Aila

My recent tryst with Newspaper Editing , it seems, was not without a sense of irony.

When I returned home one day, after working long hours on an article for sTUDelta, my mom called me and asked, 

" Did you know that your home-town (Durgapur) is caught in a huge cyclone? The city is in a state of complete black-out and 12 people have died in the state of West-Bengal. And your mom nearly escaped a car accident in the midst of  storm."

"What ? how are you, mom. I am so sorry I was so busy that I did not keeping track of news, lately".

"I am fine, and so is your father . What are you so busy with, that you don't get time to read or  watch news ?"

"Well, I am busy with Newspaper Editing." 

Belgian Blitz on Bike

“Let’s bike to Antwerp”.

We were a bunch of international friends, with whom I was sharing a pitcher of beer at Tango, our favorite pub in Delft, at that time. The fun-filled Summer School had recently ended, the first-quarter lectures had started but no assignments had been handed out yet. And I was longing for an adventure.

“Tomorrow will be a nice sunny day, perfect for a cycle trip” replied Jabus from across the table. 

Vivek jumped in from nowhere, “Antwerp is only hundred and thirty kilometers from Delft, at an average speed of just ten kilometers per hour it will take only fourteen hours?” 

I wasn’t sure if he was sarcastic or was merely giving out facts to help us decide. Michael, our mentor of the month, did not share the enthusiasm, “You guys must be crazy. Do you even have a map to plan your bike trip?”. 

“Where is the fun in that?” I replied jokingly, “We will ride towards south on the red cycle-paths. Let the sun and sign-boards guide us”. 

Jabus took that seriously, “Dushyant, if you really want to do this trip, I will join you, who need a map anyway?”

 “Then let’s start tomorrow at 7 am in the morning in front of the Space-Boxes. We should reach Antwerp at around 9 pm”, I announced, already excited, anticipating a mad adventure. 

“I will join you”, Vivek chanted as he rose to get another pitcher of beer.

Next morning, at 6 am I forced myself up from a hangover. I quickly showered, packed my bag with an extra pair of clothes and a bike repair kit. Jabus was already waiting at the Space-Box cycle-stand when I came out. It was a bright and sunny and the sky was a spotless blue. Perfect!! While we waited for Vivek, Jabus showed me a rough sketch of our cycle track he had prepared early in the morning from Google Maps. To my surprise, Vivek showed up, almost on time and we embarked on our journey.

We biked. Through big cities: crossing Rotterdam, Dordrecht and Breda and through beautiful countryside.

We biked. Along glittering canals, into the swampy woods and across green fields, under dark tunnels, over countless bridges and on the snail-paced ferryboats.

We biked. Often in circles, lost and confused, sometimes due to incorrect sign-boards and lack of map, and sometimes due to our lack of basic understanding on direction of sun at different times of the day.

We biked. About hundred kilometres, when our back and behind started hurting. Badly.

Nevertheless, we kept going until we conquered the Belgian border. We celebrated the victory lying down in a green field, basking in our glory and red sunset with Belgian beer. Cheers!


 

Victorious in our Belgian Battle, we now headed for Antwerp War which was still thirty kilometres away. Drunk on two bottles of Duvel beer, I tried my best not to transgress into the motor-highway next to the cycle-path.


Jabus and Vivek had a tough time, not only in keeping me away from the highway, but also keeping up with my pace. The Belgian beer had miraculously cured me of my pains and had boosted my adrenalin level so much that I was cycling more than twenty kilometres per hour, non-stop. We reached Antwerp in less than two hours.

At 22:00, 15^th September 2007, The Antwerp War was won. It was time to sign the Truce at the local hotel for a peaceful sleep.

This is the article which i wrote for sTUDELTA, but two days before the date of release the management made cost cutting measures by scraping off few articles to reduce the number of pages from 24 to 20. This article was scraped off too.

sTUDELTA-18

Tomorrow, on 28th May 2009, the sTUDelta-18 will be released in the university campus. 

Its a special edition of TU Delta newspaper by a special editorial team in which I volunteered.

We have worked really hard to make it a special edition. 

