Shakespear?!

TLDR; this Victorian artist has covered some major human emotions such as guilt, love, fear, jealousy, etc through his various plays. They aren't easy to read, but, if you do...you'd find yourself one day.

We live in an age which has the internet. And on the internet we have something called Youtube. Further, in this modern day world we have AI like ChatGPT and gemini. I could use one of these and summarize a few points here. But I will refrain myself from doing so. For the rest of this post, I might sound like the agent of a 400+ year old bard and playwright. However, I am really doing this to diss a friend.

Sir/Madam, do you want to read Shakespear?

First off...DON'T

Shakespear isn't "Indian". He was a Victorian playwright that lived 400 years ago. The English language of that time might make your brain and ears bleed if you tried to comprehend it. Besides, "English", (never mind the Victorian cousin - old English), wasn't India's national language at all. The culture, customs, history, etc are all very different. For an Indian to appreciate it is foremost difficult. 

Shakespear's works are "plays". The play is meant to be enacted on stage by actors. The theatre audience is meant to experience this.

But do you think modern theatre audiences, especially Indian audiences, will listen? Or be glued to their phones? I wouldn't hold it against audiences from India. I am sure most audiences independent of their geographical profile will be glued to their phones inside the performance theatres.

It is hard to convince an Indian to read...

Oh, can you now imagine the plight of our poor Indian college students who pursue English literature? "Why learn Shakespear?!" they ask with such conviction as it doesn't make sense to them.

The irony however is that you might have already witnessed Shakespear!! Quite notably the plot of the animated movie The Lion King has similarities with Shakespear's famous play Hamlet. There are a few videos on Youtube which discuss this specific topic; hence I will refrain from mentioning anything more here.

A mirror onto thyself

I guess this is the one of the USPs (Up Selling Point) for Shakespear's works. I have read somewhere on the internet, (or even perhaps an AI generated answer that...) Shakespear is a mirror where we might recurringly find ourselves. Hence, I tried to find out who had first quoted that. It seems to have been adapted from one of Shakespear plays itself.

I don't think I have convinced anyone just about yet about reading the works of Shakespear. My professor friend probably already knows much about Shakespear more than I do. But try you must - youtube searches would get you there. There are a ton of documentaries on the playwright itself; perhaps that is a good place to start. As a post-note I shall add some tips on how to best experience Shakespear.

⚠️Warning: themes of suicide in Shakespear's works

You shouldn't ask small children or people at their low-point in life to read Shakespear works. 

I have recently understood the gravity of the above statement after struggling to understand what Shakespear's widely-known soliloquy actually means. 

To be or not to be...

To live or to die...

My current favorite lines come from the same verse however...

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause--

I hope these lines might appeal to the ethical agencies in your thoughts...and of course in doing so not lose the name of action.

PS: Apologies if I have not explained what "soliloquy" is...

PS: Shakespear bootcamp (-1)

1. Understand the history, the church in the time of England, Shakespear's life.

2. Watch a few plays enacted. This is readily available on youtube. 

3. Then read the play. 

4. Repeat steps 2,3 as many times needed.

An appreciation for instrumental/classical music

You have to celebrate a few folks on Youtube. Inadvertently I am contributing to increasing their subscribers or viewers. But that is not my aim. 

The general scheme of these creator's content goes like this: they get on video chatting platforms like omegle (now shutdown), and, via pranks, do their performances. It is really wholesome to watch. It is what got me hooked into violins and piano performances. Some of the popular pop music such as Arcade (by Duncan Lawrence) when played instrumentally will really move you - it will "elevate your soul". 

The artist names are the following:

1. Rob Landes
2. Marcus Veltri
3. Frank Tedesco

They sometimes do collabs. They also have their independent YouTube channels. 

But keep in mind, I am fully aware that there are other artists I am unaware of. Please don't be disparaged in any way for the mere non-mention. These artists I have shared can be thought of as a good starter pack to help you appreciate instrumental music.

Why Bro? No Indian Artists?!!

However, I am sure people would ask me, why I do not know of any similar Indian artists? All I could find was Rishabh Raj. But he is young. And ever since Omegle stopped their video chatting service - he too has stopped creating content it seems. I don't know the person directly to know why he is like that. I don't want to pry on the person's private life either.

I tried to listen to Carnatic music for a while. I didn't get the feel for it. However, I did watch a fusion dance video which had a blend of Carnatic music and a modern song. Can't recall it now. 

Promoting Indian Classical Music

Firstly, I don't think I am qualified to discuss how to promote our culture's music. But if we had to start somewhere given where "we" are "now", I would say focus on fusion. However, this isn't advice I would want to give to any future performers, musicians, music producers, etc. It is really up to them to discover how to really do this.

Where are our street performers?

Someday I wish to see street performers. But do you know why I (or perhaps you) really "want" this? It is probably because I have seen some of those artists mentioned above do this, but in their country or perhaps in some European countries. They do it sometimes in public spaces such as airports, cafe's, etc. In our country, perhaps this activity is restricted to public malls. 

In our history and culture, I think music was mainly performed for the aristrocrats. It used to be held in the courts and palaces of that time. It was not "performed" for the "general public". I am not implying that it was restricted; merely that it was never "performed" for that audience. However, at some point in our history that could be true. "Performing for the street" is another challenge in itself. 

Music or classical performances were reserved for the elite class in the beginning. If you think of Beethoven/Mozart - I am not sure if they are known to have performed for gratis and out in the streets. But historically anywhere I guess this was how it started; it is a known pattern. This very much resonates European history. But they evolved into street performances slowly. I suppose it had a great deal to do with a period in time called Renaissance. In many European cafes of today, in popular tourist destinations, we may find flash performances in small eateries/cafes/etc. Someone would bring a piano, and, while that person is performing an audience request, someone else would chime in with vocals, or another instrument, etc.

