Tuesday, December 22, 2009

~HaPpY BiRthDaY MoM~
















Millions of red roses just for my Mom,
Millions of choicest prayers just for my Mom,


Millions of hugs just for my Mom,
Millions of loveliest moments recalled just with my Mom,


My heart feels the best thinking of you Mom,
On Your Bday let my noblest salute be to your Mom,


Life's unpredictable as we often say,
But Mom's golden heart beats with every Sun's ray

As Moon's silver light soothes every petal of the swaying tree,
Mom's wishes for her kinder spark all her burning endeavour glee


Mom defines love,
Mom defines struggle happily faced over a lifetime,


Mom symbolizes a gift often underestimated during the passage of time,
Mom symbolizes beauty from which the optimistic attitude runs life


Mom may you live a billion happy summer,
The roots of love discovering new places to cover

Like sorrow and joy play hide and seek,
May your holy prayers prosper every autumn and spring

In every deed of mine, may i bring glory to you,
The glory that reflects unending affection showerd uncountable times on me by you!


!!HaPpY BiRtHdAy MoM!!

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Give Me Sunshine..


Give me some Sunshine,


Give me some Rain,


Give me a chance to grow up once again!


These few lines i remember running on 104 FM last evening while driving back from office!


Needless to say, Edward's thoughts collated in his 2 books (Simplicity and Six thinking Hats) give me lot of clues to get myself close to the refreshing sunshine i always wish to be in!!


Today i have something new for Edward's lovers; guess the sequel to simplicity may take a little more time as the concepts are getting little more complicated as i am trying to grasp more of it slowly and steadily..


Today i have for my blogging friends the summary of Yellow thinking hat:


Yellow hat thinking is positive and constructive. The yellow color symbolizes sunshine, brightness and optimism.


Yellow hat thinking is concerned with positive assessment, just as black hat thinking is concerned with negative assessment.


Yellow hat thinking covers a positive spectrum ranging from the logical and practical at one end to dreams, visions and hopes at the other end.


Yellow hat thinking probes and explores for value and benefit.Yellow hat thinking then strives to find logical support for this value and benefit.Yellow hat thinking seeks to put forward soundly based optimism but it is not restricted to this - provided other types of optimism are appropriatley labelled.


Yellow hat thinking is constructive and generative.From yellow hat thinking come concrete proposals and suggestions.Yellow hat thinking is concerned with operacy and with making things happen.Effectiveness is the aim of yellow hat constructive thinking.


Yellow hat thinking can be speculative and opportunity seeking.Yellow hat thinking also permits visions and dreams.


Yellow hat thinking is not concerned with mere positive euphoria (red hat) nor directly with creating new ideas (green hat).


Well, today has just begun..let me try to put on Edward's yellow hat for the remaining 19 hours and feel some soothing sunshine in this cold winter for a day.


Give me sunshine..

Give me some rain..

Give me a chance to grow up once again!!



Thursday, December 03, 2009

Simplicity

I am reading 'Simplicity' by Edward De Bono these days.

Prologue of the book states Dr. Bono as the originator of the lateral thinking concept who also developed formal techniques for delibrate creative thinking. I found it interesting to share some of the key notes of his version of simplicity.

1. There is often a much simpler way of doing things - if you make the effort to look for it. Simplicity does not just hapen.

2. Once a game is laid out in a clear manner, people become very good at playing that game. The game of simplicity needs to be as clearly defined as was the game of quality.

3. The human brain tries its hardest to simplify life by setting up routine patterns of perception and of action. Once you identify the pattern you flow along it without further effort.

4. There is always the possibility that there is a simpler way to do something. Even if that is not always the case it is always worth investing some thinking time and creative effort in trying to find a simpler approach.

5. An expert is someone who has succeeded in making decisions and judgements simpler through knowing what to pay attention to and what to ignore.

6. It may be better to simplify a process rather than train people to cope with the complexity.

7. People find thinking to be difficult becausse civilization has never made any attempt to make thinking simpler.

8. Outside technical areas, perception is far more important than logic. But we have persisted in focusing on logic.

9. Breaking things down into smaller units, decentralization and modular design are all approaches to simplicity - so long as the unity of the overall purpose is not lost.

10. Centrelink is a bold attempt by the Australian government to simplify life for the users of the various welfare agencies. It may also simplify administration.

11. Cartoonists constantly face the challenge of simplicity. How can a complex concept be expressed simply?

12. Today computers allow us to do simple things in a much simpler way than ever before.

13. We are usually too ready to accept the first solution as good enough. We need to believe that there is often a better or simpler solution in order to keep on thinking.

14. It is quite impossible to distinguish between true simplicity and simplistic unless you yourself know the subject very well. Otherwise your judgement may demonstrate your ignorance.

15. Why shouldn't language be living and changing all the time?

The key points stated above summarize only first 3 chapters of the book!
Let me ponder over the remaining ones and come back on my blog with its sequels.

Happy December; probably the last chance to make 2009 better and simpler !

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Two Birds


One bird sings,
Other bird listens,

One bird eats,
Other bird cooks,

One bird meditates,
Other bird grants,

One bird dances,
Other bird's flute plays,

One bird runs,
Other bird happily follows,

One bird loves,
Other bird reciprocates,

My heart calls one bird Shree Radhe,
My heart calls other bird Shree Krishna,


May the eternal birds be served by my mind, body and heart forever!




Friday, November 13, 2009

Dulhe Ka Sehra!