Few things that this month long project taught me :

1. Never be shy to volunteer for a campus activity. These are the opportunities where you get to explore your hidden talents, if any, and make mistakes without risking your career or finances. Katherine, who volunteered for the editorial team, was not very sure about what role she will play. She did a great job in editing our articles and writing a nice essay herself.

2. Volunteer to take down the minutes of the meetings on the first day. I did not do that. But had I done it I would have learned the names of the team mates on the first day itself. 

3. Do not brag about your credentials. No body wants to hear about how many editorial jobs you have done before or prises you won for your literary skills. Instead try to be enterprising in offering your service when there is a demand for one. 

I liked the way Richard worked in the editorial team. He never boasted about his exemplary career in photography but was very enthusiastic in offering his service to everyone. He regularly posted e-mails and announcements to remind the journalists and authors of articles to send him the request for photographs well in advance so that he can make nice pictures for their  article. His professional skills were very conspicuous as we watched him dextruously set up his camera and lens to capture our group photographs in the crappy weather. 

4. Wait for your turn to speak up during the meetings. Speak out loud if you want to contribute  but do not change the topic of discussion abruptly. There might be someone with a brilliant idea waiting for his turn to speak. 

Filip, one of the coordinators was responsible for supervising the discussions during the meetings. It was nice that he brought with him an agenda with a list of topics to be discussed in the meetings. But only if he could announce those topics loud so that we would know what we are discussing at the moment. Miranda complained that the meetings were taking too long, and the reason was simple : our discussions were not structured.

5. Never collaborate with someone to write an article. Its okay if one writes and other edits it, but writing the body of the article in team/pair is a bad decision. Even when you are writing on the same topic, and agree on the content of the article, the two authors will have never have same perspective  on the issue. So you fight more often than collaborate. 

And then there is the time issue. In the busy schedule of ours it is difficult to find time to meet and think on the article together. Even when we do find time together words trickle down from brain very slow when you schedule it. 

Me and Aarabi had difficult time writing an article together. I was always so critical about anything original she wrote while she did not like me quoting Penelope all the time. We succeeded in the end, but after lot of tiring arguments. 

I have found out that I like to write alone, before I go to bed. That's the time am relaxed, thinking clearly in my head without any external influence except the Internet.

6. Make all channels  of communication free from ambiguity and misinformation's. Case-study : the miss-communication between the crew (student editorial team) and the management (TUDelta). 

I will talk about this more later, since we still have to figure out the root cause of miscommunication in TU Delta, which led to a decision to reduce the number of pages in sTUDelta by four pages, thereby scraping off 10 articles from sTUDelta in cluding three articles of mine.

Twitter Bullshit

For months now , I have been getting email requests to sign up for Twitter. But I did not. Orkut and Facebook and LinkedIN are more than enough. I did not want to join any more networking sites. And when I came to know that Twitter is just a status-update-thingy , I loathed it even more. 

What is remarkaable is the aggressive marketting of this junk site throughout mass media. What is even more remarkable is that people are falling for it so easily. 

I was not able to express it in words why the concept is so bogus, untill I bumped into this video :

I refuse to be part of this ultra-stupid concept called Twitter.

Moved

Yesterday, I moved to Marcushof from AVS40.
After living with Prem and Siddharth in Arthur Van Schendelplein 40 ( which I had started calling home) for almost two years, it was a hard decision to make.

AVS40 was previously rented by a french couple who had kept place amazingly clean and tidy and aesthetic. When we got this flat for rent, in November 2007, it was an empty house, with hollow rooms. Thankfully, they left the impeccable flooring intact and the kitchen equipped with a refrigerator, dishwasher and gas stove. 

AVS40 Kitchen

We furnished rest of the place, brick by brick, with our own hands (literally sometimes). Some of the furniture was second-hand but most of it was for free, picked up from the streets by people clearing their garage or leaving their homes. We called the later source Free-Ikea , after the cheap furniture store Ikea. The beds in all our rooms, the sofas and chairs , television and desks in living room all came from Free-Ikea.

AVS40 Living Room: Initial days

AVS40 Living Room: Latest days

It was great fun living in AVS 40. From the beginning all three of us had sworn to keep the place as clean and tidy as the french couple, and we stuck to the promise all the time. Sometimes when someone forget to clean kitchen or tidy the living room , I used to leave 'Post its ' requesting the required party of do his job. Siddharth abhorred this practice, and when he objected we started reminding people of his duty on the face. This open and direct approach worked well as we could speak our minds , rather sulk , if the chores of the house were left undone by others. The best part of living together was grandiose dinner we ate every night prepared by one of us according to his/her turn in the week. 