In the Indian cities, we get to see a different flavor of "flash performances" - usually a dance. But the chances are that these "so called" performances are part of some corporate promotion programme - like a college arts/technical fest, or, a company's product promotion, etc. Of course, a mortal can't just decide to do this and execute. For e.g. in malls, we require permissions from the mall facility manager, etc in advance to do this. In other public places, we might need appropriate permission from the police or the municipality or panchayat.

But where would "our" street performers perform?

In my native town Calicut, I thought SM Street or the beach, could be a good place. In Bengaluru, perhaps the subway in Kempagowda Bus station. But the issue is the crowd. For one thing, you might have the noble intent to perform on gratis, but it might pile up into a public nuisance for no fault of your own. Basically, a nightmare for the police at some point. Apart from that, imagine you have a hat or a bowl to collect money from your interested audience...there may be people, which may be sometimes little mischievous children, who may plunder the money and run away. But foremost, you have to be a good performer.

Therefore, I can think of public malls as a "relative" safe place. But that would definitely cost money and space, and perhaps even the services of the mall security. But most importantly how would a mall manager or owner decide to allow a less-known artist to perform? I will decline to answer this because I am sure many aspiring performances will "figure out" the answer.

But "Street performers" beware

Our Indian history hasn't had a classical renaissance like Europe did. On one level, the renaissance was a cultural integration of art, science, and philosophy. And one of the subtle themes of this "movement" was the re-discovery of many works of classical antiquity. 

I am not a renaissance expert. But I think, it is how I have become a fan of Archimedes. Most of my generation might have heard the "eureka" story. But the chances they heard about - noli tubare circulos meos - are relatively lower. It is also one of the reasons many of our country's current generation of English literature students - curse the fact that they have to learn the works of Shakespear. 

It is a failure at some level. But that failure has evolved into an extreme phenomenon called jingoism or aggressive (sometimes regional) culturalism. However, if at all public performances are being given, do expect miscreants with this agenda in mind. 

But I do hope this is something we solve peacefully someday.

Edit: (3 days later)

The real reason behind this post

Recall those artists I had mentioned above. For a considerable amount of time, I tried to get on the video streaming service those artists usually hang out, and, to my dismay, I mostly end up with people from various parts of India. Those artists (mentioned above) are mostly based in the United States. I feel it is very unlikely that I will get to see them in my lifetime. 

So, if you happen to be in the US, and, you (or someone you know) do hang out on the video streaming services those artists also hang out in, and, if you do meet them, please ask them to perform some Indian songs. I have a few suggestions

1. Minnale - play from any section - (Music - A.R. Rahman, Singer: S.P. Balasubramanium)

2. Tu Hi Re - from hindi/bollywood movie Bombay (Music - A.R. Rahman)

3. Tum Hi Ho - (Singer - Arjith Singh)

4. Liggi - (Ritviz) - this is just for fun. I want to know how they are going to perform this.

Before I leave, it is hard not to mention about those video chatting services. I am deeply troubled by the young (horny) males I find on the platform. That may be a topic for another time. 

Silence. Itch. NEP

[Originally written on linked-in]

This post is a strange critique on NEP. Any modern Indian would be familiar with that term. It is strange because, I am NOT going to critique it. I am not going to mention anything about our esteemed Nation, it people, its bizarre policies, bizarre politics, etc. Maybe I am going to refer you to some geography that is part of this Nation. And, that geography has been part of the Indian subcontinent since 50 million years; after the dinosaurs got extinct.

Food for thought.

Ever wondered about the radius of Earth??!

So why should you?

Out here in LinkedIn, I assume you don the hat of a job seeker, or, an envier. I am sure that statistically speaking, it is more of the latter. We all want better salaries, careers, career prospects. But really what are "you"? What do "you" "seek"? Those are somewhat existential questions. You probably already know or don't know the answer to that stupid question. "Knowing" is one part of the whole affair. That specific fact is not that important; it has no real utility to your immediate life.

I may probably make you realize how ignorant you are. You are a healthy envious animal. Do you hate me for it? Are you a networker? Are you the envier? Whatever "you" are, please don't hate me. I am not motivating other people in your life to blame or shame you for this. And I really hope they don't do this. If they do, they are really short-sighted p****s.

There are some things (or some facts) we have learned at school. They are buried in the recesses of your brain somewhere; they offer no immediate utility to life. All of us would have at some point studied quadratic equations - does it have any significance in your life? Is your life any better than not having learned that? (Unless you are an animator who works at Pixar).

Most members in our species live in dwellings called houses. Today it may have different names - hostels, PGs, apartments, dorms, studios, office spaces, etc. (You can even add caves, trees, footpaths(??) to that list). And even if not, the next fact that I am going to extensively write about will still hold truth... Anywhere you are on the earth (with the exception of the poles), if you choose to remain stationary enough, and that you have the line of sight to the skies, you will always see the Sun rise and set.

Even if you forgo that technicality of line of sight, the event still happens. Even if you are inside a house well protected from the elements of the weather, or, you are somewhere on the Mariana Trench with kilometers of ocean above your head, just accept the fact that given the constraints the sun will rise and set on that point on Earth, as long as you are stationary. But you are more likely to witness this if you are away from the poles. So, if the house or hills could talk to you, and you asked them about this, they'd probably agree.

But have you ever wondered why is that so?

Most modern intelligible humans know the answer to this question. We know that the Earth rotates about an axis. In addition to that we also know that the Earth revolves around it's star - the Sun. And it is what gives the Earth, a night and a day. It is what gives our Earth its seasons. Our species have known these for centuries. Hence these are things that neither gives you special social status (or recognition) at crowd gatherings, nor it is something that puts food to your plate at your home. My boss or current employer is definitely not going to give the compensation raise for writing blog posts. However, I hope neither takes this fact to their hearts. I understand that it is how well I do my duty and the relative economy that decides my compensation growth. I both fear and respect that.

