Humanputers

that's the species of the new age. cross between humans and computers. have you ever wondered how similar both things are? one is a creature, while the other the first's creation. sometimes i wonder whether all things created are in the like of the creator? I do believe it says in the bible that god created man in his likeness. and i do believe man created computer in his likeness, even though it doesn't seem so. come to think of it, the gap between humans and computers will be almost non-existent in the coming few years. and i suppose even humans will then be classified into categories, based on their processing powers and execution statistics. even now, you can see many parallels between ppl and computers. for example:

-- the obvious examples of input/output for a human,
-- what Ross calls "interfacing": communication between two humans,
-- people who are only finite automaton as opposed to turing machines: they can understand only one word instructions
-- people who are interpreters as opposed to compilers. what interpreter-like ppl do is just take input from various sources and output the same information in a different language. yappers, blabbers, who don't in actuality do any work, but just get things done by embellishing information. the compiler-kind of ppl are the real workers. they get things done by actually doing them.
-- ppl who have very high processing powers but very low input/output frequencies. "interfacing" problems that is,
-- ppl like me who have only flash memory. very volatile, and flashed clean as soon as the job is finished.
-- ppl who have optical drives for memory. photographic memory that is.
-- computers that hog the bandwidth, like a glutton
-- computers that make do without a cabinet cover or even a decent dusting once in a while.. very much like me who hates to take a bath.
-- computers that are almost always in a loud-speaker mode; full volume in speakers, full volume in audio controllers... much like ppl who always shout. their normal speech itself is a li'l loud.
-- computers that get on with the minimum of resources: < 128 Mb RAM, < 40Gb, < pIII.... kinda minimalist approach...


If this continues i suppose later on there will be other attributes/functions as well that computers absorb from humans, or the other way round too:
-- civil war between computers. Windows machines will refuse to cooperate with non-Windows boxes..
-- humans will have to be fed through an internet pipeline (will IV drugs then be called IN drugs?)
-- ppl are already "wearing" computers. monitor screens so flexible that they can be integrated into fabric for clothing. wireless internet, portable power source (the battery), portable memory drives etc...
-- ppl meeting at a bar for the first time will "open" with questions like "asl?"
-- over-possesive husbands will insist their wives be dressed in burqha+firewall...
-- one will associate values to websites.. saying this one is elegantly dressed, that one is just too cheesy, or that the new ones are really getting spoilt... may be websites will then have to be "disciplined".. not to talk to strange i.p.'s and such....



and maybe, just maybe, computers will teach us obediance and tolerance... or, (god forbid!) learn how to love other computers!!

what's with ppl anyways?

college life rulz. and then again, college life sux. why does everybody have to make everything such a big issue? i mean, poor couples, let them alone! first of all, none of us guys have the guts to ask out a girl, but when some poor desperate guy does manage to gather pluck and take the dive, we sit and hate his guts. and then there are the guys who just can't stop acting wierd around girls. what's with them? i mean in the hostel they are all friendly friendly and yo my bro, but as soon as they detect the presence of a girl they become like this snake who's all ready to bite the head off the next guy they meet. and of course, they are the cute cuddly bears to the respective girl. i mean c'mon!!! whatever happened to yo my bro? for that matter how does the mere presence of a girl matter so much in a guys' behaviour? is it healthy at all?
and then of course there are the other kind of guys, the girl haters. can't stand even the sight of a girl, unless of course the girl also has similar interests at heart as the boys. and what' s more, can't stand even the sight of male friends interacting with such specimens of the hated species. why? just because she's a girl. what has she ever done to the guy? absolutely nothing. then why that sheer hatred? dunno!
yet another kind of guy is the one that keeps mooning over what he should have done at one particular moment during one particular semester with one particular girl, and how he missed his chance, and where he might have been if only he had enough courage to do whatever that particular thing was. and now since he had a chance and blew it, he gets to be the defacto victim of leg-pulling among his other loser friends, who just sit around and do nothing at all all day, except of course whining about why they ever became what they became.
i suppose the best kind of guy is the one who's the least bit interested in girls at all. don't get me wrong, not that kinda guy, but one who's either just more interested in something else, like photography or electronics or living a life for themselves, than trying to run around girls... absolutely no worries... aah.. as J.Hendrix rightly sang, "No Woman, No Cry"!!!
but seriously? i mean does that kinda guy have really no worries? what does he do when he needs "emotional support" or a shoulder to cry on? oh crap! i forgot we are guys! we are supposed to be total morons, who don't know what's the meaning of caring, absolutely zer0 EQ! i guess, in the end, all guys are really the same :(

