Archive for January, 2008
January 31, 2008 at 4:46 am
· Filed under Books, Thoughts ·Tagged climax, fragile things, Neil Gaiman, short story
An ideal short story to me should definitely have a climax that leaves the reader with surprise or makes him think about it for a few minutes. A famous example would be O.Henry’s After Twenty Years.
I discovered this affinity during a class in which we were given a few words and asked to write a story which has all those words. I wrote a story about a small boy who longs for going to a school like his peers. The climax would shatter his expectations when his father takes him to a school not for studying but for constructing the building. I wanted to highlight on child labor in India with this small story. Another small story which I wrote focused on the impact IT/ITES has created on the low income group. Of course being an amateur, I published anonymously or never published them anywhere.
I still like this style of writing. I’ve not yet completed reading all the short stories in Neil Gaiman’s ‘Fragile Things‘. But I’ve developed a liking to his style. Making the reader guess someone is a ghost, the detective story, about dreams… More than all that I liked the way he ends “Time is fluid” and the shoe-box story. In my terms, it’s a circular linked list 
The end implies the entire story is going to happen all over again with someone else taking the narrator’s role and the narrator becomes another character in the story. A good before-sleep reading if you want lion, ghost, witch and blood in your dreams 
I would definitely want to read more of his books to read more of my ideal short stories? What is my ideal short story? An ideal short story to me should definitely…
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January 30, 2008 at 12:54 pm
· Filed under Gandhi, Thoughts ·Tagged Mahatma Gandhi, Godse
Truth + Vegetarianism + non-violence + SatyaGraha = Mahatma Gandhi.
My new hero after reading The story of my experiments with truth. The very thought of this individual leaves me with guilt about my integrity of thoughts, speech and action. A simple human being who had the power to change the mind of a society as a whole with his principles.
I have developed a curiosity for reading his books on vegetarianism and more about his struggle in South Africa. And of course to read “Let’s Kill Gandhi” to know more about the controversies involved in his assassination. On his 60th death anniversary, I wonder what would have been the headlines on Jan 30, 1948. “Mahatma Gandhi assassinated” or “Hindu nationalist kills Mahatma Gandhi”. Whatever be the headlines, the pain would have certainly inflicted a lot of people.
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January 26, 2008 at 4:41 am
· Filed under Social, Thoughts ·Tagged beggary, gender identity, transgender, untouchability
You see someone on the road and remember the person and the entire scene for sometime. Be it a cute child, a playing kid, a kid working instead of studying, a honest seller, a cute girl or a handsome guy. You can get this picture on your mind whenever you want for a span of few days or months or sometimes, forever. I came across one such individual today while waiting for my bus. I cannot predict how long I’ll get the picture of this individual. But I couldn’t resist thinking about this person for at least an hour after this encounter.
Wearing a pink sari, a handkerchief turned into a scarf, walking over the road and demanding money to every single person on the road. Most of them succumbing to the demands of this individual. Of course, I gave my share of 5 bucks too. A gentleman who passed by asked me with irritation “Why are you giving money?”.
“I do not give money to beggars unless they are old. I do not even encourage those women who come with a small child and ask for money on the roads. India becomes a beggar country only if we encourage begging. A lady with a small child sells ear buds. With so much appreciation for her efforts, I bought them. Realizing they were of low quality, I decided to buy only things I really want. For the sake of thinking that I saved a young woman from her plights with 10 bucks, would I want to make me or my family members deaf?” Emotional blackmailing.
In this instance, I didn’t give money out of fear but guilt. The guilt of being a part of the society which has recognized this individual for nothing more than belonging to Homo Sapiens. Haven’t we classified a part of Homo Sapiens as ‘Eunuchs’? When we can accept dishonest and opportunistic people for our leaders, Why can’t we accept these people into our daily lives? What kind of support have we given for people with transgender problems? A person identified as male by birth and having XX chromosome is not his fault.
What have we provided them to lead a normal life? A Chinese proverb says “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. Even if someone teaches this individual how to fish, Who will buy fish? Or Who will ever sell fishing equipments to this person? The government has recognized them by adding another option E to gender in Indian Passports. The media acknowledges beauty competitions among them and publishes a big picture of the beauty queen on newspaper. How is this going help earn their own bread and butter?
“God doesn’t have gender. So do you”. Dumb Talk. The only recognition of belonging to the human race is also lost. Untouchability will not erode from this country unless we accept all human beings as our equals.
P.S: I’m leaving this post title less to represent the inequality we as a society impose on few human beings.
