The man who went to NY....

What can I say about this city.... it's just as happening at 4.00 a.m. as it is at 4.00 p.m. The clubs are always full of beautiful people, people are sitting at roadside cafes sipping coffee, the pizza places are chock-a-block full, cabbies are busy, there is always something to do here. Everything can be done here. This is The City, it's The Capital, it's the heart of the Capitalist World, materialism and hedonism epitomised. The belly of the beast. It's mind-boggling!

Living here does make me introspect a lot more though, however contradictory that may sound. Life in India is so different - it's a spiritual experience. Here, it's all about the outer-world, "maya"... it's so easy to fall victim to it. In NYC, it's all about money, honey! If you have the green, you can get jobs, friends and you can probably even buy love. Everything is for sale. You earn only to spend here. You cannot save, even if you want to.

On the college front, things are great! I am getting a partial RA this semester - $1500 a month's stipend. No tuition waiver this sem though. The department/project with/on which I will be working does not have enough funds to cover that expense. But I've been promised a full RA next semester onwards. Classes are hard but they teach only the state-of-the-art.

I'm living at a place called the International House (http://www.ihouse-nyc.org/). It's just an amazing community. Seven hundred residents from more than 100 countries. I meet someone from a different country everyday. They have ballroom dancing, salsa, ramba... parties at the in-house pub/lounge. It's great fun!

I hope to be able to survive the NYC experience while maintaining a certain balance in my life. A balance between living in the self and living outside.

bachao senti-man se!

Hmm.... Abhinav in his senti-man mode again! I need to be saved from this super-hero! :P

Anyway, what is this book about? I didn't quite like the sermonisitc (if there is such a word), pessimistic, overall darkish tone of the excerpts that you've posted. Not presenting a very positive view on life... perceptions of an overly pragmatic person (atheist as well). That said, the text is written quite well and is thought provoking. More on that later.

On a different note... well of course.. there is no place like home and none in the world like family. But of course, it is natural for one to take them for granted. Do you guys remember Gandhiji's talisman? It is not really connected with the thread of discussion, but I, as a personal pratice, do apply a variation of it whenever I feel disappointed or seem to take things for granted. Here is the original:

"I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

I imagine the face of the poorest person that I've seen, but yet, with a smile on his/her face; I've seen many such people. And then I cannot help but feel a deep sense of heartfelt gratitude towards God for blessing me with all that I have.... friends, family, health and wealth.

On a completely different, leg-pulling note, here's another quote directed towards you-know-who:
"A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave"
- Gandhiji

Carpe Diem! Let it out! :P

And then some....

More stuff from Shantaram...

"The facts of life are very simple. In the beginning we feared everything - animals, the weather, the trees, the night sky - everything except each other. Now we fear each other and almost nothing else. No one knows why anyone does anything. No one tells the truth. No one is happy. No one is safe. In the face of all that is so wrong with the world, the very worst thing you can do is survive. And yet, survive you must. It is this dilemma that makes us believe and cling to the lie that we have a soul, and that there is a God who cares about its fate. And now you have it."

"She kissed my cheek, and turned away. I couldn't obey the impulse to hold her in my arms and kiss her lips. I watched her walk, her dark silhouette a part of night itself. Then she moved into the warm, yellow light near the door of her apartment, and it was as if my watching eyes had made her shadow come to life, as if my heart alone had painted her from darkness with the light and colors of her love. She turned once to see that I was watching her, before she softly closed and locked the door."

And now the eerie one... "One of the reasons why we crave love, and seek it so desperately, is that love is the only cure for loneliness, and shame, and sorrow. But some feelings sink so deep into the heart that only loneliness can help you find them again. Some truths about yourself are so painful that only shame can help you live with them. And some things are just so sad that only your soul can do the crying for you." ... true?? I don't really know. Moving..? Oh hell yeah..!!

A few good ones...

Was just reading this book aajkal.. And came across some pretty neat lines in it. just wanted to share them with you guys..