The kitchen was fully equipped and experimentation with food was encouraged by all. This encouraged me to try different recipes (often improvised based to what is available in the fridge) and cooking became fun as well. Have you heard of Chinese-Mixed-Vegetable cooked in Garam Masala, or Pasta Curry , Eskimo-Green-Salad and ofcourse my masterpiece, Jichkhana ?

Eskimo-Green-Salad

Although only three people were officially registered in AVS40, there were always more than three people staying in our place. Shiva, Ranadeep, Shreyas, Sandeep, Nestor, Jabus, Marilyne,Christiane, Rajeev, Aarabi.... all have taken shelter in AVS40.
Random Party Pic at AVS40

The AVS40 was a also social revolution for me. I was a able to expand my social circle incredibly thanks to the parties, dinner invitations and friends and couch surfers taking shelter at our place. Prem and Siddharth are both very social guys. Through them I have known people : not only TU- graduated students and TU-Phds, but also people outside the university .

Siddhrth Birthday Party

And they have encouraged me to do the same. Prem always kept me from loosing my focus from studies but also encouraged me to take up extra-curricular activities with equall stride. He also pushed me take these activities to the next level, which I did through my yearbook stints and journalistic achievements. Prem , apparently is cousin of Dinesh Chandra Siva , my best friend in Ramaiah. Small world huh ?!!

While Prem was my mentor, Siddharth has been my archetypal senior. His legacy as a Baba of the Gang (bang) has been narrated many times by his batch mates and I had the opportunity to witness it first-hand living in the same place. Hats off to his energy, enthusiasm for life and his unique style, something that I strive to achieve myself. Sid urf Baba B$%*# Balboa has seen it all, done it all, been there all and said it all. Yes, he bestows upon me words of wisdom, whose deeper meaning can only be understood by those who care to follow.

Last words of wisdom which I was offered by Sid, was this :

'When you become comfortable at a place, its time to move'

I took his preaching very seriously. And, when the opportunity arrived I grabbed it eagerly with both hands. I am now moving to Marcushof where I will have a small meagerly furnished room and attached toilet. The bathrooms and kitchen is common to every floor , shared by 10 to 15 people. Its an exciting place to live, since you meet different people every day, especially while cooking in the common kitchen. Every weekend and even in weekdays, there is a party on a floor where you meet even more party animals.

Marcushoff Party in Common Kitchen

Of course living all alone by myself in single room will be tough now. I wont have a friendly face welcoming me with a cup of tea, when I return from work, neither a helping hand during weekend-cleaning-ceremonies. But that is a small price you pay for big adventures. You have to come out of your comfort zone to experience new.

But it wont be so tough after all. Marcushof is just a kilometer from AVS. And since they are letting me keep the keys to the flat I have free access to my former home. Also, Its about time I immerse myself in my thesis which is progressing at snail pace. A dose of solitude will help me focus on my work, I hope.

No Enthu No Team

My biggest problem  is my obsession with excitement. I am perpetually excited guy. I am excited about my work, sports, friends, strangers, talking, walking, running, biking, eating, cooking, smoking, drinking, chatting, movies, music. Even at the age of 27 when people start thinking of settling down with family (some have already married with kids) , I still feel 18. There is still so much to see, so much to learn, so much to discover. (Ofcourse love, family, children are beautifull things to discover, but it can still wait)

One of the things which I discovered recently and which is exciting my intellectual senses beyond my wildest imagination is Journalism. I have joined a Student Editorial Team of TU Delta, an independent newspaper for the Technological University of Delft. This special team is working on TU Delta 18, which will be released on May 28 2009. 

TU DELTA-18

The team consists of around 20 students , half of them are Dutch and rest international. We have been given the challenge to make the Newspaper more appealing and relevant to students. 