Have you ever played with balls and torches as a kid? Together? I am sure the current generation might have a different answer. I am sure the answer to this will be unanimously, yes. Even if you have not, it is easy to imagine what the next thought experiment looks like. This isn't something we learn at school. I mean you need not learn it in school. In fact, I can be sarcastic to state that this topic is definitely "out of syllabus" in your schools. Your observant self may have made note of this because of which your brain has a faint recollection. And thus it is easy to imagine this. (For most of the human population).

Now consider that same exercise for the next few paragraphs. If you have a torch, turn ON its light, and hold a ball in front of it, does the whole ball get illuminated? Of course not! There is a portion of the ball that is always relatively dark. Now imagine a point on the ball surface. Further imagine that you rotate the ball about a vertical axis. Do you notice how that point moves? (Of course, do not place that point anywhere on the vertical axis).

Well, you don't need to be Einstein or a scientist to deduce this next fact. It is exactly what is happening to your house or hill! It is because the earth rotates about an axis. You can trace out that point on the Earth...wherever you are! (But remember the constraints). It starts out from one illuminated side (Sun rise), and, traverses on to the other illuminated side (Sun set). If it traversed any more further, the point experiences "night time". And it's easy to see that the point traces out an arc of a circle.

This fact in itself isn't all that awesome. In fact, I would expect most readers here say...So what?! Imagine telling that ignorant person, that I am going to do some arithmetic next.

Very sorry. I "am" going to imply doing some calculations!

However, I don't "really" need to do them, much less convince you to do the same. But, I have a strange "itch". I did spend a great part of my youth in educational institutions called schools. These institutions have somewhat guided me; it has allowed me to figure out how to live in a society. That word, "institute" is but a mirage, and it will only be that way - unless I give thought to a few people in my life and over those years - my teachers and friends. I thank them. And I thank my parents too. They were not the ideal educationalists; they were ordinary people. They are not the direct reason I write this post today. But I was a fool at that point in time, my youth, to really not appreciate that "school" is a privilege. They ALL delivered. I have learned how to converse with people; figure out what I want; and plan to get them. The next sentence may sound like an anti-climactic use of my education; but it is my style of writing. So, if I am hungry, I can eat food from a restaurant by paying money, etc. If I am sick, I can find a doctor; I can explain the doctor my problem and later buy the medicines for the cure.

However, that itch is not about what my education or my writing style has bestowed upon me.

Math or sciences isn't the motivation here. I am just playing with some facts; in the process I am applying a few things I learned at school. The emphasis is on the word "applying" and not "school". I look at a few things I learned from school as "tools". I can candidly admit that our species does not "apply" enough. I am somewhat wrong and right here. I will defer that discussion to a later post. (Perhaps). I am using the tools for a "thought experiment". And, I have unbeknownst to you, invited you to a strange thought experiment. Do you value "thought experiments"? Does your society value them? Do you and your friends discuss "thought experiments" at your colleague's Indian wedding? Will your boss discuss it? ☠️Or will you talk about it at your boss/colleague's funeral? ☠️☠️

So that house or hill has "moved" on earth. In physics, we call this displacement. I don't want you to think of it with such "heavy" terms. If it has moved, we can compute the distance. And that is why one would need know about the radius of Earth. But before that you'd need the distance formula that would apply for this specific case. We need to know how to compute the circumference or perimeter of a circle. We need to compute speed here. And, I can't move hills or Himalayas to convince you why we need to know the speed...but TRUST MY ITCH. 🙈

I don't really remember...the radius of earth. And I am sure a great many don't know the formula to compute the circumference of a circle. Or even how to compute speed. They may not be able to recall it quickly enough. However, why the hurry NOW? "You" are that job or career seeking healthy envious animal. You don't have to give a high school EXAM.

If you and I were stuck on an island with internet, we have the resources to find that answer. Yet, it is more likely, we'd quickly search about how to get rescued from that situation. And it is very critical that the other person be rescued, since I might have already said - have you read my blog posts??...😅

There is no hindrance to calculate other than your access to get the answers to certain facts, and your will or interest. And remember it is somewhat of a privilege. Speed is the total distance covered by the total time taken to cover that distance. The facts required to compute this are all an internet search away - at your fingertips. And you have the calculators to compute this - it somewhere in your phones or laptops!

And if you substitute those values, apply a bit of logic, and do the simple calculation, the answer will come to 500 kmph. I have greatly approximated here. Actually, the act of approximating did start a few paragraphs before this. There is an "accurate" answer. But trust in me; the relative inaccuracy...it's all fine.

The next few paragraphs, is something your phone, laptop, or, possibly even education, or even the internet, can NOT give you...You have to use your brain...And I mean this in the most literal way. No you don't have to pluck it out of your skull. ☠️. Do not be offended. Do not hate me. You may need to imagine or feel certain things...TRUST MY ITCH

Can you imagine how fast is 500 kmph? It's much faster than domestic cars on the Bengaluru-Mysore express way, or the Autobahn. The top speeds of formula one (F1) racing cars are about 360 kmph. A Boeing 747's flight speed is somewhere close to F1 cars. The fastest cricket ball thrown by a bowler is about 161 kmph. If you closed your eyes now, and, imagined all this, you may probably hear the sound. Perhaps even feel the breeze. That whizz, roar, whoosh, or fizz - however you want to describe it.

Now open your eyes. Look at the plethora of inanimate objects you are surrounded with. You see them every day. If you are inside your home reading this - it is your phone or laptop. May be look away for a moment - notice all the appliances in your home. The television, the ceiling fan. The door, the window, the fridge. The walls. Step outside the house for a little bit and walk away at little so that your eyes can perceive the entire house facade. Now allow (the romantic) me the liberty of imagining that you lived somewhere in Ladakh. Do not be limited by the financial or physiological capacity to image this. If you stepped out of the house (or hotel room or home stay), you would see many magnificent hills. Ponder that scene for a moment. Ponder about the magnificent and silent Himalayas. May be take a stone in your hand. Or a pen. Or a pin and drop it. Observe that. Repeat it a couple of times...