It starts off like this...

"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured. I realised, somehow, through the screaming in my mind, that even in that shackled, bloody helplessness, I was still free: free to hate the men who were torturing me, or to forgive them. It doesn't sound like much, I know. But in the flinch and bite of the chain, when it's all you've got, that freedom is a universe of possibility. And the choices you make, between hating and forgiving, can become the story of your life."

... Now I remember hearing something to that effect in The Shawshank Redemption.. I think it goes like this. "Hope. Now that's one thing they can never take away from us, one place they can never reach, one thought they can never kill." Liked it then, like this now.. :)

"The only force more ruthless and cynical than the business of big politics is the politics of big business" -- hmm..

"A man has to draw the line somewhere. Civilization, after all is defined by what we forbid, more than what we permit."

"There's a truth that's deeper than experience. It's beyond what we see, or even what we feel. It's an order of truth that separates the profound from the merely clever, and the reality from the perception. We're helpless, usually, in the face of it; and the cost of knowing it, like the cost of knowing love, is sometimes greater than any heart would willingly pay. It doesn't always help us to love the world, but it does prevent us from hating it. And the only way to know that truth is by sharing it, heart to heart, just as Prabaker told it to me, just as I'm telling it to you now." - - nice, eh???

The book is Shantaram, by the way, the bestseller by Gregory David Roberts. Will put up more stuff as and when I come across it.

Device uses waves to “print” on water surface

Now, I just stumbled upon this some time back. Very interesting to say the least..

Researchers at Akishima Laboratories (Mitsui Zosen), working in conjunction with professor Shigeru Naito of Osaka University, have developed a device that uses waves to draw text and pictures on the surface of water.



The device, called AMOEBA (Advanced Multiple Organized Experimental Basin), consists of 50 water wave generators encircling a cylindrical tank 1.6 meters in diameter and 30 cm deep (about the size of a backyard kiddie pool). The wave generators move up and down in controlled motions to simultaneously produce a number of cylindrical waves that act as pixels. The pixels, which measure 10 cm in diameter and 4 cm in height, are combined to form lines and shapes. AMOEBA is capable of spelling out the entire roman alphabet, as well as some simple kanji characters. Each letter or picture remains on the water surface only for a moment, but they can be produced in succession on the surface every 3 seconds.

Researchers at Akishima Laboratories have developed similar devices in the past that used waves to draw pictures on the surface of water, but those devices had trouble producing letters with straight lines (such as the letter K). Additionally, it took the previous devices up to 15 minutes of data input time to produce each letter.

The newly developed technology uses improved calculation methods for controlling the wave generators, relying on formulas known as Bessel functions. In addition to being able to draw letters consisting of straight lines, the input time has been drastically reduced to between 15 and 30 seconds for each letter.

Akishima Laboratories expects the technology to be incorporated into amusement devices that combine acoustics, lighting and fountain technology, which they hope to see installed at theme parks and hotels.

Now, hvnt we studied Bessel functions sometimetime in coll?? Under Jhakkas(JKS) maybe :D ??

A place called home...

Driving back from college some days ago, lost amidst the songs playing on the stereo, a sudden sight arrested my attention. I have no idea why it did, I guess it wouldn't have on any other day.

A small house, with a light on in one of the rooms. A woman standing in the balcony chatting with (I guess) a neighbor, and two kids playing in the small park right underneath. I suppose it just reminded me of my childhood, of maybe about 10-12 years ago. We also used to live in a small(er) apartment near JLN stadium. Lots of friends (read children of the same age group), and a couple of rather special ones as well. I still remember the way we kids used to rush off to the stadium grounds every evening in the summer months, buy our customary lick-lolly from our old ice-cream waale uncle. Then rush off into the fields and just roll down the slopes, play hide-and-seek, chain-chain and u know, basically have the time of our lives. Our mothers standing in the balcony just like that woman, chatting with the friendly neighbors talking about all and sundry. Dad coming home in the evening in the rain, with my sis worried ki the car would get wet (she was arnd 3-4 and sooooooooo cute..!!).