There is a lot of work to be done. And right from the day one we have been brainstorming ideas towards improvement of the newspaper.  This newspaper will be by the students, for the students and of the students.

sTUDelta-18

I am the cartoonist of this paper. Edgar, one of the coordinator of this team has promised to arrange a PC-drawing Tablet for me. I can use it to draw cartoons directly into the computer and process it using Photoshop.Also, I am working together with different students on various articles. Since these articles are going to be published in Newspaper, we have to be careful with the facts and figures and follow some guidelines on professional journalism. This makes the task challenging but exciting as well

I am working harder and harder on this project. The articles are always on the back of my mind when am working , sleeping or having normal conversation with friends. Every thing I see, hear or feel is processed by brain cell for worthiness of an article in the Newspaper. New ideas which keep popping in my head, I jot them down , to explore its possibilities later.

However, the problem starts when your enthusiasm and excitement is not shared by few people working with you. The purpose behind creation of this special editorial team is not only to create a student's newspaper  but also provide a platform where dutch and international students can work together, to bridge a social divide which plagues the university campus. However, the goals of the team cannot be fulfilled if the team-members fail to show up in the meetings and work alone on their respective articles. If they were so busy , they should never have volunteered to join team. If they are such good writers , they should have sent their articles to the full time editors and get them published in a regular TUDelta newspaper. We do not need your literary skills and past editorial experiences and neither your apologies for absence in the meetings or blackboard discussions. 

What we need is your enthusiasm. A passion to participate. A love for integration.

Life under construction

Soon after my birth in Bhopal my parents brought me to Durgapur where my Dad worked in Durgapur Steel Plant. We used to lived in a small township in a small house provided by DSP.

Durgapur under construction

As I grew up I saw my town grow into a budding city. I saw woods in front of our government housing being felled to create residential complex. I saw truck and lorries piling mountain of bricks and sands and cement on the cleared sites. It was a dream come true for the children in our locality. We used to spend hours playing in the mud, digging tunnels through the mountains of sand and cement and searching for our slippers and shoes lost in the sand piles. At dawn our favorite game was hide and seek in the newly constructed hollow buildings. It used to take mom an hour to wash away dirt from my scalp, ear, nose and nails !!

Since then we have moved to bigger appartments (after every major promotion of dad) and I have played with every brick and every pile of sand and cement which went into their construction.

Even after I grew up to my teens, too old to play in dirt, the trucks, lorries and road rollers were still ubiquitous in Durgapur. It was nice to see the next generation of kids still playing the same sand games in the construction sites. I sometimes used to join them to revive old memories and teach them the art of digging deeper tunnels in sand piles.
It seemed that my town will be forever under construction.

Bangalore under Construction

When I got admitted in Ramaiah, Engineering college in Bangalore I was glad to leave the small developing town to live in a fully developed city. However, little did I know that even this hi tech city was trying to rebuild itself to compensate for the population explosion (due to software and telecom revolution). So the the first thing I see on my arrival in Bangalore is renovation of the Central Station. Then I saw roads being widened and the ones which could not be widened anymore getting converted into oneway lanes. New Malls and resdential complex were springing up every week and new restaurants and bakeries ever day.

Even Ramaiah cammpus was not aloof from the reconstruction mania. The Electronics Department had just been demolished and a new building for Electrical Sciences was under construction. At the end of my first semester I saw my Mechanical Engineering Departmental Building go into rubbles. And for the next four years we never had our own department. We had to share facilities with Civil and Electrical Engineering.

Mechanical Photoshoot infront of Electrical Sciences Building

We lived in the students hostel with a constant threat that soon the hostel will be demolished and hostelites will be asked to evacuate the place. The threat was real. Because somehow despite refurbishment of the entire university, the hostel was always the most neglected section on the campus. The rooms were never repaired despite complaints of leaking walls during monsoons. The dirt road in front of the hostel was never repaired and the parking space for hostelites never constructed. What they did instead was constructed a new Degree College right next to the hostel which brought more dirt and dust into the hostel premise.

We had heard rumors that founder chairman of Ramaiah Institute was cursed/blessed with eternal prosperity only if he never stops constructing. So Ramaiah demolishes and reconstructs existing building if there is nothing else to construct !!

TU Delft Under Construction

I came to TU Delft again expecting that the university with world wide reputation will at least have a fully developed campus and facilities in place. Alas.... this is what I got : (pics to be uploaded)

An open email

Today, I wrote an email to my Mama, in a state of total frustration :


Subject: what is mobile number , karun kya dial number

Hello Mamu, Mami,

Long time , no see.