Where is the sound? Where is the chaos? It made a sound when that object hit the floor or ground. But prior to that instant, I repeat the same question to you - Where is the sound? Where is the chaos?

You can always recall a school librarian blurt "pin drop silence". If you understood the essence of this post so far - that act should be anything but silent. But it strangely is...WHY?

The quadragenarian that I am now, I do wonder what if my teacher demonstrated all this, and then asked that question - Where is the sound? Where is the chaos? ...And in that instant the bell rang...

A famous American youtuber/podcaster I follow these days - Neil deGrasse Tyson - the host of Startalk said something about the America school system. It goes something like - at the end of a school year before the start of vacations, when that bell rings - the children are so happy; they don't have to study or learn anything for the next few months. When that vacation ends, the children as somewhat depressed that they have to go through the ordeal of learning again. But if Americans have figured this out, it would be the opposite. They'd be a little sad that the learning is going to stop.

A child that has to appreciate all this, HAS to pay attention in class, to the teacher. And the teacher should deliver. Of course, many generations of parents or teachers, even students might regard the above effect something that would only happen in a dream or in cinema. It would never happen in the real world. If you are a parent today, do you want to express/predict here what your kid may actually do or feel here? Perhaps use the thumbs up emoji 👍 and comment if your kid is going to be positively influenced by this. Comment with a thumbs down 👎 if not. Actually, both parents and students are welcome to do this.

Yeah, I know the kingdom of humanity, and, your privacy concerns are out to bite you! For example. What if your kid saw this and then later in life decides to sue you! Or your best friend or nosy relative made fun of you for doing this. I definitely do not want to be responsible for that. 🙏 I deeply respect your privacy. In fact, someday I do want to write about that topic.

But do something now. For me! Show it to your teachers, the teachers in your kid's school - your kid's school principal or headmaster. Share it to your kids - they aren't mature today to understand that school is privilege. It's okay. This post might someday become the proof. Share it with your friends, your boss, your colleague, your cousins, parents, or even your spouse.

Yes! If not for me, definitely your parents, teachers, and school friends - because school is a privilege. They ALL deserve a token of thanks. If my writing style gets in the way I do ask for their and your forgiveness. If my style does get in the way, please drop in with feedback. I will take it seriously; that is a promise. Right now, I am asking your help for more readership. But first believe that "all this" is much more than that.

TRUST MY ITCH

xeno's lullaby

You are an adult male on child duty. The child is reasonably young - think 2 or 3 years old. You are seated on the bed and you next action is to make the child anticipate being thrown over the bed. And then you count...

1.........2........2½........2¾.........🤔

What comes after 2¾? Is it 2⅝, or 2⁷⁄₉? 🤔🤔

Fortunately we can calculate this. But for brevity think of a line of numbers - aka the real number line. You are at a some point on that line. numbers behind you are smaller than numbers ahead of you (including the one you are standing on).

Or, if you look at it from another perspective, numbers to the left of you are smaller than numbers to the right. 

This is the "real" number line. Some of the points represent fractions. In mathematics they say there are infinitely many real numbers...But...we won't be exploring that.

So let's take an interval on this line - say 0 to 1. We know that half (i.e 0.5 or ½) is a point in this interval. Correctly at the midpoint. There is a formula to get you there, but we usually learn it as part of cartesian geometry. 

If you got two numbers on a numbers line, A and B such that A is less than B, you can find a number exactly equidistant from both by computing (A+B)/2. 

There are numerous proofs for this. We are not doing that today❗

Now you play the game of iterative substitutions - plug A = 0 and B = 1, and, you get (A+B)/2 = ½ = 0.5

What is between 0.5 and 1? Substitute A = 0.5 and B = 1, and, you get a result 0.75 = ¾

But we humans don't say 2, 2.5, 2.75, ... 🚫

We use the number-with-fraction form. 2 ... 2½ ...2¾... ✅

Do you see the pattern?

What comes after ¾? Use the formula to calculate. The result will be ⅞

The next one will be 15⁄16 , ³¹⁄₃₂, ⁶³⁄₆₄, ...

Do you see the pattern? 

Now you can say the numbers and never reach three, just like xeno's paradox. I know I have left you haning on xeno's paradox. that is easily searchable in the modern day. 

However, I will pray that your skill of multiplying by 2 is good. 👍😉

The right to repair

Right to repair. 

This is little technical subject. At least, in my opinion, it has its origins in the tech community. I don't usually talk about tech stuff here. I blog most of my tech stuff elsewhere. But today I thought otherwise. 

I classify "right to repair" as a kind of consumer movement. Its probably meant to end certain business monopolies certain giant corporations have over their products which locks consumers, deny them of certain freedoms governing how they are able to use/repair that product.

I am all for it. I like the idea that my mobile phone, for e.g. can work the same way 30 years from now, and, if at all there were some problems, it is going to be "fixable". Same can be said about, say, a microwave oven that belonged to a grand mother that lived two or three generations before ours.

But just think about consumers for a minute. Its a small segment of humanity; people who earn, buy things, homes, cars, medicines, health care, etc. To them "right to repair" sounds like some kind of freedom. There is some meaning in fighting for a cause, admist such like-minded "similar" group of people. 

But please don't rub this "right" into the faces of the other half of humanity; they are not this relatively "privileged". Many "such" people simply struggle to make it through the day.

What is more dark is that I can only shrug at this sad state of humanity, and, move on with my life. Because, that is what is practical. 

Yes, it is sad. 

When you try to confront the challenges of people suffering from various vices of humanity - like poverty, disease, injustice, etc and their problems become yours, there is some risk. You'd either end up estranged from your family, friends, or, loved ones. Or worse, you could end up putting them in danger.

But what can we do?

I am stopping short here. Perhaps I might get the inspiration to continue on this thread in the future. Perhaps not. But in any case believe that "life is good".