Marriage season is back on the cards !!
Every evening while driving back from office, i see banquet halls shouting at their fullest while blocking a lot of traffic on road.

Thank God, air and water routes are still safe from this mess..but hey my idea of today's post was not to complain of the mess because howsoever chaotic it may appear to be, these moments are surely special for the guests and ofcourse the families involved..

There are some wedding songs i cherish quite a lot; especially this one 'Dulhe Ka Sehra' by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan..
Want to feel the song:




Like always, Ustad has been at his best..the lyrics of this song are so touching, every word looks true..but then there has always been a superiority war between emotions and science..

I guess our mind should be always on..thats the only thing that never rests completely; i fear that emotions are intermittent or a better word to use 'unreliable'..whereas the intelligent and logical mind never stops..it should be programmed to always work for a goal..

But to contradict myself, i feel behind every goal is an emotion; either to overcome/outperform a past emotion or to bring new emotions inside..

Well, till this unending egg/chicken question gets a clue, i wish my mind never stops thinking n working n developing further..For the last 2-3 weeks i have been seeing my mind working in a very destructive manner; it wants to break functionality of every running module it comes across..alas the only thing wrong here is that my profile is not of a QE but of a SW developer who has been asked to finish some milestone ASAP...hehe only God can help me..!

Saturday, November 07, 2009

A Fortified Dream


Navy Team player i just dreamt myself as,
Good-looking, charming, confident & strong,

Wondering how my mind captured those lovely frames,
Seeing myself on board i felt like the most accomplised woman,

Saving my ship against the uncertainities of nature,
I saw a many brave hearts pining hopes in me,

With only my goal in my mind,
I sounded something i had never imagined myself as,

Some little miracle has surely entered my life,
The budding energy in me finds hard to see an end,

My well wishers say i look excited,
All set to save my ship while holding lances at all possible ends,

This is how i foresee my life to move on,
Nothing predictable i want to see coming my way,

All i now wish is a re-entry of a fearless me,
In a fortified dream, i just reclaimed my true self to be.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Happy Birthday, My Sister!


Before it is dawn & i miss the first chance!
I send for You a bouquet filled with fun for whole 2010!

Cut cherry cakes and do disco dance,
For today is the day, heavens on earth sent a miracle!

A rare combination for sure you are,
Brilliant, Sweet & Charming like a rose flower!

On Your BDay i wish a secret be revealed,
You are fondly remembered in my heart often lovingly and deep,

May Lord Sai shower on You His Love,
The same love that you have given a million times to us!

-Happppppppppppppppppy Bdaaaaaaaaaaay Tamanna Didi!

Friday, October 16, 2009

How Rare Is Your Personality?




Your Personality is the Rarest (INFJ)



Your personality type is introspective, principled, self critical, and sensitive.



Only about 2% of all people have your personality - including 3% of all women and around 1% of all men.

You are Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Judging.


Thursday, October 15, 2009

My Un-Innovative Mind

An Un-innovative mind i am, my officemates often make me feel,
All the office puzzles i solve, never right to them anytime appeal

Working from nine to nine, my mind feels no fun,
A life monotonous and dull, i myself choose everday for work

They say lucky i am immense, to be working with people such brilliant and smart,
Only in their company i can, learn how to sharpen my mind so dull and un-smart

My boss says all my thoughts look confusing,

When these thoughts mapped to action, every output gets confusing

At night when i open my blog, a big question mark falls on my head?
"A Genius", friends called me for my post, who is correct: officemates or friends

My friends strongly feel its time for me to quit,
Quit for something that makes me special high degree feel

I feel everywhere is but a self-chosen rat race,
There's only one way to solve this ubiquitous case

Lets others' turbulences bring no harm to my inner peace,
My own inner voice ought to shut all external doors whenever goodness happens to cease

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

All My Life

A picture green, with swinging leaves,
...is that all i've to see all my life`
.
A platinum bright, polished tight,
...is that all i've to dream all my life`
.
An onsite flight, served vegetarian diet,
...is that all i've to work for all my life`
.
A home clean, no cockroach seen,
...is that all i've to stay in all my life`
.
Oh my life, give me puzzling sights,
Throw on me the beautiful light coming from moonlight
.
Let me be swayed by winds to miles unseen abiding nobody in its stride,
Let me discover who am I
.
With so many masks that i everyday breathe,
My originality cut everyday with so many social knives
.
Oh dear life, please dont go away,
Let me touch you with my arms wide lay
.
All my life i wish to discover a new me,
Novelty is the only thing bringing out the best in me``

Saturday, October 10, 2009

How Ryan explained REST !

I was browsing on net to understand what a word like "RESTful WebServices would sound like
when i cam across a very interesting link where a web techie named Ryan Tomayko explained the basics of a universal protocol HTTP to his wife and then introduced her the concept of web servers and their underlying architecture known as REST (Representational State Transfer)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representational_State_Transfer

If you also want to enjoy 335+ comments on this interesting link, visit:

http://tomayko.com/writings/rest-to-my-wife

Otherwise, the snapshot of this intersting conversation is given below:

Wife: Who is Roy Fielding?
Ryan: Some guy. He’s smart.
Wife: Oh? What did he do?
Ryan: He
helped write the first web servers and then did a ton of research explaining why the web works the way it does. His name is on the specification for the protocol that is used to get pages from servers to your browser.
Wife: How does it work?
Ryan: The web?
Wife: Yeah.
Ryan: Hmm. Well, it’s all pretty amazing really. And the funny thing is that it’s all very undervalued. The protocol I was talking about, HTTP, it’s capable of all sorts of neat stuff that people ignore for some reason.
Wife: You mean http like the beginning of what I type into the browser?
Ryan: Yeah. That first part tells the browser what protocol to use. That stuff you type in there is one of the most important breakthroughs in the history of computing.
Wife: Why?
Ryan: Because it is capable of describing the location of something anywhere in the world from anywhere in the world. It’s the foundation of the web. You can think of it like GPS coordinates for knowledge and information.
Wife: For web pages?
Ryan: For anything really. That guy, Roy Fielding, he talks a lot about what those things point to in that research I was talking about. The web is built on an architectural style called
REST. REST provides a definition of a resource, which is what those things point to.
Wife: A web page is a resource?
Ryan: Kind of. A web page is a representation of a resource. Resources are just concepts. URLs—those things that you type into the browser…
Wife: I know what a URL is..
Ryan: Oh, right. Those tell the browser that there’s a concept somewhere. A browser can then go ask for a specific representation of the concept. Specifically, the browser asks for the web page representation of the concept.
Wife: What other kinds of representations are there?
Ryan: Actually, representations is one of these things that doesn’t get used a lot. In most cases, a resource has only a single representation. But we’re hoping that representations will be used more in the future because there’s a bunch of new formats popping up all over the place.
Wife: Like what?
Ryan: Hmm. Well, there’s this concept that people are calling Web Services. It means a lot of different things to a lot of different people but the basic concept is that machines could use the web just like people do.
Wife: Is this another robot thing?
Ryan: No, not really. I don’t mean that machines will be sitting down at the desk and browsing the web. But computers can use those same protocols to send messages back and forth to each other. We've been doing that for a long time but none of the techniques we use today work well when you need to be able to talk to all of the machines in the entire world.
Wife: Why not?
Ryan: Because they weren’t designed to be used like that. When Fielding and his buddies started building the web, being able to talk to any machine anywhere in the world was a primary concern. Most of the techniques we use at work to get computers to talk to each other didn’t have those requirements. You just needed to talk to a small group of machines.
Wife: And now you need to talk to all the machines?
Ryan: Yes – and more. We need to be able to talk to all machines about all the stuff that’s on all the other machines. So we need some way of having one machine tell another machine about a resource that might be on yet another machine.
Wife: What?
Ryan: Let’s say you’re talking to your sister and she wants to borrow the sweeper or something. But you don’t have it – your Mom has it. So you tell your sister to get it from your Mom instead. This happens all the time in real life and it happens all the time when machines start talking too.
Wife: So how do the machines tell each other where things are?
Ryan: The URL, of course. If everything that machines need to talk about has a corresponding URL, you've created the machine equivalent of a noun. That you and I and the rest of the world have agreed on talking about nouns in a certain way is pretty important, eh?
Wife: Yeah.
Ryan: Machines don’t have a universal noun – that’s why they suck. Every programming language, database, or other kind of system has a different way of talking about nouns. That’s why the URL is so important. It let’s all of these systems tell each other about each other’s nouns.
Wife: But when I'm looking at a web page, I don’t think of it like that.
Ryan: Nobody does. Except Fielding and handful of other people. That’s why machines still suck.
Wife: What about verbs and pronouns and adjectives?
Ryan: Funny you asked because that’s another big aspect of REST. Well, verbs are anyway.
Wife: I was just joking.
Ryan: It was a funny joke but it’s actually not a joke at all. Verbs are important. There’s a powerful concept in programming and CS theory called polymorphism. That’s a geeky way of saying that different nouns can have the same verb applied to them.
Wife: I don’t get it.
Ryan: Well.. Look at the coffee table. What are the nouns? Cup, tray, newspaper, remote. Now, what are some things you can do to all of these things?
Wife: I don’t get it…
Ryan: You can get them, right? You can pick them up. You can knock them over. You can burn them. You can apply those same exact verbs to any of the objects sitting there.
Wife: Okay… so?
Ryan: Well, that’s important. What if instead of me being able to say to you, “get the cup,” and “get the newspaper,” and “get the remote”; what if instead we needed to come up with different verbs for each of the nouns? I couldn’t use the word “get” universally, but instead had to think up a new word for each verb/noun combination.
Wife: Wow! That’s weird.
Ryan: Yes, it is. Our brains are somehow smart enough to know that the same verbs can be applied to many different nouns. Some verbs are more specific than others and apply only to a small set of nouns. For instance, I can’t drive a cup and I can’t drink a car. But some verbs are almost universal like GET, PUT, and DELETE.
Wife: You can’t DELETE a cup.
Ryan: Well, okay, but you can throw it away. That was another joke, right?
Wife: Yeah.
Ryan: So anyway, HTTP—this protocol Fielding and his friends created—is all about applying verbs to nouns. For instance, when you go to a web page, the browser does an HTTP GET on the URL you type in and back comes a web page.
Web pages usually have images, right? Those are separate resources. The web page just specifies the URLs to the images and the browser goes and does more HTTP GETs on them until all the resources are obtained and the web page is displayed. But the important thing here is that very different kinds of nouns can be treated the same. Whether the noun is an image, text, video, an mp3, a slideshow, whatever. I can GET all of those things the same way given a URL.
Wife: Sounds like GET is a pretty important verb.
Ryan: It is. Especially when you’re using a web browser because browsers pretty much just GET stuff. They don’t do a lot of other types of interaction with resources. This is a problem because it has led many people to assume that HTTP is just for GETing. But HTTP is actually a general purpose protocol for applying verbs to nouns.
Wife: Cool. But I still don’t see how this changes anything. What kinds of nouns and verbs do you want?
Ryan: Well the nouns are there but not in the right format.
Think about when you’re browsing around amazon.com looking for things to buy me for Christmas. Imagine each of the products as being nouns. Now, if they were available in a representation that a machine could understand, you could do a lot of neat things.
Wife: Why can’t a machine understand a normal web page?
Ryan: Because web pages are designed to be understood by people. A machine doesn’t care about layout and styling. Machines basically just need the data. Ideally, every URL would have a human readable and a machine readable representation. When a machine GETs the resource, it will ask for the machine readable one. When a browser GETs a resource for a human, it will ask for the human readable one.
Wife: So people would have to make machine formats for all their pages?
Ryan: If it were valuable.
Look, we've been talking about this with a lot of abstraction. How about we take a real example. You’re a teacher – at school I bet you have a big computer system, or three or four computer systems more likely, that let you manage students: what classes they’re in, what grades they’re getting, emergency contacts, information about the books you teach out of, etc. If the systems are web-based, then there’s probably a URL for each of the nouns involved here: student, teacher, class, book, room, etc. Right now, getting the URL through the browser gives you a web page. If there were a machine readable representation for each URL, then it would be trivial to latch new tools onto the system because all of that information would be consumable in a standard way. It would also make it quite a bit easier for each of the systems to talk to each other. Or, you could build a state or country-wide system that was able to talk to each of the individual school systems to collect testing scores. The possibilities are endless.
Each of the systems would get information from each other using a simple HTTP GET. If one system needs to add something to another system, it would use an HTTP POST. If a system wants to update something in another system, it uses an HTTP PUT. The only thing left to figure out is what the data should look like.
Wife: So this is what you and all the computer people are working on now? Deciding what the data should look like?
Ryan: Sadly, no. Instead, the large majority are busy writing layers of complex specifications for doing this stuff in a different way that isn’t nearly as useful or eloquent. Nouns aren’t universal and verbs aren’t polymorphic. We’re throwing out decades of real field usage and proven technique and starting over with something that looks a lot like other systems that have failed in the past. We’re using HTTP but only because it helps us talk to our network and security people less. We’re trading simplicity for flashy tools and wizards.
Wife: Why?
Ryan: I have no idea.
Wife: Why don’t you say something?
Ryan: Maybe I will.