Ohhh, how i wish those days would return. Those uncomplicated days. No mad rush, with the life so peaceful. And john, irrespective of whatever u might think, i really do wish that we were born some 50 years ago or so... Just think of it. In the hills of Darjeeling, romancing with the love of ur life, meeting in the evenings in the cloud-covered dales. Peace all around, no tension of getting home early to be able to mail back some stuff to ur boss/colleague/professor. Just being able to spend some real quality time with the people u like.

I digress. So as I was saying, this sight really did move me. I was forced to pull over and stop. Another thing that shook me was how a small piece of land could so easily turn into such a special place. A place called home. Do you also get the amazing satisfaction/enigmatic feeling , when u return home after a trip, even if you had been out with your entire family..?? Is this home-sickness as well?? Or house-sickness?? I don't know.


But, such things do put everything else in perspective. That night, at danny's place, when we were all talking about our regrets/satisfying moments/learnings from our 4 years of college, I did mention something about not taking the ones close to you for granted, especially your family. I don't know as to how many of you actually paid attention to what I said. But I say it again yaar. There's nothing like home, nothing like family. I guess nothing, and nobody in this whole wide world is worth neglecting your family for. Not even the special 'one'. But obviously that is not to say that you forget your friends, which brings me to my last point.

We all are going our own diff ways now. John and maddy off to meet uncle sam. Danny would most probably do so too in a couple of years. Deepak off to bangalore, (i guess for quite a long time..). So just Gauri and me here.. We will all be making new friends. But please please let's not forget each other as well. I have the ugly tendency to indulge a bit to much in/with anything new that I get/find. But not this time, not with friends. So, milate rehana yaar. Please. I am extremely lucky to have so many great friends at one go. Now I don't want to lose all of them at one go as well.

So, here's to us, the geeky gang..!!! :D

Goodbye

by Rosebud

Well maybe now I should just say goodbye You used to be my friend But I never felt I really was yours So maybe this is the end. I'm different from you, all of you Each other we've never understood I hope that if I do tell you goodbye That it won't be for good. Whenever I'm mad it hurts me so bad And you don't even care I don't know why, I just want to cry And someday I won't be there. The streaks on my arm they've done me no harm They're only made of pen But once they are blood that turns brown like mud They'll be there again and again. If I'm mad at you I'll hurt myself too But that doesn't really matter Although when I hurt I feel like dirt And my spirit's bruised and battered. I do not know why it has to be so I really wish it did not But the way this has been going it is basically shot. You don't need me and we don't need we And that's how I think I know why These words are the ones I have to speak- I love you, but goodbye.

Here are some really nice poems i came across...

Am I Alone?
by Megan Hance
I get a funny feeling,
it comes from deep inside.
I get all mad and angry,
wanting to go and hide.

My doctor calls it depression,
my dad says it's just me.
But the thoughts and feelings,
no one will ever be able to see.

Some say I'm psycho,
some say I'm just weird.
It's like I'm a different person,
and the old me just disappeared.

I get really edgy,
I want to commit suicide real bad.
Then I get a headache,
followed by feeling sad.

I wish I could get help,
I wish it would go away.
Maybe if I keep praying real hard,
it will some day.

thass..

THE World Cup is back, and this time its going to be really fun (if you forget that the 1st round is part of the whole thing :P ). Round of 8 would be interesting, 24 matches among the top 8 teams! Though these top 8 teams are very closely matched, Aus SA and Ind should go through to the semis comfortably, i am sure gaurav would disagree with me :P . But fight for the fourth place would be exciting, still the more likely scenario would be NZ or SL going through, i mean Pak has lost its bowlers to dope; Eng plays with only 2 batsmen, collingwood can be called that after embarrassing the aussies, and flintoff; WI though have the home advantage, dont have enough match winners, and their bowling is a bit suspect. But you never know, kuch bhi ho sakta hai....