National Education Policy 2020

If I actually write about it I will eventually sound political. Now, due to its ambiguity, my current rating on this framework: i.e. a framework which is meant to better equip the upcoming generations and revolutionize India, is only something like 1/5. And this is how I have come to interpret it. People can always have different scores or ratings depending on their outlook.

All that aside, what is an education framework that I would rate 5/5? What is a framework that you would rate 5/5? This is something all Indians especially teachers must have some say about...

I am no teacher. But I implore you to watch Carl Sagan's famous documentary series titled "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage"

And this is the internet. I don't have to write anything about Carl Sagan that wikipedia doesn't already know...

The Great Library of Alexandria 

This is something Carl Sagan talks about in one of the episodes. Many historians believe that this was one of the greatest libraries in the world. It is said that if those libraries were not destroyed by the Roman empire, then we probably would have made key discoveries a lot earlier.

Imagine what effect would the Laws of Planetary motion, or, the law of gravitation, have on our human civilization if the ideas behind those laws were discovered earlier. (It may not have been Kepler or Newton who discovers it. It could be other people). 

And if that was the trajectory human civilization took, I believe I would be writing this blog aboard a Star Trek enterprise space ship... 😁

Perhaps the Star Trek enterprise is an exaggeration. But the loss of human ingenuity that prevailed at the time, cannot be measured. All of it; the whole place was burned to the ground... 😔

So what's this got to do with NEP 2020?

Absolutely nothing.

Star Trek will still be a tv entertainment programme for the next 3 generations...🤪

Good Day

Ps: I apologize if the title was misleading...

indian railways - exchanging confirmed berths - things to take note...

This happened recently.

My mother and I were travelling to Bangalore from Calicut. She had a confirmed berth - but it was in the middle. At the time of reservation, I had no choice; there were no lower berths available. So out of the urgency of that travel I had to accept what the system auto-allocated. I did what any other Indian would do...exchange with other passengers for a lower berth so that she could sleep comfortably.

Fortunately, there was a group of women travelling along with their kids. They had their seats reserved in the same coach, but different, but adjacent compartments. When I requested they casually obliged. And the exchange happened peacefully. I made sure I exchanged with a party that was going to drop off in Bangalore. And they had confirmed tickets. I never bothered to check their tickets however.

But later, after probably Shornur station, the berths we (my mother and I) were occupying got allocated to another party (who were in RAC status). When the ticket-checker came and allocated, he did ask about the seats and my ticket. When he understood that I had a confirmed ticket, he asserted in the most callous way: I have allocated the berths...all of you please co-operate among yourselves and see that you are berthed. He never made an attempt to find out if the berths were claimed. According to him, he has diligently marked those berths as 'not allotted'. It was nearing Palakkad. The station where the ticket-checkers usually interchange as their shift comes to an end.

The people who were alloted the berths were students. I explained them the issue. I was sure that the checker made some mistake. Even they were sort of convinced. But we couldn't find the checker anywhere. He disappeared. Even those three didn't make an effort to find the ticket-checker. Finaly we agreed we'll clear it with the next checker.

And the time came, with a little trouble waking everyone up, we presented the tickets. Thats when I understood the problem. The lady who I had exchanged with presented her tickets. They were two tickets. But they were stapled together. So when she presented it, it looked as if she had presented only one ticket.

That diligent (b*****d) of a ticket-checker (who was in the previous shift) only marked the berths in the first ticket. He marked the ones in the other compartment (the one which I occupied, and which were in the second ticket) as not allotted. And he, obviously not guilty of the previous crime, further went and allotted them to three RAC passengers.

Well, the now on-duty checker thankfully realized this problem. And he gave consideration to the family and told the three students to kindly adjust. Luckily those three, only asked for one seat so they could adjust and travel. He also gave the story of how someone from S8 coach, without getting his ticket checked, went to join his family in a different coach, and finally got his berth marked as not-allotted. Thus problems ensued. I don't know how they resolved it.

Such screw ups happen inside of trains. I only pray the ticket checkers are more considerate...Hope this story has given you an idea of things to put in your checklist before exchanging berths.

Now what if you don't have a physical copy of a ticket? What if the ticket was just an sms? How will you ensure that the ticket was checked by the checker?

the star killer base

While watching Star Wars the Force Awakens, it looked like I was the only one who was left curious about the Star Killer base. And, dear lord, I was...

Watching a lot of these scifi movies lately it just gave me the impulse to get curious about it.

It sucks up the whole star, yet people walk on it like people walk on earth (with normal gravity).

Okay, according to present astronomy knowledge, what do we know that can practically suck up a star. A black hole - a body of immense density that is capable of sucking light too.

If you are a space documentary fan boy like me, you'd also probably have imagined accretion discs, and gamma ray bursts.

People over at scifi stackexchange have some pretty convincing answers touch.

If you are fascinated with providing theoretical answers, fascinate me too.

Au revoir.

ARP date calculator - indian railways - irctc - train reservation

WTF is ARP?

Advanced Reservation Period...

Something indian railways use so that their reservation system knows what is the maximum future date a person can reserve his ticket for...

As of now its 60 days from the current date...

I have made a small jsfiddle page to help you track this...

http://bitly.com/deoirctcarp

Hope this enriches your indian railways journeying and ticket reservation experience...

Disclaimer: I and/or the above app to which I've linked to is in no way affiliated with indian railways. I am just a frustrated passenger like you...

a pic is now worth 140+ words...

Well, most people hate twitter for its crazy 140 word limit...

Actually there are many. It definitely not another service like tweetlonger or similar.

All you need is an image editing software which can write text on images. For best experience, start with a blank template, and just write some text on it using your favourite image editing tool. On windows, even MS Paint will do. I've found one for my android device.

Quoting this tweet as reference.