Hope you found the link both enjoyable and knowledgable!!

Monday, October 05, 2009

Damodarashtakam


I received a beautiful mail today from some of my friends. It contains a link which when opened produces vibrations so mesmerizing to the ears and a picture so pleasing to the eyes.



Sunday, October 04, 2009

The Third Level

I have just finished a scientifc fantasy "The Third Level" by Jack Finney.

I read from net that Jack Finney loves to escape the reality with al his thrillers. For me writing such a masterpiece would be something extremely tough to achieve; coupled with the insight one gathers from his hobbies and surroundings . After reading this story i m a little excited to know if a third level actually exists on the grand Central New York railway station and what a wonderful place Galesburg could be with its big old frame houses?



I also read a political satire "The Tiger King" by Kalki. It tries to explain how a man full of courage and great physical strength had to ultimatley bow to the nets of destiny. It also reflects of the great pleasures tasted by Maharajas in wildlife hunting. Book from which i read this story emphasized that we need a new system for the age of ecology - a system which is embedded in the care of all people and also in the care of the earth and all life upon it.





Another good reading experience was "Should Wizard hit Mommy" by John Updike. It is about a child participating in the construction of a story by her father and raises issues regarding paternal prejudices foisted on children. It brings to light how child's perspective on life differs from his parents while he/she is growing up.








And the last to mention for the day and the one i liked the most out of these 4 is a play "On the face of it" by Susan Hill. It captures the accidental conversation between an adolescent boy whose face is half burnt with an old man who lost one of his legs in world war. While the former hates the world for throwing on him nothing more than contempt for his scar on the face, the latter is full of positvity and acceptance about any kind of physical impairment one can have in life for it is the thought in our mind that controls our action and not vice versa.



I just loved the play and i am all thankful to the book "Vistas" published by NCERT for the benefit of naive people like me who find a real big world during their rare holidays in these short stories !



Happy October!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Happy Durga Puja!


Mom says She cares for all,
I wonder if i deserve to be in the list of Her cherished all

Mom says pray to Her so that you never fall,
I feel i may be too selfish wishing without hard work not to fall

Mom says She is an epitome of love,
I apprehend am i really worthy of Her love

Mom says She has abundance of amazing power,
I fear i may misuse later Her gifted power

Mom says attaining perfection is a continuous affair,
I agree i have never accomplished anything completely fair

Mom believes Maa Durga's heart beats for all in every sphere,
I believe in Mom as in her ever loving lap i feel my sphere

Oh Maa Durga, my billion obeisance to You,
You are my source, You are my strength

This Year's Durga Puja let me take a vow,
I'll try my best to bring happiness in the lives of a many loved by You!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Google Page: Larry

First from left!