Four guys, two pc's and three tables!

ever saw the world changing right in front of your eyes? imagine this. you go to sleep peacefully, dreaming about heavenly damsels at your feet and all of a sudden there's a disturbance in your own private li'l eden: staccato ricochet of bullets fired from a Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947 and digitally garbled radio commands (with an effected accent) like "Terror-aistes win". There comes a time when you hafta realise you aren't sleeping anymore, and what's more, there are aliens in your room! how else could there be sounds of CS in a room with no computers? so i dazedly peep from under my blanket thinking "who's this #@!%@#$ who disturbs my slumber", and whaddya know! it's 7even, complete with pc and plastic arm chair!! from one dazed soul to another, i ask him what's he doing in my room, and he half-consciously tells me what i already know - CS apparently! ya right! didn't know that! Thoughts of "Invasion of privacy!" and "that too while i'm sleeping!" "who knows what anybody might have seen!!!" immediately jump to my confused, suddenly racing mind. And then i remember that poor Vamsi's LAN wasn't working for the last week, and that even the help desk guys couldn't help it. It's ok, it's just the lan problem, it's temporary, things will settle down... All i need is some time to clear my mind and calm down. So i call mrinal and sit down for yet another of our usual bakar sessions. Ever wonder how pleasing it always is to just talk? talk talk talk, be it sense/nonsense, be it english/half-known hindi/unknown telugu/.. you get my drift right? just the knowledge that another soul is as equally thalue (read "bevars" in telugu) and willing to kaat bakar as you is enough to fill those moments in a day when you don't want to do anything at all... so there i am, kaating bakar as usual, trying to forget momentarily what happened just few minutes ago, but no! the day has yet more surprises for me. coz that exact moment who else but flake appears, (the aforementioned 7even's roommate) that too running a big plywood table along the corridor... and even before i know it, that desk too is part of my room's furniture, along with it's permanent resident, \\cynosure!

so there i am, with two gaming-addicted pc-owning most-laziest making-their-room-even-dirtier-than-mine junior roommates, and their pc's, and their tables, in my small li'l room. minus my original roommate, the ominpresent but everabsent Rahul!!! So i do the next best thing: convince myself this is all for good! i mean till yesterday, i haven't had a pc, but now i have two! wheeee!!!! and of course these guys are not too bad afterall, it's just that they forgot there is something called a world, and that the whole universe is not just a map. moreover, i get to boss over 'em hee hee[evil grin >x)]... so i guess it's a happy ending after all. otherwise i wouldn't have been able to post this blog! chalo then, cya l8r. the sublime pleasures of bouncing balls [ping pong balls, you idiot x( ] by bobbing bats are just too much to resist! eeeh.....[munch munch] so longfolks!

what to do what 2 do??

I somehow have this feeling that whenever i sit and try to come up with a new blog, all i see is blackness all around me, and i end up wailing for something or the other...

let's try to be different this time. I promise myself i will not cry this blog! [:D] guess when was the last time i took a bath? tee heee you wouldn't believe it!! and then there are the cargos, (for the uninformed, a 14-pocket pair of beret-green cargos.. my fav[:)]) which literally conceal the bad odours, so you see, it really doesn't matter. But then what do i do all the 24 hours when there's not even bathing to take into account? (i'll let you in on a secret.. it is still a mystery even to me!!!!). coz when ever you can find the time to come around to my room, you'd only see two juniors rapping furiously on the keyboards (juniors?? oh well.. that's another story..) and either me sleeping on one of the two cots, or two TT bats missing [;)]. Steve tells me i play quite well, but you know Steve. One shouldn't believe his words [:P] So here's my daily schedule:

cycle:
-- wake up strictly whenever I feel like (my first commandment: thou shalt sleep as long as thy wishes!)
-- check immediately if i feel like sleeping again (second commandment: thou shalt not break the first commandment :P)
-- only when i'm thoroughly convinced i really can't sleep anymore, wake up and brush my teeth (in the process, if (self.toothpaste == empty) then {neighbour.toothpaste.steal();} )
-- after stealing their toothpaste, check with neighbour if he is willing to lend me some money (you never know.. ppl are really good in my wing :D)
-- somehow scrape up 40 rs. for the day. enuff for two square meals. i never believed in spending luxuriously anyway... and ppl, don't laugh! collecting b*****s is an honourable way of milching you guys
-- if time is anywhere near late afternoon or early evening, then TT Suit Up! (haaaaa haaaaa : ) and rush to SAC (no no this is not the hay sack, which of course is always coveted, but you see, i just got up from there.. "this is sports and cultural activities centre oops sorry, STUDENTS ACTIVITIES CENTRE as my ever reliable roomy points out :P "). our college has a thing for naming the buildings in the most awkward manner. stick around till i get my number (mera number zaroor aayega) or simply bully the juniors (one of the few advantages of being a senior student) into giving me a slot to play... play on till i am dead tired.. be it TT or even nowadays Badminton sometimes!! srsly can't believe myself.
-- if i'm already fully replenished (tummy wise) and it's not the time for TT anymore, then sit and watch junior roommates playing DOTA or CS... sometimes i mistake Computer Science for Counter Strike!!
-- make serious plans of what to do tomorrow... (plans include lofty ideals of working for BTP as well as practical decisions like which ball to play TT with - orange or white?)
-- oh i almost forgot !! never never say no when somebody calls me to the canteen.. you never know how condescending ppl can get in the wee hours of the night!!! i mean aloo.mutter.sandwhich + ( veg.maggie pyaaz.paratha ) = another square meal, for free!!!
-- by this time, i'd already feel too tired and sleepy, so never in the least bit refrain from going to sleep (oh btw, you never know the time..) i've slept at all kinds of different times: 5 am, 8 am, 2 pm, 6pm, 9pm, 1 am - and all in the space of two weeks!
-- repeat cycle.

Eternal Laziness of the Brainless Mind

have you ever felt trapped? like in a cage? when you realise that you'll be trapped there for eternity, the cage sorta gets comfortable. well, at least no one's gonna invade your space. but does that stop you from trying to escape from the cage? i guess not. then why is it only me that doesn't want to get out of the cage? since childhood, i've blamed everything on my laziness. it's like a cushion that dampens any impact. i feel like i've always walked the shortcut. the route that's shorter, but has a no entry sign outside it, partially hidden in the thickets surrounding it. the route's that not proper. and i've always come through. maybe even a li'l late, maybe missed a few checkpoints. but i've always come through, even though that wasn't the route i was supposed to follow. but right now, i feel like the shorter route has come to a dead end. the route that i've always trusted, or even just implicitly assumed that will get me out. and it's too late to turn back, and start over again, from the last junction in life. and hence, the feeling of being trapped. as to laziness, well that's one thing that i've always been attributed, 'my thing', even from early childhood. and i am lazy, i agree, but as to the cause of that laziness, well i'm still pondering over it after all these years. but being so accustomed to laziness, i've always taken the route that needs lesser work. that is the shorter route. and that has been my cage. trapped in my laziness, coz i'm too lazy to get out. does it sound too dramatic? i think it does. and yet, it sounds so true to me. like i was saying, after so many years, it gets very comfortable to stay lazy. 'comfortable' being in the short run, and not in the long run, which i know and agree. but does that encourage me to get up and try to unlock the cage? no. there's this knowledge at the back of the mind, which says that i will probably find a way out, if only i try hard enough. that brings us to my question:

when you know you can break free from this cage anytime you want, and when you're feeling comfortable inside the cage, why the hurry to break open?

this sounds so much like an addict saying he can quit whenever he wants to. and i despise myself for sounding like that. but what has happened to the world? why is everyone in such a goddamn hurry all the time? why push things when you can get them done all the same without pushing? i hate standing in queues. an improvement on queues is the token system, where you are specifically called upon when it's your time. and something like that should be implemented in life too. somebody should keep telling you what to do. being spoonfed is not so bad afterall. leaves your brain free for all the other things you want to think about. and i guess this is the result when you're spoonfed and mollycoddled all the time, because you're the younger one, the oh-so-cuter one, and sooner than you can blink, you are no more a child. you've been pushed into adulthood. all of a sudden, you're given responsibilities and are expected to uphold them, notwithstanding yesterday when they 'naturally' assumed you wouldn't be able to do a thing by yourself. i hate this. i can blame everyone and anyone for me having turned out as i have. it was the environment. it was the 'schooling'. it was the 'upbringing'. it was the 'friends circle'. (my personal fav - it's the 'system'). what you can see right now is the shorter route at work. blame everybody else, it makes work so much more easier. 'a jumble of nerves and contradictions'. that's what i feel like, and i really donno what Voltaire would say about that.