now to the interesting ques, who should/will be in the finals.... Aus has won too much recently, they got to loose sometime and they will probably in the semis itself, it helps that many key players are injured :P . But if they find a few more Husseys.... it might be a third straight wc win.
South Africa should reach the finals this time, ab to bahut ho chuka.... they are the now the No 1 team officially, that should boost their confidence and motivation levels and prevent them from doing silly things they are famous for... :D . The second finalist should be India, their batting is good, pace attack is solid, experience of 03 would help but more importantly it could be the last wc for sachin and sourav, they would want to win it.
In the finals whoever bats first will win, unless they get out for a really really low score, because neither team is capable of chasing a decent total in the finals.

Now the sad part, saare matches raat ko aayenge aur subah khatam honge... boohoohoo..

I have one question : why do people hide their identity on the net? i mean you hide behind a pseudonym if your intentions are wrong, you want to avoid publicity (some authors do this).... is there any other reason, am i missing something? even you guys have fancy usernames...why?
(i agree even i tried them, probably because everyone used them, ab main to gadha hoon, per tum log...).
in real world our identity is constantly verifierd, we have all sorts of id cards for this purpose, so why not in the virtual world?

one good news, my btp has finally seen some progress, finally got a paper to implement thanks to STC and ashish, hurray!

Very interesting...

This is the product of a research undertaken to study the baisc human usage over the net. The image is a 24-hour clock showing what people look for at different times of the day. The font size is proportional to the no. of times the term appears in an hour.. This data was collated from over 1997-2000 with the innermost ring representing 1997.

Some very interesting observations can be made:

Overall

* There appears to be a dramatic shift away from chat and towards information retrieval between 1997 and 2000.
* People are diurnal - search activity dies down at night and picks up again as people get up for work.

1997

* It is clear that chat is most prevalent when people are home (evening). You can see chat frequency starting to grow around 11am, dominating by 5pm, and tapering off around 1am. It is supplanted by sex around 5am.
* It seems people are curious about adult topics throughout the day. You can see sex jump in frequency around 11pm, reaching a climax around 2am (no pun intended) and dying down to nominal levels by 5am. However, since everyone is in bed, it clings to the top spot until pictures jumps to life, snatching the top spot as people roll out of bed.
* Secondary terms are interesting as well. Entertainment oriented terms are popular in the afternoon and evening. University and software make their main appearance during the work day (8am-5pm). Warez makes it into the top five from 5am-7am thanks to late-night pirates and people who can’t get to sleep.

1998

* Chat and pictures vie for the top spot starting around 5pm, continuing until 2am. However, mp3s (and download) make a strong appearance, especially at night.

1999 & 2000

* These two years are similar, and so I've grouped them for brevity. The data shows chat, mp3s and porn begin to lose out to information, which dominates around the clock. MP3 remain popular in 1999. By 2000, e-commerce has matured; people are increasingly searching for things to buy.

For more info, visit http://charrison.net/projects/searchclock/index.html

back on d blog n 4m jaipur!!

hey folks me back! [:D]......n choki dhani is as good as ppl say it its!!!![:D]!!!!!!!!

Really really bored....

This has been long overdue.... here goes nothing.

So my trip to Hong Kong was boringly uneventful. Went alone, attended the conference alone, did some touristy things alone and came back alone. The highlight of my trip was my visit to Asia's largest musical instrument store which happens to be located there. So I spent half a day there, playing some of the most expensive guitars in the world and acting like a serious customer. But I had a blast there!