Of lately i've been seeing myself admining Larry Page; one of the co-founders of Google. Though on a professional front, i still feel that human life is hardly getting any better in terms of time one is left with for oneself or for our dear ones. The simplicity of past way of living can hardly be measured against the innumberable hours spent by masterminds today to improve their web page's ranking.
The idea i still want to emphasise is that though Larry seems to be quite passionate about succeeding in making impossible ideas look feasible; my admiration for him is not because of what he has given to the world in terms of Google but for his passion which has made him always believe that ideas inside the brain of homo sapiens do work when traced with diligence and undivided attention.
Not wasting much time; here i copy paste the transcript of his University of Michigan Commencement Address:

Class of 2009! First I'd like you to get up, wave and cheer your supportive family and friends! Show your love!
It is a great honor for me to be here today.
Now wait a second. I know: that's such a cliché. You're thinking: every graduation speaker says that -- It's a great honor. But, in my case, it really is so deeply true -- being here is more special and more personal for me than most of you know. I'd like to tell you why.
A long time ago, in the cold September of 1962, there was a Steven's co-op at this very university. That co-op had a kitchen with a ceiling that had been cleaned by student volunteers every decade or so. Picture a college girl named Gloria, climbing up high on a ladder, struggling to clean that filthy ceiling. Standing on the floor, a young boarder named Carl was admiring the view. And that's how they met. They were my parents, so I suppose you could say I'm a direct result of that kitchen chemistry experiment, right here at Michigan. My Mom is here with us today, and we should probably go find the spot and put a plaque up on the ceiling that says: "Thanks Mom and Dad!"
Everyone in my family went to school here at Michigan: me, my brother, my Mom and Dad -- all of us. My Dad actually got the quantity discount: all three and a half of his degrees are from here. His Ph.D. was in Communication Science because they thought Computers were just a passing fad. He earned it 44 years ago. He and Mom made a big sacrifice for that. They argued at times over pennies, while raising my newborn brother. Mom typed my Dad's dissertation by hand. This velvet hood I'm wearing, this was my Dad's. And this diploma, just like the one you're are about to get, that was my Dad's. And my underwear, that was... oh never mind.
My father's father worked in the Chevy plant in Flint, Michigan. He was an assembly line worker. He drove his two children here to Ann Arbor, and told them: That is where you're going to go to college. Both his kids did graduate from Michigan. That was the American dream. His daughter, Beverly, is with us today. My Grandpa used to carry an "Alley Oop" hammer -- a heavy iron pipe with a hunk of lead melted on the end. The workers made them during the sit-down strikes to protect themselves. When I was growing up, we used that hammer whenever we needed to pound a stake or something into the ground. It is wonderful that most people don't need to carry a heavy blunt object for protection anymore. But just in case, I have it here.
My Dad became a professor at uh... Michigan State, and I was an incredibly lucky boy. A professor's life is pretty flexible, and he was able to spend oodles of time raising me. Could there be a better upbringing than university brat?
What I'm trying to tell you is that this is WAY more than just a homecoming for me. It's not easy for me to express how proud I am to be here, with my Mom, my brother and my wife Lucy, and with all of you, at this amazing institution that is responsible for my very existence. I am thrilled for all of you, and I'm thrilled for your families and friends, as all of us join the great, big Michigan family I feel I've been a part of all of my life.
What I'm also trying to tell you is that I know exactly what it feels like to be sitting in your seat, listening to some old gasbag give a long-winded commencement speech. Don't worry. I'll be brief.
I have a story about following dreams. Or maybe more accurately, it's a story about finding a path to make those dreams real.
You know what it's like to wake up in the middle of the night with a vivid dream? And you know how, if you don't have a pencil and pad by the bed to write it down, it will be completely gone the next morning?
Well, I had one of those dreams when I was 23. When I suddenly woke up, I was thinking: what if we could download the whole web, and just keep the links and... I grabbed a pen and started writing! Sometimes it is important to wake up and stop dreaming. I spent the middle of that night scribbling out the details and convincing myself it would work. Soon after, I told my advisor, Terry Winograd, it would take a couple of weeks to download the web -- he nodded knowingly, fully aware it would take much longer but wise enough to not tell me. The optimism of youth is often underrated! Amazingly, I had no thought of building a search engine. The idea wasn't even on the radar. But, much later we happened upon a better way of ranking webpages to make a really great search engine, and Google was born. When a really great dream shows up, grab it!
When I was here at Michigan, I had actually been taught how to make dreams real! I know it sounds funny, but that is what I learned in a summer camp converted into a training program called Leadershape. Their slogan is to have a "healthy disregard for the impossible". That program encouraged me to pursue a crazy idea at the time: I wanted to build a personal rapid transit system on campus to replace the buses. It was a futuristic way of solving our transportation problem. I still think a lot about transportation -- you never loose a dream, it just incubates as a hobby. Many things that people labor hard to do now, like cooking, cleaning, and driving will require much less human time in the future. That is, if we "have a healthy disregard for the impossible" and actually build new solutions.
I think it is often easier to make progress on mega-ambitious dreams. I know that sounds completely nuts. But, since no one else is crazy enough to do it, you have little competition. There are so few people this crazy that I feel like I know them all by first name. They all travel as if they are pack dogs and stick to each other like glue. The best people want to work the big challenges. That is what happened with Google. Our mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. How can that not get you excited? But we almost didn't start Google because my co-founder Sergey and I were too worried about dropping out of our Ph.D. program. You are probably on the right track if you feel like a sidewalk worm during a rainstorm! That is about how we felt after we maxed out three credit cards buying hard disks off the back of a truck. That was the first hardware for Google. Parents and friends: more credit cards always help. What is the one sentence summary of how you change the world? Always work hard on something uncomfortably exciting!
As a Ph.D. student, I actually had three projects I wanted to work on. Thank goodness my advisor said, "why don't you work on the web for a while". He gave me some seriously good advice because the web was really growing with people and activity, even in 1995! Technology and especially the internet can really help you be lazy. Lazy? What I mean is a group of three people can write software that millions can use and enjoy. Can three people answer the phone a million times a day? Find the leverage in the world, so you can be more lazy!
Overall, I know it seems like the world is crumbling out there, but it is actually a great time in your life to get a little crazy, follow your curiosity, and be ambitious about it. Don't give up on your dreams. The world needs you all!
So here's my final story:
On a day like today, you might feel exhilarated — like you've just been shot out of a cannon at the circus -- and even invincible. Don't ever forget that incredible feeling. But also: always remember that the moments we have with friends and family, the chances we have to do things that might make a big difference in the world, or even to make a small difference to someone you love — all those wonderful chances that life gives us, life also takes away. It can happen fast, and a whole lot sooner than you think.
In late March 1996, soon after I had moved to Stanford for grad school, my Dad had difficultly breathing and drove to the hospital. Two months later, he died. And that was it. I was completely devastated. Many years later, after a startup, after falling in love, and after so many of life's adventures, I found myself thinking about my Dad. Lucy and I were far away in a steaming hot village walking through narrow streets. There were wonderful friendly people everywhere, but it was a desperately poor place -- people used the bathroom inside and it flowed out into the open gutter and straight into the river. We touched a boy with a limp leg, the result of paralysis from polio. Lucy and I were in rural India -- one of the few places where Polio still exists. Polio is transmitted fecal to oral, usually through filthy water. Well, my Dad had Polio. He went on a trip to Tennessee in the first grade and caught it. He was hospitalized for two months and had to be transported by military DC-3 back home -- his first flight. My Dad wrote, "Then, I had to stay in bed for over a year, before I started back to school". That is actually a quote from his fifth grade autobiography. My Dad had difficulty breathing his whole life, and the complications of Polio are what took him from us too soon. He would have been very upset that Polio still persists even though we have a vaccine. He would have been equally upset that back in India we had polio virus on our shoes from walking through the contaminated gutters that spread the disease. We were spreading the virus with every footstep, right under beautiful kids playing everywhere. The world is on the verge of eliminating polio, with 328 people infected so far this year. Let's get it done soon. Perhaps one of you will do that.
My Dad was valedictorian of Flint Mandeville High School 1956 class of about 90 kids. I happened across his graduating speech recently, and it blew me away. 53 years ago at his graduation my Dad said: "...we are entering a changing world, one of automation and employment change where education is an economic necessity. We will have increased periods of time to do as we wish, as our work week and retirement age continue to decline. ... We shall take part in, or witness, developments in science, medicine, and industry that we can not dream of today. ... It is said that the future of any nation can be determined by the care and preparation given to its youth. If all the youths of America were as fortunate in securing an education as we have been, then the future of the United States would be even more bright than it is today."
If my Dad was alive today, the thing I think he would be most happy about is that Lucy and I have a baby in the hopper. I think he would have been annoyed that I hadn't gotten my Ph.D. yet (thanks, Michigan!). Dad was so full of insights, of excitement about new things, that to this day, I often wonder what he would think about some new development. If he were here today -- well, it would be one of the best days of his life. He'd be like a kid in a candy store. For a day, he'd be young again.
Many of us are fortunate enough to be here with family. Some of us have dear friends and family to go home to. And who knows, perhaps some of you, like Lucy and I, are dreaming about future families of your own. Just like me, your families brought you here, and you brought them here. Please keep them close and remember: they are what really matters in life.
Thanks, Mom; Thanks, Lucy.And thank you, all, very much.


