Life's a game...and some are bad losers!

As a school girl, every lunch break we used to play this game that all school-kids like. It involved us standing in a circle with one starting the count in a sing-song manner (she usually was the class monitor!). It went something like "Eeny meeny myney mo, Eeny meeny myney mo, when I touch you, out u go!" and so on till just one remained.

I remember some of us being bad losers at this. As soon as they were out of the circle, some burst out crying, some more used to say it was cheating and throw a tantrum and some others sulked around. As I grew up I thought I'd only see this spectacle in books (its the Josephus Problem in DSA!) or when I saw other kids playing.

Very surprising when I got to see this game played on a wide scale, at the graduate level with a Prof throwing a tantrum and sulking around for being out of a competition! And he did not one but all of what we used to do as school kids as mentioned above!! Tantrums at his level are too bad bcos students suffer from them. Bursting out crying is worst when its done publicly on a blog. And sulking without a word of congrats to the winner just goes to show that being old doesn't make you act ur age!

Makes me remember a gal again from school time, who used to smile everytime she was counted out and say "Oh well theres always another game! You win some and u lose some!" If only she wud repeat those words to this Prof!

If only you were listening Mr. Prof, sometimes you just hav to accept things you cant change ("Bade bade deshon mein aisi choti choti baatein hoti rehti hai!") and show some sportiveness. If only you had congratulated those winners you would hav been a winner in your own right. And "Haarkar jeetne waale ko Baazigar kehte hai" right everyone?

The cost of a Fairy God-Mother

So everyone knows the classic tale where a Fairy God-Mother transforms Cinderella, a plain ordinary gal into a stunning babe (not quite the wordings used in the original tale :D ). That was "once upon a time long long ago". Welcome to Circa-2006 where you find Fairy God-Mothers at every corner in a city like Mumbai. Good guess! Ofcourse I'm talking abt those beauty parlours that drive u bankrupt!!

Facials, laser reductions, slimming programs, hair colouring, hair styling, etc. etc. and you dont need a magic wand for it too. Just an array of creams and a roomfull of hi-tech gadgets. So I'd to go to a friend's party today and visited one of these instant make-over centres.

Look good I did but a little introspection later I jus had a thought. Where did natural beauty lose the race to such cosmetics? Why do we count as 'beautiful' after we have plastered ourselves with powders and creams and painted ourselves like china dolls? Doesn't beauty lie in the eye of the beholder?

To conclude the blog, I went to the party minus a lot of the makeover I'd planned for myself. Any takers for my glass slipper?

India Shinning or India Burning??

Ok so everyone I meet who is doing something "important" like engineering (this comes first obvi!!) or medical or MBA, etc. etc. is only talking about reservations!! Some for it and some against it!! I guess the blog's title makes it more than clear as to which side I am!!

Its an age-old fact tht the far-away gleam of a forest fire at first seems like the place is glowing but once you go near u realise tht the place is actually burning and withering away into nothingness. That is the state of our country today with frustrated, angry students leaving the country as soon as they throw those black caps up in the air (sometimes even b4 tht...who cares abt the graduation ceremony anyways!!). And not to mention the protests that spark up from anyone and everyone these days be it from law students for the Jessica Lal case or from Medha Patkar and Co. for the Narmada Project.

Well who listens to the protests other than the protesters themselves? is the cliched question we usually as ourselves and each other as we casually toss the newspaper carrying sensational tales aside.

Oh no ur quite wrong!! This time it seems to be different. With so many protests and the entire student community questioning the credentials of the men who decide the fate of some of the most brilliant minds in the country, it seems to be the kind of revolution that we hav as of now read abt only in history books.

But wait a min aren't we forgetting something? Our country is even today counted as a 'developing' nation. There really are ppl who need help in getting quality education. Hey dont think I'm changing my stand bcos I'm not! Reservations are not the answer to uplifting the SC/ST/OBC.

What we need to do is setup a system of scholarships, facilities like libraries and free study materials in the remote areas of our country. All this will not be accomplished immediately (Rome was also not built in a day!!) but eventually we will weed out all distinctions and leave only a system based on merit.

If all this is actually implemented, these underpriviledged will benefit from it at school level and be able to compete at higher level in a system "powered by intellect and driven by values!!" (I'm an Infoscion afterall :) )

The pill of success

Today i read thru blogs that an old friend from jr college had written. They were depressing...very depressing if you ask me. How can anyone be so sad all the time? Isn't it only in movies that you are bombarded with soo many misfortunes and never given an opportunity to smile? Thank god I'm never upset for long was my first reaction...but then wait a min...y don't i remember the last time i cried a lot? what is that thing that lets me hold my head up high in a group? why do so many envy me...sometimes outright envy that drips from snide remarks or peeks out from unwilling compliments.