HK is a group of 4 islands (or is it 5). I was living on Kowloon island and my conference center was located on the main HK island. I used the HK Metro (goes under-water!) to commute to and fro. I had bought what they call an 'Octopus' card - all public transport - buses, metro, ferry, trams, even tourist spots accept this "smart card" from which the amount spent is deducted automatically. But what struck me about the city the most was that it is extremely pedestrian friendly - broad sidewalks and very good pedestrian subways/bridges everywhere. It is possible to go from anywhere to anywhere on foot there.... without feeling the weather, traffic or the pollution too much. Also, nobody speaks English... and some Chinese people (old ones esp.) were quite uninterested in even trying to communicate. Others were quite friendly... practised my sign language there :P

And the food... ugh.... well, as people say, Indian Chinese food is a cuisine in itself. Authentic Chinese food is nothing like what the masalad version that we get here. It was quite horrible, let me add. Most Chinese restaurants house aquariums from which one can choose one's food.... as fresh as it gets, 'eh? So, I survived on the BigMac and Fries combo from McDonalds - there are more than 200 McDonalds outlets in Hong Kong. There is one at every block. And all tourists eat there. I was amazed how well the food quality and flavour is standardised at McD's. The fries, burgers and shakes taste exactly the same as they do here!

The conference... boring boring boring. Apart from maybe 1 or 2 talks/papers out of the 800+ papers being presented there. I got a strong feeling that most people attend such conferences for networking, socialising or as an excuse for holidaying; they are sponsored by their respective institutes/employers. I can proudly say though, that I was the youngest presenter and attendee there :) I met a couple of Indians - one from IIIT Hyderabad, one guy from a Biotech place in Singapore... met some profs. from the UK, one woman from the NSF (USA). All of them were 40+ years old. Boring boring boring!

Went to a place called "The Peak" from where one can see the whole of Hong Kong... concrete jungle... juxtaposed islands and ocean; quite a sight really.

A good experience overall.

So John, what are we doing about ICCTA and about the BTP? I have just resumed reading papers on language modelling. Do you want to go to Kolkata by air or by train?

Some observations

so the blog is finally up again! and the issue of DSP/VLSI was finally resolved! (unless expert systems messes it up again).

Recently i was watching a movie about aliens, The faculty, why i watched it... i don't know, it was pretty boring.... anyways while watching it a thought struck me that in Hollywood movies aliens are always enemies, they never coming in peace. the only 2 exceptions i could think of were 'Contact' and 'ET', but even here except for the main guys everyone else thinks of the aliens as enemies. then i thought of all those teen movies i watch when i have nothing to do :D, almost in everyone of them there is a group of 'cool' people who hate/abuse/mistreat the guys who are different( the studious types) and the 'cool' guys don't really know these guys. and as you know art imitates life, you can pretty easily conclude that Americans fear/dislike/abuse people who are different/alien to them. maybe you can generalize this for the whole mankind... i don't know. but it certainly seems true of Americans. So can you really blame the Iraq war on the bush administration? i don't think so.... they couldn't really help it, i mean from their point of view Iraq is a desert, Iraqis don't speak English but a strange language, they dress funny, they don't follow Christianity, they don't play baseball and football etc etc.... so they most probably must be enemies, and certainly not friends so no point in feeling guilty about killing them for oil.

While reading Johnny's post this again came to my mind: Sachin, the guy often called as god by almost everyone till the early years of this decade; the guy who was the only reason ,for almost all Indians, to watch cricket; the guy on whose arrival to the batting crease stadiums filled up and on whose dismissal stadiums emptied, the guy every kid wanted to be.... i can go on forever, is suddenly the guy who is often called as the devil standing in the path of youngsters(who by the way rarely do anything of note); the guy who's booed in wankhade stadium (i still cant believe this); the guy to whom everyone gives advice on how to bat( this is unbelievable, this guy has scored more international runs than anyone else, and its my guess he knows a thing or two about batting).
Conclusion public memory is even more volatile than RAM! And we Indians don't respect our heroes, probably this can also be generalized to all mankind, but i will stop short of that.

With reservations for backward classes in India and affirmative action for blacks/coloured people/backward classes around the world, I used to think someone from the upper caste/a white might someday say that he/she is being discriminated against. But i didn't think it would come this early and from Darrel Hair and on such a issue, where there was no scope of discrimination against anyone.

in 4 months time we'll be working, college would be over and with that life as we know it would be over as well, this is pretty hard to digest. and as Danny pointed out a few days back, in 9 yrs we'll be 30,i don't know about you guys, but i am old :(

Random thoughts...

