Tuesday, May 29, 2007

The 'Real' Acknowledgement!!!

The BE project documentation begins with the acknowledgement page. The page is supposed to acknowledge everyone who helped u nt jus thru the project bt thru all 4 years of engineering. My ack. page as its caled contained the usual thanks to my princi, proj guide and HOD (who in my case really did help me unlike most cases when their only help is giving termwork marks!!) and also to the college management, lab asst. etc.

But if i were to truly write an acknowledgement without any restrictions whatsoever it'd read as follows!!

First in true Chetan Bhagat style, a big thankyou to MS Word for helping me edit and re-edit not just my project docs bt also numerous other assignments and practicals. While we are at it i'd need to thank all the applications i've used in engg. right from Turbo C++ to Notepad!! I apologize to all the other applications like Oracle 9i, Rational Rose, etc. whose names i cannot take specifically for lack of space (wow wat a trendy line!!)

Then i'd like to thank my keyboard (jo retire hua kaam se zindagi se nahi!) for helping me type soo much including assignments, blogs and chats! Also for providing the ctrl, c and v keys without which i can't imagine a life! Then to my hp psc 1210 for printing endless pages (and eating up some pages...and trying my patience at times!) and helping with photocopying documents at crucial moments! And here i shudn't 4get to thank my pen drive, the USB slot and net connection all of which helped make transferring information (read copying!) very easy! Basically i extend my thanks to my entire computer for all its help!!

Oh and i must remember to thank RedHat and Mac OS for their support and co-operation during the testing phase. I'd take my hat off to u ppl bt i guess in this case putting on a red hat and eating an apple wud be a better tribute! And ofcourse a special thanks for my pens Cello Finegrip for helping me with all the writing work and my 0.7 lead pencil for doing all the line marofying for me!

Well this whole of last para is dedicated to my genius without whom getting past the last yr of engg wud be totally unthinkable! GRE, TOEFL, MS Apps, every exam, every difficult sum has been suddenly very easy bcos of him. I'll waste a line thanking my cell for connecting me to him and Hutch for their schemes tht let us talk so much! But this is for u Mr. Genius...a big thankyou...and its NOT been put up here bcos u always complain abt being under-acknowledged! Its been put up bcos i really did want to thank u!!!

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Say 'Aummmmm'

This post was inspired by a chat conversation and a frend's blog post. We'd a discussion abt yoga, its merits and demerits (well it does hav plenty as u'll kno after u read thru!) and my mind wandered to my first real experience of hard-core yoga!

It all started in my 11th std with granny's insistence tht i shud accompany her to the local park for a breath of fresh air bcos i was becoming 'very bookish and pale'. So my stint with yoga started the next evening...an attempt to get the 'glow' back to my skin!

Now don't get me wrong bcos i aint making fun of the art but i always kinda imagined yoga as done by skinny sadhus who can float in the air or sleep on a bed of nails. Here was a rather plump sadhu who didn't look like he could defy gravity and raise even a millimeter from the ground for even a nanosec! Anyways the saving grace that fit him to my typical sadhu image was his long beard that looked like it could do with some washing. Not to worry Surf Excel hai na!

Anyways to go ahead with my yoga classes, my peers were mostly middle aged or old ladies. We started with some breathing exercises that were fine by me and i actually started feeling refreshed. Then came the part about lying flat on ur tummy and wriggling like a fish. Problem 1 : the lady behind me couldn't or wouldn't move anywhere. I think it was the latter bcos there was plenty of place behind her! So I ended up wriggling like a fish with its tail tied up since i cudnt move my legs!

Next, Problem 2 started with wat was called Parvat-asan. We wer told to stand on one leg with our hands joined in a namaste high above our heads. As soon as sadhu baba announced this, the aunty in front of me got up with surprising speed (considering her age and build!) and pushed every1 away to get to a particular place near a tree. She (aunty no. 1) and another aunty (aunty no. 2) stared daggers at each other till Aunty no. 1 won the staring race and got the spot she wanted.

I realised the significance of this whole exercise when she could support herself with the tree and i'd to play hopscotch where i stood! Finally 21 years of experience of being a bipod won out and my asan ended with me bumping into the lady next to me & with both of us collapsing. Did i mention tht the lady collapsed on me and i'd to squeak my way out frm under her!!

Still fine...then starts Problem 3 when I'm told to sit up and stare with concentration at a red eye-like light. As soon as i start tht, i get a tickling feeling. It becomes more and more unbearable till I burst out in one of those fits of giggles that threaten to be never-ending! The fit is fueled even more by all tht pent-up laughter tht i've bottled up since the start of the session and by nw i'm red in the face by trying to control it! So i let go all at once and start laughing like i've never laughed b4!!!