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January 24, 2008 at 2:40 pm
· Filed under Tech ·Tagged mistake, patch, sequencing, version, windows installer
999
106 *
———–
5994
0000
0999
———–
104894
———-
A silly mistake made in Maths course in Class 4.
Now we can do such calculations in a jiffy with training and materials read for CAT, GMAT and all other All India Entrance tests.
(1)106000 – 106 = 105894
(2)(106-1)(1000-106)=105894
“the quik brown fox jumps ovr the lazy dog”
Another silly mistake made in English lessons in class 3. Having thrived in the Indian educational system for 17 to 20 years, we would definitely have the ability to write pages together without any mistakes. If not, there’s always a word processor which helps with Capitalization and spelling corrections.
Are we sure we do not make such mistakes today? How many times have we misspelled variable names in source code and eventually regretted for the wasted build time? Of course, we call it a typo and not spelling mistake.:)
These are details we overlook considering the fact that the process and overview is more important. I encountered a similar problem recently. Trying to make patch sequencing work with windows installer, I screwed up the original base package I created. In the process, I had spoiled the code for multiple patching. With all my efforts being ditched, building the installer and patch over and over again, the only feeling that remained was frustration. Taking a break for a few minutes and looking back at the process, I figured out the mistake in version number format for patches.
Well, Why am I talking about this? (1) With so many people posting questions for the same problem and ending up without an answer in communities, this might be useful to at least one soul who’s made the same fault as me. (2) I’m trying to justify why I wasted more than a day. (3) When I wasted so much time in such a dumb issue, why don’t you waste 5 minute reading about it with a little bit of masala.:D
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January 23, 2008 at 5:11 pm
· Filed under News, Thoughts ·Tagged Ethics, Infosys, Infy
“Infy fines CEO for breaking rule”
How many companies have fined their CEO? I was amazed at the brave and honest decision taken by Infy. The issue was as simple as not reporting the change in his share ownership in one BD. Infy has asked Gopalakrishnan to pay a penalty of 5,00,000 rupees towards charity. Infy’s
Infy has always been an inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs. The answer to Narayana Murthy’s quest for ethical and profitable business is Infosys. This news has come out at the right time when Politics has entered even Software companies. Infy has always been in the forefront in enforcing ethics within the organization. Hats off to Infy!!
One reason to regret for not accepting Infy’s job offer after college
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January 23, 2008 at 3:26 pm
· Filed under investing ·Tagged crash, fund manager, investing, stocks
One of my strange ambitions in high school was to become a librarian. The joy of being with books, reading whatever you like, whenever you want was the only attraction at that point of time. My new envious targets are Fund Managers. This desire evolved as I started reading about stock markets from books and newspapers. I still believe the work of a fund manager is more strategic and deals with assimilation of information into financial decisions. The thought of managing other’s money and booking profits for a lot of people is more exciting.
The market crash yesterday gave way to my first day as a fund manager. My father gave a little money and asked me to buy shares for him. I bought a few shares for him with the expertise :p I had gained in the last few months. My first day as a fund manager was certainly exciting.
Today’s ET had a guest column from Parag Parikh. I’ve read by Parag Parikh’s Stocks to Riches which speak on behavioral finance. Most of the investment books say two vital points which we neglect most of the time: (1) Do not follow the crowd and (2) Invest with a long term perspective. Yesterday’s market melt down was in fact an eye-opener about these two essential perspectives an investor should have.
Another article provokes you to introspect: “Was the Indian market so unstable that it’ll crash 30% if FII’s take out just 6000crores? Are we insulated from global market?” There was more news on first time investors and their plight. Could we attribute this bump to Reliance power IPO? To certain extent this is also true. On the funnier side was news about investors thronging banks to block cheques issued for Rel Power.
I’m proud about not applying for Rel. Power IPO. Initially I didn’t apply for lack of money. On the last day, I somehow managed to arrange enough money for applying.
Overcoming my temptations with the help of introspection, I decided I’ll not buy Rel Power. My aversion was based on two viewpoints: (1) Intuition said “Do not follow the crowd” (2) Analysis said “Reliance is hyped up. It’s not a very ethical company”
If I had invested the 25% of maximum amount, a retail investor is allowed to apply for Rel Power:
25% of 1 lakh = 25 k
I would barely get 1 or 2 units which will amount to 7k thus locking up 18k. 7k doubles into 14k on listing date which is almost one month from now.
Holding back my temptations, I can invest the same 25k in this period of market melt down and hence invest in companies which have good P/E Ratio, good EPS and a strong background.