Getting bored.. so sat down to write...

Lots of interesting stuff happening rt now.. England on the verge of defeating Austraila in the second final in the Commonwealth Bank series..(YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!), Ganguly scoring another well-made half-century (echo previous sentiments..), non-stop rain in delhi for 2 days now (awesome weather yaar!!), neelu agreeing to see us, some people from techtribe coming to college to give a talk on entrepeneurship, danish attending william darlymple's talk (huh...???), I got my offer letter from atrenta, the moksha quiz also coimg up, plus two projects to finish and last but not the least, me finally taking part in a topcoder match and sucking big time...(atlst thts not a surprise..)!!

So, as u see, am pretty occupied with all this. In between there is a little bit(okay, more than a little) of book-reading, movie-watching, music-listening, sketching, coding, making web pages, orkutting and blogging :D

Coming back to the weather, man.. really awesome weather.. Does grow on you, though it grew too much on danish. That man went for a 250 km long drive coz he liked the weather!! Wish I cud be as reckless as he (is)... But, seriously, weather's nice. It had me making plans for movie marathons, till I realised that watching movies all day doesn't give you much of a chance to enjoy the weather.. hehe.. So, junked the plan (or pseudo-plan, whatever..) and am going for a drive myself. Though not far, just to the neighbourhood market, to buy some books.. (divide danny's trip's distance by 50 and you get the idea..)

Apart from that, all is hunky dory. Well, almost all. Just that teh stupid Adobe ppl aren't calling me for a written exam or interview.. phew.. been waiting for so long now..(sigh!!) Hmm, what else.. Yeah, have been reading Bhagwad Gita of late.. nice funde there.. A pretty logical outlook towards life, wish I had the determination to follow the principles laid out there.. But, fat chance! So, u guys are stuck with me. for the time being.

And yeah, going to HPCA tomorrow.. It's some school for handicapped kids, let's see if we could do something meaningful for those unfortunate kids. They really are in a pitiful state yaar.. I don't men the kids at HPCA. I haven't even met them. Rather, generally. Those kids suffer so much. So much discrimination, and no real help from most of us. I remember the countless times I have seen some guy in our college, who goes around in a wheelchair, being carried up (or down)the staircases, especially the one leading to the canteen.. Heart-wrenching scene that. I really wish we could do something for them..

So, on this cheerful note, would say tata, and as john said/requested/threatened, WRITE!!!

La vita italiana...

Sorry to keep you hanging so long for the episode of my novella :) So, let me see, where did I stop last time…well, quite a few things have happened since Christmas and New Years, so I’ll just stick to some interesting incidents. So, classes at Politecnico began on the 8^th of January, which is when I finally broke my routine of getting up really late and sitting all day in the Computer room at Torrescalla. Not that much changed – I shifted base to Professor Gini’s office and downloaded music all day instead. That continued for most of January; while I kept reading papers and thinking of project ideas, there was not much actual progress, since the robots themselves were missing. And the project itself depends a lot on the capabilities of the robots etc. Anyway, now finally the robot which I would be working on has been identified – it is a Sony AIBO(the robot dog you saw a picture of in my album), which actually belongs to the brother of a student here, Paulo Belluco. He is also working under Prof. Gini, and she convinced him to let me work with it, under his supervision. From now on, until the end of my stay, I would be working at the AI&R lab with the AIBO, where he also generally works all day on his thesis. He is a nice guy, and I usually have lunch(a pizza slice, a sandwich etc) with him – in fact, he is supplying more material for my project than the Politecnico(he also got his WiFi access point for me to use with the AIBO). However, inspite of all this help, I doubt that I’ll be able to complete anything substantial before I have to leave…now that I have begun looking at the nitty-gritties of it, I realise that it is actually quite complicated(WLAN configuration, Cygwin environments, scripting languages, event-driven programming…how the hell am I supposed to figure out all these things in 4 weeks?!)