That was enuf for sadhu baba and he launched into a tirade of hw i don't have my chakras in the right place and hw they have bcome all dusty (or sumthing like tht which i dont remember bcos i was too busy giggling!). All in all the evening ended with me being thrown out of the class and banned from coming bak ever! Also thrown in was a lecture from granny abt hw i dont appreciate ancient heritage. Kuch bhi bolo...the laugh sure refreshed me a lot!!

That totally ended my encounter with yoga (or so i thought!) and I decided to stick to gym and aerobics to get my 'chakras' and 'glow' right! Until now...nw tht my frend has inspired me again for this mysterious yet relaxing form of exercise, I'm up and game for another wriggle on my tummy (or maybe another giggle frm my tummy)!!

Monday, May 21, 2007

Knowing God

"Who is God?" the child asked,
"I wonder God is who?"
"You are the answer" said her mom,
"And I'm the answer too"


"The birds and bees,
the stars and trees,
and every lovely thing you find.


The answer to your question child,
Is still too big for mankind!"

This is a verse from my moral science book of second standard. I remembered it because it reinforced my belief that knowing God in person is impossible. But I was very wrong and its only today I realise that. I did...and still do...know God in person. I can talk to him whenever I want, laugh with him, play...and he loves me a lot too. Yes, God is here with me and I call him Grandpa.

Like my blog's tagline says its abt ppl who inspire me and nobody does more than my Grandpa. To describe him, hes remarkably healthy for his age which is 80 yrs (touch wood!) He can still walk more than a km without tiring and at 65 he'd even hiked up Sinhagad! As a person he's very well read and u can discuss nething with him frm GRE to Abhi-Ash wedding to Economics! Infact it was Grandpa who introduced me to books when he use dto sit with me at jus 3-4 yrs with Chandamama and Tinkle and read aloud to me. Now it's my turn to do tht and hw i enjoy it!! Reading aloud to Grandpa is a lot of fun. Its always laced with lots of interruptions, questions and sometimes heated debates when our viewpoints differ.

Grandpa's been the source of lots of my memories right from early morning walks to secret gardens around Dadar to playing hide and seek. Its his inspiration thts kept up the writer and artist in me alive for even while the whole family stifled laughs at my amateur art, he openly admired it for its 'ability to make the receiver feel special'. But these all r hardly the reasons I call him God.

He's my God bcos he has lots of those other qualities that I think God must have. Patience for one...Once some1 tells him that he/she will meet him at so-and-so place at a certain time, Grandpa will go there at tht time and wait and wait for tht person. He simply has unshakeable belief that nobody will ever ditch him. I'll never forget tht one rainy day - my birthday many years ago - when I'd promised to meet him for an icecream and forgot all abt it when I went to enjoy with friends. Even reaching 2 and half hours late, I found him half soaked yet greeting me with a smile. No icecream ever tasted so bitter as it did that day!!

Forgiveness is another of his qualities. The above incident is not just bcos I'm his grand daughter, it stretches to anyone and everyone. Once Grandpa trusts u, he'll trust u forever and forgive u forever! Then theres his complete loyalty and devotion to Grandma, at 80 he still waits for her to join him at the dinner table and still makes the morning tea for her - something he's been doing since the first day of their marriage!

These and lots more of his qualities and memories make me call him God. Its just so hard to describe him in words. Perhaps not being able to paint someone's vignette also qualifies them to being called God. His one big desire is to see me as an engineer...and one big reason I'm waiting so eagerly for 5th June. The day I can tell him so proudly that I'm an Er.

Pls get well soon b4 tht day Grandpa...I miss u. When I want something for myself or anyone else I can ask God...but whom do I ask to get my God hale and hearty again??

Thursday, May 17, 2007

'Park'ing

No, no! The post doesn't refer to the fine art of wedging ur car precisely between two others without bumping into either of them! Rather it refers to the other lesser known art of enjoying yourself in a park.

It all started when the jogging bug bit me recently and i took up to going jogging in the evening (yes i said evening! i'm one of those ppl whose eyes refuse to open at 6 am!!). My evening begins with walking 10 of my feet to the park frm my home. Then a ticket of Rs. 2 which the nice gatekeeper allows u to skip if ur nice to him. (bt bcos i'm such a good citizen i always pay up! psst since i gav up lollipops i can spend tht Rs. 2 here!!)

Once inside, mom sits on a bench to enjoy the cool breeze and i start jogging. Listening to radio if there r good songs playing and to my saved songs on the phone if not, its very refreshing to jog around. Yesterday though my jog was cut short after just a round. Reason? A little gal of 2 yrs and some mnths who was squirming and fidgeting too much beside her grandfather! So I took her on a round of the park.

We bent down to see a very benign doggie solemnly loking at us as he relaxed on the jogging track edge. That was till Mia (nw i dnt remember her real name bt she looked so much like Amelia Mionet Thermopolis Renauldi or Princess Mia frm Princess Diaries!!) slapped him on the nose!! Then he stood up and growled at us and my jogging resumed with Mia in my arms!!!

