phone monkey. And I was not doing it. We kept on quarreling on keeping down the phone. Finally, she gave up and kept it down, as in disconnected it, hehe. I win, I win, I win!

Okay fine, this PR project is really pissing me off. We tried to see if that blurred smooth image can give us some output. I thought, maybe the training is less. We tried increasing epochs. Its going around 7-8% error till about one lakh epochs. I tried 8 lakh epochs, and it overfitted to give 20% error. I guess I will first make it display what it means by 7% error. If it has any problems, we might change the hidden nodes. Hope things work.

--- continued after a break ---
At 12 AM, Neeraj called me up. It was a BC meeting as usual. Nice friendly talk, teasing and stuff. I have just returned. Its damn cold right now. I am almost frozen. I will now do the PR project work. Tanu has a paper tomorrow, rather today. Hope she does well.

When will I get a blurred image?

2005-12-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

Its been a nice day today. Actually a little free kind of. We've been trying to get our Image Compressor to work. We did find some flaws, but well, its far from functional. Nikhil told me that the decompressed image is more like a smooth shading, not just the completely black thing. I hope we'll see a really blurred but still recognisable image by tomorrow. Maybe I need to increase the epochs, or maybe the hidden nodes. I am really confused about the whole thing. I mean, yeah, its all given in various research papers. Yeah, they say its possible. But bloody hell, no one gives the exact detail. Its all left to the poor programmer, the developer, the researcher.

Anyways, except that really frustrating project work, rest of the day has been okay. I had a couple of classes, went out with friends in the evening, and was downloading Kubuntu 5.10 Breezy in the night. I am really looking forward to installing it, but still can't find many reasons to do so.

Riya has an exam today. Yeah, today. Its already 2:44 AM. IP aka DIP. Digital Image Processing. Its a nice subject, kind of fascinates me. Though when I did it, I didn't do much amazing stuff, but this stream has great amount of possibilities. Oh, that reminds me, I went shopping for books yesterday. Riya called up as usual. Actually the SE book was too costly, and wasn't that important either. So, I basically didn't buy it. Riya offered me to send that book by mail. I am afraid she might as well execute that. Anyways, she's been quite extravagant in spending money to call me. Actually its always nice to talk to her, but man!! It does cost a lot too. I keep telling her to reduce, she is mad! :P

Anyways, Tanu is kind of out of contact. I guess she's enjoying some party, hehe. She says she's grown fat and all, hehe. Anyways, let her enjoy. Its her life afterall.

At the moment, I am worried about my BTP (BTech Project .. previously known as FYP). Its really difficult to decide which professor to go with. While Prof. Jawahar is my favorite, the tasks that he gives are wague, and really hard to accomplish them. Prof. PJN is nice too, I guess a little cool about deadlines. But he's very very very particular about the results. What if we fail to get any results? What if we fail to work? Whom to choose? Today, we will decide it, and before 12 PM that is.

I guess that pretty much sums up my life at the moment. Nothing else is coming to my mind.

Piece of advice: Shaadi No. 1 is the world's crappiest movie. Chocolate is okay, actually pretty good.

Tomorrow, rather today is a test in Vision. Just about 6 hours left. I am beginning study shortly. Wish me luck!

Hurray, presentation over!

2005-12-05T22:15:00.000-08:00

Mission Accomplished! The Software Engineering Presentation finally got over. I guess this is the same reaction that each and every team will have after their presentation ends.

Anyways, it was quite good, and we didn't do any blunders during it went on. The preparation was a little less, so it didn't look very natural in the role play, etc. but our content and presentation was nice. Now, the major task is to answer audiance doubts, I don't how many slips did we receive, but it'd be big task to do it. The final report is due on 13th.

I've decided to do my BTP (aka FYP) with Freaky and Nikhil, under Prof. PJN. He is out of town now, so we haven't finalized the project topic yet. I am a little afraid due to a bigger team size of 3, rather than 2, and also due to past experiences with Prof. PJN and Prof. Jawahar. This time I really want a more specifically clear, research oriented project, with clear objectives rather than a wague idea. I guess SE is in my blood now, hehe.

I had a talk with Riya and Tanu on phone. Both of them are happy kind of. Both are such dumbos, they don't feel like studying when its exam time, hehe. Anyways, let them study. I am quite free now, so I'll go and enjoy or something.

We have to restart work on our PR project too, whos deadline is closing in. I guess there is a small bug in the code, which might not get figured out in less than 20 hours or so. Let hope things work out, and we have some results to show.

Today, I am going to Visu International, to take admission in GRE coaching in that institute. I will hopefully represent a dozen of my classmates too. I am still undecided whether to begin it now, or in January. Lakshmi almost convinced me that January is a much better time to begin, without interruptions. Sugandh almost convinced me that its too late to even waste a week. I am in dilemma, poor me.

The semester looks jam packed from where I see it, PR, GRE, BTP, Robotics, Vision, holidays, etc, etc. Lets hope that this semester goes much better than the previous one. Though the previous semester is my favorite of the total stay in IIIT, apart from Sem 1, it did have a lot of burden, high pressure of deadlines, bad time management, etc. Oh god, someone take me out of the SE dream.

Anyways, lets hope for the best.