Hope you enjoyed/argued with what he felt and shared in public!

Which of the five senses are you?




You are the Sense of Sight



You are a very observant, detail oriented person.

You are able to take in a lot of information at once.

You often see things that other people never notice.



You have a good eye for design and aesthetics.

You love to be surrounded by beauty - natural or not.

When you imagine how something should look, you see it clearly in your mind.


Thursday, September 10, 2009

Frank Lloyd Wright

This post of mine brings out zero creativity in me; as this time the admiration count for an architect is outweighing my desire to write something new. Every minute description is a copy paste from somewhere on the net.

After finishing Fountainhead i wanted to visualize some great architecture in real; something different from what i had seen in India and Europe.

So with this post, i wish to put some well designed masterpieces built with an American mindset on this webpage of mine.


That's it; nothing less nothing more.And for this post, i choose buildings designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.To know more about him, visit him on encylopedia at:




1. Walter Gale House (S.020), Oak Park. Illinois, 1893:
One of a few houses for clients named Gale, this one is one of the "bootleg" designs. They have come to be called the Bootleg Houses as they were designed in 1892 by Wright while he was still working at the firm of Adler & Sullivan, who forbade him to take outside commissions, hence their "bootleg" appelation.


2. Unity Chapel:

Unity Chapel, Spring Green, Wisconsin, 1886. (at Taliesin)This shingle-style church building was designed by the J. Lyman Silsbee firm, and is now considered to be pretty much entirely the work of Mr. Wright, who was with the firm at this time. Mr. Wright was buried in the churchyard from 1959 to 1985. This is Frank Lloyd Wright's first built design.







3. Taliesin West, Scottsdale, Arizona:

Taliesin West sits within a pristine Sonoran desert landscape at the foot of the McDowell Mountains in North Scottsdale. Surrounded by suburban development, Taliesin West remains one of the few estates in the Phoenix metropolitan area which has been able to preserve desert mountain and open space for the benefit of its undergraduate and graduate programs in Architecture, K-12 students, scholars and visitors.