Am I not qualified to be a good fund manager? Invest in ROX MF soon
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January 15, 2008 at 12:50 pm
· Filed under Thoughts
My new equation for a perfect weekend
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January 11, 2008 at 12:46 pm
· Filed under News, Tech ·Tagged Open Source, Proprietory Software
Edmund Hillary, First on Everest, Dies at 88
Report: MySpace issued subpoena in teen suicide case
Open Source Security Bugs Uncovered
Online Video Sites Double Popularity in 2007
Asteroid Unlikely to Collide With Mars
NASA sets new February 7 launch date for shuttle
Scanning through the news items today, I got a glimpse of the above few.
I’m not going to express in this post How good I feel about Edmund Hillary or the pain and sympathy I had on reading about Online harrassment. Nor about the excitement cast off because of the asteroid not hitting Mars. 
Open Source Security flaws unveiled by Open Source Hardening Project. This is a subject of interest to me. I’m no open source guru. Nor am I an expert in proprietory software development model. But luckily, I’ve got the taste of both the worlds. A long lasting debate between FOSS gurus and companies: Open Source vs Proprietory Products. How many times had I heard this crap over and over?
Why should religion be brought into software? After all, a business is meant to make money no matter what your company’s vision and strategic direction might be. Do young open source Software Engineers lack the ability to step out and look at the overall picture?
This news item would definitely be an icing on the cake for companies giving out proprietory softwares. The new propaganda from their side which I heard in a recent meeting: “Does no virus till date mean, Linux is the most secure OS? Open Source Softwares have more security flaws than proprietory softwares. blah..blah..blah..”
Open source softwares have their own advantages. But they lack Customer focus. In proprietory softwares, a defect wouldn’t stay longer than the next patch cycle if a customer demands for a fix. This is one set back which is the main reason why companies think twice before adopting free softwares into their work environment.
I cannot reason out one thing: “Why would all Open Source enthusiasts target Microsoft as their villain when there are so many companies making proprietory softwares?”
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January 8, 2008 at 6:29 am
· Filed under Gandhi, Life, Thoughts ·Tagged Cookie, Mahatma Gandhi, My experiments with truth
How do Cookies and MK Gandhi relate? Weird, Isn’t it? But these are two primary things I did during my weekend:
1. My experiments with Cookies on Vinodh
2. My experiments with Truth by MK Gandhi
Not so funny. It’s alright
Cookies, A word which brings delight to everyone. Not for me.
Gandhi, Another word which commands for respect. May be for me too..
The rainy and filthy Friday in October 2003 is still fresh in my memory. Delighted at seeing Cookies on my card, I began addressing a group of 600 plus students about Internet Cookies. On the sound of a bell, I should switch my topic to biscuits from Internet Cookies. “What can I speak about biscuits?” Before I could start, a huge sound from the male audience to push me out of the podium. Heights of Male Chauvinism. Why would they support the other 4 male competitors though they stammered at a few places?
If you read MK Gandhi’s autobiography, you would realize Male Chauvinism existed even in Kasturba Gandhi’s life. This could have been the strongest reason for not having a liking towards MK Gandhi if I had known at 15. Another scenario at school when my friend said “I hate Gandhi. He started the reservation system in schools and colleges”. My Anti Gandhi Ideas was sown without putting further thought to it. I had these ideas only for the sake of being different from everyone else.
My Anti-Gandhi Ideas took for a beating once I started reading his autobiography. A very good narration. I’m not through with his book yet. His principles about truth has inspired me. But not much impact on me about vegetarianism. I guess the transformation from an ordinary man to Mahatma should have taken its roots in South Africa. The two stories On the Way to Pretoria and More Hardships left a deep impact on me.
Talking about truth, Once I was punished in school for being truthful and another person praised for a lie. It was one of the biggest injustice done to me in my early teens. It was after reading this book, I realized Truth should always be followed by discipline and integrity. If not, the essence of truth is lost. Every chapter I read makes me do a self introspection.
Here is another introspection about my weekend experiments. Experiment 1 turned out too sweet and Experiment 2 was bitter. And I learnt more out of the bitter experiment than the sweeter one. Next time my cookies will also be bitter.
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January 1, 2008 at 6:24 am
· Filed under News, Thoughts ·Tagged Asteroid, Mars, Tunguska
An asteroid which is the size of a football field is likely to hit Mars on January 30th. Near Earth Object Program enthusiasts are excited about this event. “What if the asteroid changes its course towards Earth?” Well, that is likely to happen only in movies. It made me search for more information and I ended up reading about Tunguska Event which happened in 1908 at Russia. How would you deflect an asteroid? Would we use nuclear missiles or create a collision with the asteroid or use antimatter to destroy it? Search proceeds..
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