Yes i realise now...its the pill of success! From winning prizes to holding posts of responsibility. From being showered with oodles parental affection (the kind that an only a single girl child can claim!) to always having many many caring, trusting and interesting friends. I have been lucky, yes very lucky all the way.

But uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. Will this Midas touch wear off someday? Then what? Will i also be reduced to trying to call friends who never respond or spend time writing depressing blogs? I need you Lady Luck even more now because I'm so used to your presence. Because it is hard to give up the addiction to the pill of success.

But then as quoted in 'The Alchemist', if you really and badly want something, the whole universe conspires to give it to you. And one good turn deserves another. I believe in these quotes, and yet...I reach out to Touch Wood.

AI : Artificial Intelligence or All Imagination

Writing two blogs on the same day is probably a blogger's taboo but when there is a lot to write and you have skipped writing a blog for more than a week, I guess it is permissible!

Today I met an old friend of mine from jr. college days after a long time. We went to a shopping mall nearby and had fun window shopping (the kind of fun only girls can have together!). These lines would seem rather boring and worthless to write in a blog had it not been for an interesting discussion that we had.

My friend too is an engineer and as we move into our final year of engineering we both have to choose our optional subjects. She has chosen 'Neural Networks', a subject that comes under Artificial Intelligence (AI). that is what spurred our heated discussion over lunch.

One of the most famous personalities in AI is Alan Turing. His Turing Test gives the basis to determine how human a computer is. Our discussion raised many questions in my mind over this very controversial topic. Can machines really be taught to be human? If yes then is intelligence limited to speaking natural language and looking human? What about ethics and judgement?

Computers find tasks like playing chess or solving mathematics very easy. We find those difficult to do but computers cannot make a relative judgement like which colour is best for a room or which dish tastes better. So who is more intelligent? Can we quantatively define intelligence? The same problem that we face while measuring IQ is faced here. A child may be brilliant at maths and another good at painting. So which of the two is more intelligent?

The Loebner prize competition is held every year to give the prize for the program most exhibiting artificial intelligence. One year two of the judges made the mistake of judging a human as a computer. What does this signify? Will computers ever be human-like? Or will we end up being machines?

Computers are our future, they will certainly become smarter and smaller as the years pass by. But the smartest and most amazing computer is organic and it is packed in a cabinet that is approximately your height. If you dont believe me, have a look in the mirror!

Gaining some GK

Perhaps my blog seems to be most about blogging but I guess that is what comes to mind when I sit b4 this blog-editor, fingers poised on keyboard.

Right upto 10th std I had diverse interests, a classic case of trying to be jack of all trades. From painting to dancing and from scholarship exams to managing events, I have tried it all. Till ofcourse the board exams and engineering took it all away.

Suddenly I found myself among friends who were only willing to discuss science, science and more science (not that I'm bitching about my friends...but it does get boring sometimes). I felt as if all those Shakespearean plays, those classics I'd read, even those origimi techniques and ikebana lessons would be locked away forever in some far closet of my mind.

That was till my blog-friend (the one I've written about b4) came up with a 'constructive' idea to utilize the time we 'waste' chatting online. We started a 'knowledge blog'. Each of us posted one post on any topic of our choice so long as it was not strictly technical on the blog. The other read it and commented on it.

This exercise has opened up the closed treasure chest in my mind again. I look forward to searching Wikipedia for more information about my favourite topics and writing about them. So can I learn some law and medicine? What about counting some pounds? Hello Jane Austin! Wake up Marco Polo, Peter Pan and Alladin...its morning again!!

You've got blog

Today renowned music composer Naushad passed away. He has undoubtedly left behind a rich legacy of songs for us. One of those melodious songs rings in my ears today as I write my first post on Blogger. And that song is "Yuhi koi mil gaya tha sarh raha chalte chalte..."

Yup i found a friend too and in a rather unexpected way. I made friends with him while I was walking thru the long lanes of blogs. A rather strange coincidence that I chanced on his blog one-day and left a comment on it. Almost a year later he replied to it thanking me for the comment.

Then on there was no looking back (or should i say blog?). We chatted on messenger, e-mailed and generally got to know that we'd a lot of similar interests (and disinterests) too. Today I turn to him many a times when i'm in some difficulty to ask for advice. And trust him to always come up with some advice (be it practical or moral).

Like he said once, talking to someone you met thru a blog comment is like talking to your reflection in the mirror. But hey who cares as long as you have a grt friend like him? Move over Meg Ryan, u may hav got mail but i've got a blog!!