A pic is worth more than "140" words...Edited with #Phonto. @phontograph http://t.co/kQselzloYo pic.twitter.com/KuLCPfVywY
— Arun Jayapal (@deostroll) June 2, 2014

Happy browsing, tweeting...

Update:

Although you can post more than 140 characters in an image, you still are limited to an upper bound. I don't know what that is, but hopefully someone will discover that one day. As for an experience POV, people who are used to 140 characters might welcome this. However, if you hated twitter in the first place, I guess you can hate it a little relatively lesser now. I am not telling those folks to like the service, at least, like the fact, that I am writing this blog to let you know of such hidden features!

Meanwhile, here is an infographic which talks about sizes and dimensions for images that can be used on twitter:

( Source: http://freshtakeoncontent.com/twitter-image-sizes-dimensions/ )

life of pi

Weirdest dream ever!

Standing at the back of my house looking to the direction of the beach (you can't actually see the beach), I noticed the clouds above looked pretty gray. There was enough daylight to make the whole scene look gloomy.

All of a sudden a sprout of water in the air. It wasn't a continuous stream; it was as if someone tossed a huge glass of water into the air. And it was at a great distance. It was not a tsunami either.

Then all I can remember is ending up in the middle of a vast ocean, all alone. There was no tiger. I deduced this fact since I wasn't actually floating on a boat. I really don't know what I was floating on...

And then I woke up from my sleep. The movie Life of Pi was better a movie; its frightening to imagine how it would be in real life - stuck in a calm sea with nothing around you but a vast horizon on all sides. I actually woke up to this part - sensing the vast horizon.

Imagine this. Wee hours in the morning and you wake up from a semi Life of Pi like dream, except if that was made into a movie or even a book it would not sell. Then you relate to the movie. The beautiful calm ocean on which you can see your own reflection. The vast horizon at twilight. The carnivorous island. The whale. The fluorescent algae you get to see at night...

I thought to myself

...at least you could have dreamt of the fluorescent algae...

...and dozed off!

so whats in a name...?

So everyone used to ask why the name deostroll? What does it mean?

Frankly it doesn't mean anything per se.

It was back in the second half of the year of 1998, while I was doing my schooling (9th Std) in Hill Top Public School. The movie Titanic was popular then. For some boys Jack Dawson was a character they wanted to be more like...and hence the craze of maintaining long hair ensued. God knows how business fared for the barber shops back then; but I was a pseudo Jack Dawson back at the time. 

My hair was pretty unmanageable to maintain, and more difficult to keep it well kempt. Leonardo Di Caprio's hair was blond; yet it was always smooth. So I had to improvise...

I found a spray can at home I could refill. Filled water into it and took it to school. Whenever head felt dry enough took it our of the bag, and did the required business. And then the whole back benchers I sat with joined the lingo; not that everyone had long hair, but the spraying was fun.

That was also a time I had created my first email id. Was doing a small MS Office course over at NIIT in calicut. The instructor was teaching us how to create one. And when he kind of stressed on the fact that the username should be unique, I kind of pondered for a while. A funny guy like me, who used to walk around with a spray can (much like a deodrant can) to maintain my hairstyle - deostroll!

And thus the name.

So even after 13 years, why did this silly name stick?!

I don't attach so much of significance to what the name means...that time is what I attach significance to...because those were the best days of my life. I can't begin to describe the crazy things we did in our school but I can safely publish the fact that we busted an amplifier system which some famous personality had donated for school assembly use. God how we stood for assembly that day! :)

when sometimes "I make chicken curry"...

Learned the art of making edible and "safe" chicken curry while I was living in Chennai. This was fairly easy due to a very ingenious invention called the pressure cooker. However, I haven't been able to make chicken curry that way for a very long time; ever since I've moved to Bangalore.

But a few weeks back I met a woman; she was someone who has a future plan of being a chef (which I wasn't aware of at the time) asked me if I knew how to cook. And me being modest and all said "I only know how to make chicken curry".

Thus unfolded a whole chain of events...and I ended up explaining her the method anyway. 

Most IT folks would be aware of the term BSOD (aka blue screen of death). Its just a blue screen you get when windows encounters an error. You'd normally see a blue screen with some text which is dumped onto the screen. At a time when Windows 98 was in vogue, everything about that operating system was slow, but this was known to happen super fast. 

My recipe came out even faster than that.

However, how that conversation ensued was even more embarrassing...

To explain I'll need to share a bit of the preparation technique: you saute onions in a kadai, add chopped tomatoes to make it somewhat consistent, then you add your spices, then you add your chicken and other vegetables. After you feel the spices has been absorbed by the mix. You just dump the whole thing into a pressure cooker for one whistle.

I never get it right however. You need to proportion your spices correctly to get the magic, if you know what I mean. 

But most people do it the hard way. They actually use the kadai for the whole preparation. The pressure cooker is faster, and much easier to manage. And I find that the probability of such people (in that particular age group) not knowing that you could use a pressure cooker to cook chicken curry, is very high. The other person. to my surprise, was actually listening...

By all means I wanted to stop the narration, but I just went on...at the end of it was a strange emotion. 

I was thinking to myself, "Hey maybe I'll ask you for my Nobel prize for that narration later... but really?! You never knew you could use the damn pressure cooker!!!"

Then I was feeling a sense of accomplishment: "So I have successfully pressure cookerized another soul"

Then the most awkward thing happens:

She asks: "Why use the kadai?!"

Then I thought, "Yeah sure, the straight answer to that was - to mix the spices. But why couldn't I do it in the pressure cooker before putting all the chicken? The chicken had to go in there anyway..."

The embarrassing bit is...in all my 3+ yrs since I knew how to make...I never asked myself this question!

So naturally where was the answer?! I paused for a while shrugged and said, "I never really had that much of  kitchen sense", and smiled.

Days later I when I started reflecting on myself, who really handed me down the recipe; it turns out that my mother and sister both don't use the kadai for preparation. Now this was getting seriously like WTF.