how can anyone like to work? pursuing a hobby, i can understand. having to work at a job to support livelihood, i can understand. and there are always the few fortunate ones, who are paid to enjoy. even that i can understand. but how is it that one who has no interest at all in a certain kind of work, given half a chance would quit it - how is it such a person eventually comes around to actually liking that work? stuck with it, trying to get free - ok. stuck with it, so no choice, have to live with it - ok. but stuck with it, so might as well like it, even though i have absolutely no interest in it - NOT OK!! doesn't it mean that one's changing one's values and tastes? doesn't it mean that one had definite opinions until now, but had to change them only because one's being bullied into?? i really don't get it. how else can millions of software engineers still go about their dreary lives every day of it? how is it that these millions inspire another million parents, who insist that their child too become one of these worker ants? is it fair at all???

japanese (hehe)

some things i learnt:

asubo: play
atashiwa/bokuwa/orewa: I/me
omaiwa/temewa: you
hayaku: hurry up
ikuzu: let's go
des: is (like hain in hindi) suffix
ka: question (like kya?) hindi
kssse: damn it
timmeh: bastard (or some other profanity)
baakayero/baakamono: idiot
taicho: captain
nee-chan/onee-chan: elder sibling (still some confusion about the gender, lots of theories and counter examples)
kaa-san: mother
tou-san/oya-jii: father
naan: what ()suffix
daichobu: everything allright
so: so as in english (so des ka? translates to is that so?)
sugoi: wow, amazing, excellent
obaa-san: old lady
ojii-san: old man
chotto: little
matta: wait
zutto: always/forever
genjutsu: reality/alternative reality
ittakimaasu: something we say when we are leaving
ohio: good morning
ikerunasai (or something like that): welcome back.
shaase buridana: long time no see
itadakimasu: something that is said before digging into a meal (prayer?)
sensei: teacher
senpai: senior
ototo: li'l bro
gome/gomena/gomenasai/suimasen: sorry (in varying degrees)
arigato: thank you
gozaimaas: much more/ very much (i think it increases the degree someway)
heiya: room
-kun/chan: honorific used to denote familiarity (kun suitable for males, chan for females, although not strictly enforced)
-san: honorific used to denote respect
-sama/dono: honorific used to denote great respect and honour
gan: eye (byakugan, sharingan)
byaku: white (byakugan, byakuya)
sen: 1000 (when used as a number)


hmmm.. not bad i guess, considering all of this out of only anime...

TAGGED!!

been tagged by my loony roomy, Kangaroo high on life, and coming as it does after the grave danger for bloggers, i guess this is but a letdown. anyways, i'll try my best to be me (ouch! what a total Loser!!)

Bees: Everything is always about me. be it other's actions, or even other's thoughts, the only thing that goes in my mind is how does it affect me. all i think is about me. that is, of course, if i do think.

Unnees: am a first rate hypocrite. now does that make this a paradox? if a liar says he's lying, isn't he telling the truth? can't stand things that i'm not good at. can't take an impartial stand on anything, coz from Bees, my opinion on anything changes according to the effect it has on me.

ATThara: Like to think of myself as a Mathematician. see ? this is Unnees in action.. i know i can't even hold a candle to all those cat toppers, but still i'd like to think of myself as high and lofty.

Sathra: Cause for ATThara being i like logic and reason. not to the extent that i exclude faith from my beliefs, but yes, sometimes i do think why am i even praying. but then i realise, there has to be an all-powerful being, since the big bang theory doesn't hold up for all time. So is faith an outcome of failure of reason? or is reason just another form of faith?

Sola: sometimes Sathra even affects my social life. i mean, who would actually enjoy a logically correct joke? who in the first place would recognise it for being logically correct? Damn you, Aristotle. (if you are thinking this was a logically correct joke, you are gravely mistaken. coz i myself dunno what i'm typinh.)

Pandhra: Sometimes love li'l conundrums, play on words, oxymorons, and all such things. though i admit i can't solve puzzles for s**t, i still like the solutions or the thought process towards solution (better than the puzzle sometimes). one natural outcome of this being my affinity towards the Bard's Balderdashes in all their divine glory.

Chowdha: still believe that i'm superior to many people. that only reminds me i'm inferior to many more, but can't get rid of this complex. sometimes clouds my judgement. have an irrepresible urge to compare myself with anyone i come to know. "Pathetic existence" you say? hehe you don't even know the P of it yet.