Its amazing how communication technology has advanced and even though so many online tools are available to communicate 'easily'
when I felt like talking to you , I failed miserably.

I did not remember which email id I used to send you e-mails, in the good old days wen we used that technology.
So I tried to call you from my internet phone, Just Voip
But the phone number that was stored in my Just Voip does not exist anymore.
So I checked Mami's Orkut account, in vain.
Then I found Mama's number in Facebook, unfortunately no one answered.
Finally, I called Palash who was in Kolkata, but fortunately his Roaming Service was activated.

He finally gave me your right number ! Hurrah .
But, wait a minute : No one is picking it up !

Is there a technology available which forces MamaMami to pick up the phone ?

Bhaskar Vidya bas kar
Char Shabdon ki Vartalap kar

Here is my phone number
call me wen u free ,
+31619351966

Dushyant

A step ahead

Its been quite a while since I have written a post here.
Not because I had a mind-block. On the contrary I was beaming with several ideas.
And working on lot of things including implementing the ideas.

For the past three weeks I have been working for Yearbook 2009 Committee. The task was to send emails to the to-be-graduates requesting them to write an essay on their graduate life in university. I had volunteered for the task because it looks good on your resume and not too much work, but soon I started enjoying the work .

This is the team I worked with :





Few interesting facts about this job:

1. The first email request you send might be read by the graduate student but will always be ignored.

2. Next time he sees the same email in his inbox he will send it directly into the trash without bothering to read inside.
The Trick is to change the subject every time you spam him with your request. After ten emails you may wish to change the content as well.

2. Always give an deadline way before actual deadline. Graduates invariably fail to comply with any deadline, even if they were interested in the first place.
Reason: all of them suffer from Students' Syndrome and all students love deadline extensions.

3. After several days & after several group mails have been sent (and mercilessly ignored) its time to send customized e-mails with lots of please and thank-you's to each graduate preferably to his/her non-official email address.
It helps immensely if you have previous acquaintance with the graduate.

A reply with the promise to write an article is guaranteed at this stage.

4.Have patience !!

5.When you receive a contribution from a graduate, read it and reply with gratitude for their time and effort and an honest accolade on the content of essay.

6.Keep sending reminders to those who promised but failed to comply.

7. Call the students who did not reply at all. Make them talk about their adventures/trips/parties and encourage them to write on it. Most of them were probably thinking that their graduate life was not so interesting. Make them realize the contrary. Use lots of "wao" "intersting" and "amazing" in your conversation.

Next day, you will receive an amazing article from the same student.

8. Once you receive sufficient number of contributions its time to change tactics.
Announce extension of deadline. Meanwhile email the non complying graduate students about rest of the students who have already contributed for the yearbook. When they realize that their friends' essays are getting published, they will immediately become interested and send you their contributions.

I am proud that this time I was able to collect more than 12 contributions from the Aerospace Faculty as compared to only two for past two years.

I found Paul's essay the best among the contributions of Aerospace Graduates. Not only was it well composed but its very original without cliché. I admire his perseverance through the struggle during his graduation and his all-the-time smiling face.

I was inspired to write an original contribution too (I am a to-be-graduating student myself). I also wrote a short story on our cycle trip to Antwerp in September 2009.

I feel so refreshed from creative writing which has been occupying most of my nights before sleep. It is good fun. I now want to take it to next level.

I am working with Aarabi on an article for TU Delta, the university newspaper.
She is freelance reporter fot TU Delta and has written entertaining and thought provoking articles for the newspaper. It will be a good learning experience working with a seasoned writer.

I have also joined the Student Editorial Team of the as a cartoonist. Aarabi and Ritesh are also joining me there.

Lost in Lost

I must declare again : LOST is THE greatest television series of all times, Literally. It has captures the wildest imaginations of geeks around the world.
Last two episodes were torturing , especially due to too much of emotional drama and with its ever so ambiguous time travel theory. The last episode ended with Sayeed killing ben in his childhood. This raises lots of question on the laws of fate and time travel, if there is any such thing to which LOST adheres. I have copy-pasted a related chat-conversation with Nestor.
I invite LOST FANS to comment on this post.