There is only one person responsible for all this. and I am sure to whack him the next time I meet him. :)

Ps: on a serious note, never ever invite me over to your place for preparing chicken curry. You kitchen is not a lab; and I am not a chef.

Mishaps

What seemed like a normal day turned out to be a series of mishaps.

It was a friday night. And I was on my way to Kozhikode to spend the weekend. The Chennai Central Railway Station seemed nominally crowded. Got here with ample time to verify which coach my berth was, but I didn't do that right away. I just had small dinner after which it became around 8 pm. I went to the coach and checked for my name against my berth; to my horror, it wasn't my name. It was only then I looked at the date in the ticket print out; it was for a future date.

So then I decided I must get the correct ticket printed out immediately, and rushed to the internet cafe inside the railway station. I informed the guy (the cashier cum cafe-employee) out there I just wanted a printout. I couldn't believe what he told me next: "The printout would cost you Rs. 30. Is it ok?". The train was scheduled to leave @ 8.25 pm. I had to say "Yes". He said that the printer wasn't free for the moment; so I had to wait. The printer was at the cashier's desk too. The cashier looked at me and told me that I can browse using anyone of their free machines. He elaborated that the browsing rate was Rs. 30. So I confirmed that this was inclusive of the printout charges. He confirmed that too. There was a little, if negligible, sigh after he said that.

So I gladly did. I assumed that the computers there were networked somehow so I could adapt the ticket to a word document, and then give that for printing. I quickly browsed to the IRCTC website, logged-in, and found the correct ticket. I selected the option to print. Normally on Internet Explorer you'd be prompted with a Print Dialog box. But the dialog box showed that there were no printers installed. I canceled the dialog, and selected all the text in the page which showed me my ticket, opened up Microsoft Word, pasted the whole thing out there, and was about to hit Ctrl+S to save, when all of a sudden, POOF!

All the UPSs were whining like "I want my power supply". But they didn't have enough backup to power the computer. And it was already 8.10 pm.

Okay do I have to pay Rs. 30 to the cashier or not. Maybe he will ask for it. Maybe he will not. For some strange luck the cashier told me to go to the next building to see if I could get the printout. I ran.

I gave up looking for a cafe, at the other building. In fact I don't think there is one. This was when I decided to go die-hard and board the train. I did make note of my berth for the train I was supposed to be travelling in. So I went to my coach, looked out for my name, and made note of my PNR number. There was a TTR standing behind me. He was answering queries in Malayalam. I went up to him and told him about my problem. He replied that I can occupy my berth, but I'd have to pay a fine of Rs. 50 for not presenting the ticket. And therefore I went and sat in my berth.

After 1.5 hours of traveling the TTR comes. Assuming that the TTR would have forgotten the problem, and, not even caring to see who the TTR was I spoke in Malayalam, I explained my problem. At the end of the explanation, the TTR said that he'd have to write a charge sheet, in tamil. That was the only time I noticed the TTR's face. He wasn't the same person I spoke to before.

Next morning, while still in the train, and only few hours remaining to where I had to get down, I came to realize that without getting the charge sheet I might face a problem if I'm caught in the platform. So I resolved to find a TTR, and get the charge sheet. There were two TTRs I met in the process. The first one was quite alarmed when I told him I didn't have a ticket. But after explaining the whole situation, he told me to meet the second TTR.

The second TTR was even more dramatic. For starts, he wasn't usually in his seat. I had to check every half-hour if he was there or not. Finally I found him in his place and approached him. When I told the person that I needed a charge sheet, he too was surprised. He moved from his berth to the coach entrance door. I told him I had taken the wrong printout; took the printout for the next month instead of the current month. He looked at me and asked: You've reserved a ticket the next month also?!

I was stumped. I mean why was that question even called for? There are probably millions like me who reserve at least one ticket every month. That TTR's astonishment was like he had discovered that I had stolen his favourite berth or something. I didn't was to react to his question. I simply told him "Yes I did".

That TTR then started to red tape the whole affair. He wasn't informed by the previous TTR (the one who came to my berth) that there was someone traveling without a ticket. From what was actually said, I gathered, all the TTRs who board from chennai, get down at Palakkad. That is their end-of-shift. TTRs belonging to a different shift aren't supposed to fine people who have boarded the train before that shift. The TTR admitted that he cannot issue the charge sheet.

This wasn't good news to me. I had to pay a fine of Rs. 250 plus the whole train fare. I only had a debit card at that moment. I accepted the fact that there was no use talking to this TTR. And I was on my way back to my seat. The TTR humbly iterated that he can't do anything about it. And he also told me to try not to get caught by the platform checker.

I sighed again.

I got down at my station. Took the foot bridge which lead to the exit on platform 1. And as i descended the last flight of stairs, the checker was present. I was too frustrated to look scared. I walked normally. He was taking a call on his mobile phone. A few feet from the exit, and his hand was pointed at me. And then all of a sudden, he turned away. I was never checked! I fled the scene as fast as I could.

I am still choked up with the hangover of what happened that cruel day. But then what can one do about it:

Every dog has his day.

The surreal status update

The most strangest thing happened.

I had visitors. They kept on asking me if I knew them or not. And finally they said that we are related! All of a sudden, a funny feeling like, I have known them before, comes up. This usually happens when people say that they are related, in front of people I know; like my parents or close family. So either, I pretend that I know them, or, I am usually encompassed by that strange feeling of being acquainted earlier.

But the fact is, I get this a lot; especially when meeting distant relatives. That brief episode left me in a state of mild embarrassment. These were people close to me, yet I couldn't place them! However, I wasn't so bogged about it. In fact, I was so determined to "share" this experience via a facebook status update. I began thinking what to write. Perhaps I should say something like "...Must update database; can't place my own family relatives. Now searching for the photo album..."