Tera: a social outcast. i know all the smiles and TTY shouts i encounter in the hallways are but facades of much deeper feelings, which neither of us are ready to face yet. "friendly banter" and "camaraderie" are but euphemisms for "f**k you man, i wish i were in your place". or is this just a reflection of my thoughts and hence absolutely false? but i really lack true friends. friends who are willing to help me, yes, friends who are willing to take risks for me, yes. i do have them. but friends i'm willing to open up to? not yet.

Baara: i wish i was an intellectual. i really donot understand the concept of intellect or of art. but i do believe that philosophy is broader and encompasses science, so i'll always value intellect above intelligence. only, i don't know what is intellect. i know i don't have it, but i think some people do. just another concept to conquer, a bit difficult one tho.

Gyaara: Simply love the concept of a basis spanning a vector space. or in other words, linear independence. i think it's analogous in some way to a set of axioms creating a whole theory. or to a set being partitioned (do the words mutually exclusive and exhaustive ring a bell?). Whole of Geometry is based on axioms one of which is that point has no dimension. corollaries of this are that line has no area, plane has no thickness. can a person be simply expressed as a (be partitioned into) set of tastes and beliefs? what is it that differentiates a rational person from an automaton that creates its own theory based on the same facts of the same world? or in other words, can we create a being which is self-willed, but takes predictable actions, as would a hypothetical 'rational human devoid of emotion' ? can we then say a person is but an embodiment of a set of tastes and beliefs and nothing else?

Dus: sometimes really love totally illogical moments too. like the movie Dus. or Raj's pj's. prolly the reason i hang a stone around my neck. btw, does anyone have an idea why i would do that? help me out.

Nou: oh i almost forgot. the perfunctory "I'm a lazy person" point. seems like everyone's having a free point, i might as well take it too. for more details, contact His Excellency The Mighty Gluteus Max. his address is usually ambiguous, but i believe his summer residence is A207, winter residence is A202. usually prowls around the A2xx wing.

AaTh: Something about me, sthing abt me.... haven't the previous points totally exhausted my personality? i sure aplogise for them not being exclusive :P

Saath: sensuality is something that appeals me very strongly. i'd prefer to ogle at a sensual woman than drool at a sexual female. overt sexuality is something that puts me off. "Choodachakkanitanam" in telugu.

Che: as the numbering would indicate, i'm hopeless at hindi. but i still try my best. sometimes i get so frustrated at genders and past participles and such, i myself have trouble understanding what i say.

Paanch: Love to learn all the languages and scripts. Love to learn all the musical intstruments also. wild phantasy: one day i wake up to realise that i have a long forgotten gift at both music and language and math, such that i understand everything everyone speaks. Guess i like to understand things more than create something by myself. Aristotle's Passive Observer. guess it figures why i'd like the solution or the process towards solution more than the puzzle itself.

Chaar: never had any tastes or opinions in anything. absolute white paper. guess another attribute of a passive observer. and ultimately i become nothing, just remain in the background. composing background music for life in the manner my loomy (loony roomy, cho chweet loomy) envisions, but never living life itself. does that make me immortal? hehe.

Teen: really in need of a girlfriend. need not be very clever, need not be very rich. need not even be friends to start with... but should be of rounded proportions, and willing to bear the company of a despo tarkhi. the reason why i'm still single, even with such a magnificent brain and body? a much more magnificent ego, munificent enough to bother about self only. guess i'll really die alone.

Do: do need close friends too. i do have real good friends, friends willing to take risks for me, willing to help me out. but none i'm willing to open up to. there are secrets, and there are secrets. trust is not a very firm concept. not all transportation problems are in balance. 21 years of life have only taught me ignorance. can't find a more ignorant person than me in college. (KR Narayanan died?? oh i see. is RK Narayanan alive??)

Ek: what the previous unnees points add upto is not something very uncommon. it's called a loser. simple and neat axioms, assumptions or whatever, strongly intermingling with each other to create a web of contradictions, inaction and pathetic existence, appropriately termed as a loser. i think this is logically correct, but not a joke eh?

now to some questions: if i tag someone already tagged, aren't they obliged to write more about themselves? if yes, then consider this case, the barber's mirrors. A keeps tagging B, and B A. and they are truthful about every point they note. Now will the tagging ever stop? (halting problem?) if it does, then it means either A or B doesn't have anymore to say about themselves. doesn't that mean they are finite sets of points, either beliefs or tastes? If the tagging never stops, then don't they have a life? (cheap joke akshat, i know, just cudn't resist..)