4." S.C. Johnson Research Tower":

The design of the Research Tower consists of fourteen levels, seven of which are square plans with a circular mezzanine above. The central structural and circulation core accommodates the elevator and stairway channels as well as necessary ventilation and services. From the central core, the floor slabs are cantilevered out like branches of a tree. The entire outside surface is sheathed in glass tubes like the adjacent Administration Building to admit light without a view. The single reinforced concrete foundation for the central core is called the "tap root" and was based on an idea originally proposed in 1929.







5. "Falling Water":

Fallingwater is the name of a very special house that is built over a waterfall. He designed the house for his clients, the Kaufmann family. Fallingwater was built between 1936 and 1939. It instantly became famous, and today it is a National Historic Landmark.



Tuesday, September 08, 2009

The Unwanted Lava



The lava of heart, the lava of mind,
Brings me near to the blatancy of current life
-
Lava when out, brings inside peace
Let me explore the beauty underneath
/
Lava is poison, lava is hatred,
A by-product of my ego clashed on every tweed
/
Let the late(r)al thinking give lava a meaning new,
Wondering where is the beautiful la(r)va, known as offspring of butterfly gone?
+
Love for Larva, love for life,
Need to re-install a feeling of mesmerizing delight in every little thing my eyes find,
*
For in a lava i see no hope of pejoratives getting resolved,
But in a larva, i see nature rejuvenating with every monsoon brought !


Another thanksgiving to Ayn Rand for gifting mankind "The FOUNTAINHEAD"

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Do Not Stop

.
When I wish to regret my unplanned past,
But still can't make full sense of what I in this life want?
.
When powerful myths i see wrapping me and many people i meet,
The killing heat of ego replacing the placid truths composed in peace!
.
When i realise entities living for themselves are getting rare,
Copy-cats behaving as originators have started spreading everywhere
.
People laughing at me or others in open echo their own fear(s),
For sure my own courage missing to move forward my mind's gears
.
Do NOT stop, Do NOT stop,
Let my mind fail a dozen to rise one more a dozen
.
Fear NOT, Fear NOT,
!You live to rise, not to fall with the fear!
.
.
--A tribute to the first 115 pages of the legend THE FOUTAINHEAD read till now--

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Physics Mania
















Physics had always scared me times infinite in the past, be it the IIT entrance i took a decade back or any physics lab practical i was required to perform without fail!

Logics would not go inside howsoever hard i tried; i remember the 2 great books i used to have; Irodov and H.C. Verma..

Mathematics was an all time favorite and Chemistry somehow looked comprehensible.

Today i try to analyze what role did Physics play in shaping my career..from a non-medical student to a blogger to a telecom engineer!

Like Fountainhead compares a building to a human body; i feel the same link for any system and the physics internally governing it!

Somwhere during my secondary education, i failed to establish that link in my mind; primarily due to my interest in other activities like understanding social systems, english and hindi language and literature and mathematical models.

I dedicate today's post to all those logics of physics whom i could have appreciated better if i had worked in a more planned and efficient manner!


Physics of Light!
Physics gave me a new definition for light..something which is an electromagnetic wave..which can be expressed in formulas like speed of light = wavelength * frequency!
.
If i had not been gifted with Physics, i would have died thinking of light as something like flourescent light of a tube or the light from a bulb or an irritating situation often faced in developing countries when there is no light!






Physics of Semi-Conductor Devices:

I liked studying analog devices in my college times; surely Physics has taught me how a correctly programed micro chip can do wonders be it a running BTS or a nano wonder called mobile phone!



I had attended 15 days training in 2002 in CSIO Chandigarh which laid emphasis on tracing logic detection similarity between DNA flowing in our blood stream to the diode working inside a chip.






Physics of Mass:

Perhaps this was one area i had started studying from my 7th std in form of Newton's laws of motion; i also made good attempts of solving spring-mass numericals!

In a normal world, i often feel like associating mass with carbohydrates. Einstein also declared mass to be another form of energy with his short and simple equation E=mc(square).



Physics of Temperature:

This was one of my favorites as the formulas were comparatively simpler and examples were interesting!

It was a chapter in physics book which explained me how keeping the refrigerator open for an hour will not turn the room colder!

I loved making solar cooker in my Xth std summer vacations and was equally excited to see that it works!



Physics of Sound:

And though last for today's post ( as i am feeling drenched of energy with all these applications of brain :-) , understanding sound in terms of science was another interesting revelation.

Science taught me that just like light sound is also a wave, which is medium dependant to a great extent. waves are so much like our thoughts, can be standing, constuctive or destructive during interaction! Science taught me something called vacuum, which practically i have never experienced though visualized it while cleaning home with a vacuum cleaner!

I salute all the maestros of Physics!

Let the world of Physics keep on producing ripples in all the budding scientists of today and tomorrow!

Cheers#

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Back To School Test




What Your Back to School Personality Says About You



You are fairly driven, but the big win always seems a bit beyond your reach. You lack intense passion.



You are most likely to succeed if you are working with other talented people. You thrive on a team.



Your greatest skill is organization. You are good at laying out a plan and making sure it gets followed.



Your biggest stumbling block in life is worrying about what other people think of you. Their opinions matter even less than you think.