Thankfully doggie uncle decided relaxing was more imp than chasing us in the park. So we headed to the sandbox...tried building castles in the sand bt bcos it wasnt the wet sand of the beach, Princess "don't want" Mia got bored! Then some young boys of her age interested her (bcos they had lots of coloured rings to play!! wat wer u thinking???) and she went up to say Hi. Bt i thot continuing our educational walk wud be more fruitful and neways i didn't want her grandpa thinking i kidnapped her!

So saying Bye to those young men we started walking off...guess wat? All 5 of those young men followed us!! Boys will be the same at all ages...ladki dikhi nahi ki bhaago peeche!!! Neways nw we come to the other side of the park where the flower shrubs are. Mia wanted to touch the flowers. Ok. She wanted me to pick her up for this. Ok. She wanted to eat them and even put one straight in her mouth wen i lifted her! Not Ok atall!!! So deprived of apparently tasty food, my efforts to convince her tht she isn't a honey bee or a butterfly were futile.

Ha fortunately Mr. Frog is at hand. So what if i don't intend to touch him or go near him (no those tales of frogs turning to prince r for movies!!) I can always say Hi. Bt Mia thought she was a real princess, the kind tht kisses frogs!! So Mr. Frog finds himself chased by an enthusiastic gal till he disappears in some shrubs. Poor fella must be so relieved and gasping for breath!! Hmm there is grandpa waving to us.

So walk concluded. Mia back to grandpa and headed home. I'm supposed to resume jogging bt am afraid of being spotted by doggie uncle who might hav changed his mind abt chasing by nw. I also decide to head back home. Forgot mom at the bench so risked crossing doggie uncle's path to get to her. All in all a typical yet not so typical day at the park. Reminds me of my childhood days at Shivaji Park when I always came home laden with lots of stuff. Candy sticks, amazing looking stones, leaves of all shapes and sizes, sometimes flowers (when my granny could dodge the watchful eye of the park watchman!) and ofcourse raw mangoes and tamarind (deelicious!)!!!

So like they say in that kids bicycles ad...**knock knock on the computer screen**..."Still sitting here?? go and do some 'park'ing!!"

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Random Ramblings

Lately and mainly bcos i've been giving so many exams; i've had lots of little anecdotes happening around me leading to many small thoughts. Since they individually don't merit a separate post each, i decided to put them in a single post! So here they r.

1. Call foiled

Did u ever receive any of those very irritating marketing calls? The ones that try to sell u everything from a post-paid connection to a loan? And have u banged the phone on them in frustration? Well my dad got one such call from some bank the other day. The caller enthusiastically described hw good their bank was in giving loans and asked if dad was interested in taking one. Dad promptly replied he was...since we are looking at best options of education loans for me currently! Guess wat...the caller himself hurridly kept the phone citing lack of information available with him currently as the reason!!! Have we hit on a better way of foiling marketing calls or wat??

2. What foreign language?

Hav u read the story of a scholar coming in to Akbar Badshah's court and challenging Birbal to finding out his native language? Well Birbal just threw cold water on him in the middle of the night when he was asleep and he cried out in Bengali...which was his native language after all!! My point is if some1 throws cold water on me this way I'm more likely to cry out "What the hell!!" in English than something in Marathi which is my native language. So hw come I've to giv TOEFL?? Maybe ETS shud change their testing procedures??

3. User Friendly

I always thot all tht Software Engineering was a load of theory that u'd to yawn ur way thru for exams. Bt wen it came to doing the BE project it turned out true! Not being able to get others to work ur project is acceptable bt getting frustrated at ur own project for not being user friendly is atrocious!! So thinking abt the USER as all those text bks advise, I included a user manual in my documentation. Any non-engineer cares to certify my project as user friendly??


4. No paste, just cut!

My undergraduate life was 4 years long. Agreed I didn't do any earth shaking stuff in this but still it was long enuf. Long enuf to cover 3 pages of SOP (for the uninitiated its Statement of Purpose) and perhaps more if i'd written abt all those things I enjoyed in engg which good SOPS dont carry (i'm talking abt the cultural fests and all!). Bt then came the small box on univ app forms and I'd to stick to mu porpose. Cut a 'the' and another 'a' and and even the part abt Bubble Gums (thts for those who read my SOP!) even while keeping up that la-di-da language and then success!! Word Limit Achieved!! Maybe I shud hav made AutoSum a little better, wud sure hav saved me a lot of work (or added to the SOP tht this sop was summarized with my undergrad thesis report)!!!


5. Already missing life!

By nw every1's blog posts must be flooded with nostalgic thots...yea yea i liked Atharva enjoyed life here bt I'm gonna miss the little things most. Like standing in line for filling sem forms. And eating vada pav in break near Vidyalankar (tht duznt make me a petu!). Also sitting on the steps to study and xeroxing assignments to copy! I guess this list will be more detailed and complete this time next yr bcos i'll kno all tht i've missed till then...so check bak!