What else… the people here have a strange academic schedule – they have exams in February and March, with the holidays in December and January soot of like an extended study break. For me, that basically means that everybody I know is too busy to spend much time with me, like going for tours and the like. So, now I have decided to go visiting Italy (at least the places close to Milan) by myself. Last Sunday, I went to Verona – the city where the Shakespearean play “Romeo and Juliet” is set. It was quite a nice place, with the old city small enough for me to explore walking all day. Apart from the inevitable medieval-time churches(and attached collections of frescoes and murals), I also visited ‘Casa di Giulietta’, the House of Juliet, which supposedly was the Capulet(Juliet’s family) residence, Castelvecchio, the old castle with a very well-maintained gallery.This Sunday I plan to go to Mantua, another city close to Milan which apparently has lots of interesting churches and the like(like every place of any note in Italy:).

Ok, now I recall that I haven’t told you much about the place where I am staying. Torrescalla is a student residence, with around 55 residents this year. While most of these live in rooms at the main centre – which you saw photographs of – some of them(like me) live in flats nearby. But all are provided the same facilities: computer and study rooms, breakfast and dinner at the centre, lunch as well on weekends. From time to time, special activities are organised for the students, such as talks by professionals, and trips to nearby places(like the one to Piani dei Resinelli that I posted photographs of). Since Milan has several prominent universities, students from all over Italy come to Milan for studies, and many live in student residences like this. Giovanni also stays here(which is how I landed my place here)- though he is no longer a student, and works in Turin, a city 2-3 hours away from Milan during the week.

There hasn’t been much activity regarding the MS applications I submitted. I had received a call from a professor at the University of Toronto, a member of the Admissions Committee. where he went through my application for an MSc in CS there – ‘So ‘Johnson’ is your middle name?….Do you have anything to say about the 53 in Electromagnetics and 57 in Electronics 1?’ and so on. I think it went quite well overall, since he ended up describing Toronto as a great alternative to the other places that I told him I had applied to.

Hmmmmm, I can’t think of other things to talk about Milan. Of news from India, I have been kept somewhat up-to-date about Danish, Madhav and Abhinav. What is everyone else up to? Why isn’t anyone posting blogs about their adventures in Delhi, even if they just be about the BTP/weather/Aricent training/mindless-gaping-at-the-PC?

By the way, since I am one of the editors of the college magazine (iNSITe) this year, I would like to request some articles from you guys. I have looked through the stuff that we have already and most of it is unusable (to put it nicely:) So, please feel free…er...obliged to write down your thoughts about Class-based reservation, the Re-Interpretation of Dreams, Sachin Tendulkar – time to put him in the Hall of Fame?(and out of the Indian Cricket team?), Inventions you would like to see made, Explanations for India’s obsession with Super-Power-dom, Comments on latest technology gadgets like the Jerry Han multi-touch screen(have you seen the video yet?), Arguments against/(for) copyright protection….and whatever else grabs your fancy. Please guys, I know you have things to say – how about helping me (and the average NSITian reader) out by noting down your ideas? Plus, I promise Swiss chocolates for all contributors :D

Anyway, I have to go now…remember: WRITE!

Oye maddy???

Mr. Mad Hatter.. Dnt wann share anything about your lil trip to hong kong with us?? How was it?? The questions? The answers ? (I am sure u fumbled a lot.. ;-) ).. And what abt Hong Kong also??? Kuch ghooma shooma?? And college paying you or not??

Just one more thing..

Guys, please notice the comments also. The reply to a post need not be another post only.. Comments are better for discussions on the specific post. Let the main page be just for the main topics we are discussing. That's what I think. The rest is upto you...

Arre!!!!

Koi to batao ki should i switch to the new blogger version or not?? had hai.. koi reply hi nahi kar raha!!! bata bhi do bhai log...