The number one thing you're thankful for is your friends and family.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Treasures Forever


























With a life that sees up and down,
Teaches us more than any movie watched in multiple towns,

Life may appear stagnant or flying ultra high,
Reminding us of circus dolls, whose chords keep swaying left and right,

We are on mother earth to enjoy and learn,
They say human birth can't be easily endowed on every turn,

You twist and turn with every ball thrown,
Ever wondered those pushing moments are now forever gone,

Gone are the days when we siblings sat n fought together,
Seeing old and new photographs, we now embrace each other,

But still i love you & you love me,
The magic in the blood pumps every corner of the family tree.



Saturday, July 04, 2009

Inspiring Legends

I often feel a need to thank some wonderful authors; whose vivid creativity has helped me shape my own thought process to quite an unimaginable extent.

With this post of mine, i heartily thank the authors of 9 most inpsiring books in my life.

Ordering is purely based on FIFO principle; for i strongly believe that reading any masterpiece is like meeting another form of God; a unique and truly loved experience devoid of any kind of comparisons!





1. Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift


It was the prize distribution function in my first school (DAV -8 Panchkula).

Principal Madam handed me a token of appreciation for standing first in 2nd std...Oh God, i still have those memories so fresh in my mind!

I was quite excited to tear apart the wrapper and have a quick look at it ; and was equally disappointed to see a little colorful novel inside it with GULLIVER'S TRAVELS written in bold:-(
Later I loved how Gulliver often ended up surviving in contrasting situations during his exciting voyage. The 8-year old child in me obviously loved the Lilliputian tale the most!!










2. Mr. Meddle's Muddles by Enid Blyton

I accidentaly discovered this story-book in the junkyard during a visit to a relative's place in my 7th std. winter vacations.

I loved each and every mischief of Meddle, how he could not get anything done right; often reminding me of own naughty childhood and timely rescue from Mumma's scolding by my lovely sisters!
Ironically, i have become quite a simple person after crossing my adolescence.

If you too loved Enid Blyton a lot, take this quiz to check out which Enid Blyton character fits you the most:



3. Tell Me Your Dreams -Sidney Sheldon

Recommeded by a hostel friend during college days, this thriller caught my eye like no other.
I was quite shocked and scared when the novel revealed that 3varying women were three selves of the same lady.


But this novel helped me in understanding how our own actions and beliefs contradict each other in our day to day life.


4. Yoga For The Cure Of Common Diseases -Dr. Lakshminarain Sharma


This book was gifted to me by my dear father around 1.5 years back. I have performed many of the suggested yogasanas but still dont get time to follow yoga on a regular basis.

Doctor has used very simple language to help us apply common sense in curing common diseases via asans. It also talks of wheat grass for curing any kind of disease and how it can be grown at home.





5. Illusions: The Adventures Of A Reluctant Messiah- Richard Bach


I read this short and sweet tale during my 2008's summer vacation in London.

This novel very beautifully explained to me how i am so acceptive of my own shortcomings and equally critical of others. Worth mentioning is one of its quotes:

"Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours."

The teacher-student relationship works wonders in making readers understand hard truths revolving around life.






6. Bhagwad-Gita As It Is- A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Gifted by ISKCON devotees an year back, i have tried to read this book for 3-4 months on a daily basis.
Divided into 18 chapters, with the help of sanskrit shlokas it explains how material world differs from spiritual plane of existence.








7. The Diary Of A Young Girl- Anne Frank
This true story was recommeded by my dear friend and office senior. She wanted me to enjoy the beauty and realise the pain with which a young Jewish girl Anne recorded her day to day emotions and situations while hiding with her family during Nazis rule in Holland.
I was touched to see how truthfully and boldly she captured every little thing that bothered her.







8. The Kite Runner -Khaled Hosseini

I had seen this novel in the favorite list of many; though started 1.5 years back, finished this novel just a month back!

Looks like Khaled is a truly gifted writer who could pen down the painful consequences of poverty and lack of education so marvelously. The name of the novel looks so apt at the end; No wonder this novel surfaces many of the realities of big time struggling countries.








9. Six Thinking Hats -Edward De Bono


And finally here is my 9th..still not complete but a very different book from the rest.

It emphasizes on how anybody's thinking skill can be further developed.


It makes use of 6 different colored hats- each symbolizing a different action, space and attached emotion.

I must admit i am finding it diffucult to understand all the concepts though so well written; but till then lets hope for the best!!


Needless to say; i will be more than happy to see my blogging friends commenting with their favorite books; for our favorite possessions often reflect a thousand words!!

Happy Joyous July!

Saturday, June 20, 2009

The Unspoken Bond

Year 2004 was divine,
My friend brought me to Your holy shrine,

I've loved You many a times,
But not as true as my brother loves his Sai,

My grandmother spends her life,
Chanting Your holy names day & night,

My sister while following Your guiding light,
Treats every human being around with love and pride,

Faith & Patience can give me a fearless flight,
And free my heart from materialistic desires full of poisonous tides,

Our Master is one, be we living in cold or heat,
With all my mind and heart, i bow to Your lotus feet,

Let the unspoken bond fill colors varied and deep,
In this bond of love, i seek Your mercy every autumn & spring!










Sunday, June 14, 2009

What's Your Gift?




Your Gift is Intellect



You are a big thinker, and you're always playing with new ideas.

You are curious about the world. You enjoy learning and developing new theories.



You enjoy researching, analyzing, and solving problems. Thinking hard feels good!

You're the type of person who finds most mental tasks to be easy. You love to stretch your brain.