I really liked the stuff I quipped up for the status update. To me it seemed witty, and humourous. Hence I was determined to post it right away. But I wasn't near a computer; and my phone was out of reach too. And as I made a start for it, I quickly seemed to take note of the environment I was "actually" in: the room was dark except for the light coming from the window. I was staring at the ceiling fan, lying on the floor, only to realize I had been dreaming while asleep.

I might have sighed, or, I did not. Its hard to say: I was relieved all of that was a dream. I was equally ashamed of the fact that I was about to update my facebook status, in the same dream.

Leaving your word docs open too long...

When I was a kid I remember my mother used to scold me if I left my textbook open and went to bed. She explained that if you keep your textbooks open for too long Lady Saraswathi would punish you for this.

For the curious lot: Lord Saraswathi is the Goddess of Wealth and Knowledge in the Hindu religion. So those days I figured She might not like it if I left the books open. Although I never really understood the actual reason behind it, I used to think this and dutifully close my books and go to bed.

Nowadays I have to say that the times have changed a lot. Today when I logged-in to my onsite machine and upon noticing so many open applications in the taskbar (pending work) I also seemed to notice a few RQSDs (Requirement Specification Documents) opened in MS Word and went...OMG!!!

The bar stupefaction

I’ve been in and out of bars several times before with friends. However don’t mistake me for an alcoholic. I don’t frequent to bars that much. And frankly people won’t ask me to booze because, well, lets face it, I look like someone who gets stoned easily. And if that happens that’s half their fun-time wasted on me!

But one fine evening an old school friend who had been to Chennai suddenly asks me over the phone:

dude where is a good bar in town?

The feeling was like googling. You typed in a query and got entries. This is analogous to the fact that I have visited several public bars before. But the search results I’d clicked on led me to only blank pages – this is analogous to me, after all these years in Chennai, and having been in and out of bars, didn’t know where to find one!

Well, this was a bit embarrassing. Not knowing how to find a bar, but acknowledging the fact that I’ve been to many bars, the best thing that hit my mind was: to call a friend who took me to a bar for the first time.

I don’t mean to purposefully allude to this but the ‘first-time at anything’ can be useful to get you through very peculiar situations sometimes.

R.A Puram

For those who have lived far away from home, trying to make a life out in another city, there is always the very first time you've ever done so. Getting used to the town, the people, what they speak, the names of various places, etc are all part of the package of being young, & 'lost' in another town. And thats how my first few months in Allsec went about.

I heard of a place called R.A Puram for the first time, when I was in training in Allsec. They have another branch in R.A Puram. Sometimes a new batch of trainees go there to attend training. There were a couple of mallu folks I was friends with. Most of the then were comfortable speaking & understanding Tamil and had been in Chennai more than I have. But as the evaluation day just got over, some of them didn't have enough scores to make it through. Some people I know left the job because of better opportunities else where. The others went to re-training to R.A Puram.

So one in that small group (of people I knew) was trying to keep in touch one day. That person was not in Allsec at the time. He was enquiring about another friend who was in re-training. I texted him something in the lines of: yeah he is in R.A Puram for retraining.

But what I actually typed was:

yeah he is in aaraepuram for retraining

The friend I was texting to never bothered to correct me. I am guessing he figured out where exactly that place was, or he must have thought it was a new town in Chennai.

And I later learn about this mistake, in the most astonishing fashion ever. I was probably on a 21L bus heading to Guindy/Velachery (don't remember). I was probably travelling through Adayar. I just took my nokia 6021 out of my pocket, just to know which locality I was in, and read:

R.A PURAM

Those stupid 1st time things

Ever since tht bus trip bck 2 chen frm calicut (last dec - t 1st f the unofficial lonely wandrer.com series) things hve changed. At least I keep chanting, no matter wht happens: "Life is a celebration; a bizzare inspiration"
Last nyt i ws watching t movie "resident evil - afterlife 3d". Somewher in t mov i just realized tht my ph ws in outdoor mode. I happily took t ph out f my pocket, set it 2 silent, n then slid it bck into my pocket, n went bck 2 watch t movie.
Then i realized tht i ws lukin @ my ph wearin 3d glasses!
I took my ph out and took a gud luk @ it again.

Turtles

A fun episode I recall in my life was those initial training days at Allsec. We were doing accent training. And you've probably already heard how these things go. Everything thing is 'American'. You've to learn something about their culture everyday. We were doing a fun session one day - dumb charades - on American movie title's. Its usually played with two teams. A team thinks of a movie title, and picks a target from the opponent team. The person from the other team has to enact it in front of his/her team until they figure the movie.

This activity is really fun. The only sad part was, that day most people were only getting to know what dumb charades were - they were being 'trained'. (Sigh). So, my trainer was the one who enacted a movie she thought of. There were several teams in this case; and I belonged to a team way back in the last seat.

Most of the people there were not exposed to this 'american movie culture'. Hence they were slow at figuring out movie names. But there were a few who were quick at it too. The trainer, took a bit of a pause trying to figure out what to enact next. She began; she hinted the title contains 4 words. She was going to enact the 4th one. She put her hands one above the other, and started moving her thumbs. She was trying to convey its a fish; she was hoping people would figure out the word 'turtle' eventually.

I began to think:

Fish?...Do I know a movie with a "fish" in it?

Then someone accidentally spurted 'turtle'. By now, I thought, damn, any one could have guessed this by now. The excitement in the trainer's eyes was proof enough.

I laid back. The trainer was actually enacting it to some other team if I remember correctly. It seemed to me that they'd pass.

And they did.

Still no one could figure.

She started doing the "fish" again. She couldn't speak; it was how the game had to be played.

I finally did it. I shouted TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES.

Dead silence in the room. Everyone turned their heads towards my direction. Everyone was probably thinking how can he guess that movie from a "fish"? Someone posted a doubt quietly: did he go to college or the cinema theatre for graduation?

I on the other hand wondered how was she going to enact the word 'mutant'? - She was still standing there, surprised, doing the fish...

Damn, I could have had more fun! :)