Dushyant says :hoe het met je
Néstor says ):hey man
hoe GAAT met mij? alles goed
Dushyant says :hoe gaat, ya

Dushyant says:wat did u do yest
Néstor says :working, reading, ...watched lost
Dushyant says :good boy,did u like the lost episodes
Néstor says :so so, but finally we will know what happens when someone is killed in the past whether that reflects forth in the future
Dushyant says :wat,u mean ben
Néstor says :ben's been killed as a boy
Dushyant says :and ?
Néstor says :well, ok, might have survived
Dushyant says :tats wat i think'
Néstor says:but if he hasn't, will it be noticed in the future? that's the paradox of travel time
Néstor says:time travel
Dushyant says:i thinks thats wer fate comes in,u will not be killed unless fate wants to ,so no matter wat Sayeed tries to do he w ill never kill ben
Néstor says:then am pretty sure they will show the adult ben witout shirt with the scar,but I like your thesis
Dushyant says :i have another theoray
adult ben is trying to go back in past wen small ben already existed, so fate kills small ben (temporarily or permanently) to balance the mass of souls ( or some other conservation law )

You have just sent a nudge.

Néstor says : i see
makes sense, but that still doesn't explain why is adult ben alive unless he's ethernal, if he really gets killed as a boy
Dushyant says :a temporary death
Néstor says :and how does that happen, through resurrection? in order to get older, he's got to resurrect
Dushyant says :Kindofff !!
Néstor says :no way

Mission Impossible

The trick to get work done is to get started. No task is as difficult as the brain makes it.

On Monday, my doctor told me I am fine, but I ll have to undergo a major surgery in Leiden to end the oozing saga. I had no excuse to stay home . Time to pick up the thesis work from where I left it a month back. But the unfinished delayed work on thesis seemed like peak of mount-everest.
On Tuesday, I somehow overcame the fear and went to my work-station at Aerodynamics Lab. No one noticed the band-aid on my left ear. Even if they did no one showed on their face. So far so good.
As I assessed my work load its enormity of work sent a cold chill down my spine. How the hell am I going to finish my work on time.

Fight or flight ?
I decided to stay and fight.

And all of a sudden a miracle happened. I found the stupid bug in my code.
I ran my simulations, produced some nice graphs and wrote a one page report.
Suddenly, the work did not look so much of a burden after all.

Next three days, I have been working like a dog: I read a lot of literature, produced few more graphs and plots, made appointments with Phd students and played Table Tennis with colleagues at lab (yes, we have TT table in our lab !!).

Its amazing what all you can accomplish by just getting started.

TU Wiki

Starting March 2nd there is a TU wiki available for all students and staff of the TU Delft. Users can login with their NetID.

And here a nice video on what you can do with it

Vande Maa Taram

Today, I was surfing youtube, listening to the melodious songs broadcasted on  Doordarshan, during the times when we were kids. When Doordarshan was the only channel available on television.

My all time favourites are : 

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara ,

Ek Anek.

These Videos were broadcasted millions of times during comercial breaks, and they enthralled me every time I watched them. I believe these videos have done a good job in promoting the spirit of "Unity in Diversity" in Indian children (and adults too).

I was searching for more patiotic videos when I found this awesome composition by A.R. Reheman.

Hearing the above composition I felt the urgent urge to listen to our national song, Vande Mataram in its original form. 

Surprisingly, I could not find a single file on youtube which could sate my thirst.

In the end I found the audio version of vande mataram in good old wikipedia.

I end this blog with tribute to Shree Bankimchandra Chattopadhya for his beautiful and inspiring contribution

वन्दे मातरम्
सुजलां सुफलां मलयजशीतलाम्
शस्यश्यामलां मातरम् |
शुभ्र ज्योत्स्ना पुलकित यामिनीम्
फुल्ल कुसुमित द्रुमदलशोभिनीम्,
सुहासिनीं सुमधुर भाषिणीम्
सुखदां वरदां मातरम् ||

Dreamz Zeppelin

If I had money and time I would be riding this over the alps

check out this site

My tryst with Dutch Hospital(ity)

Last week could have been The Most horrible week of my life.  

Monday :

I observed a swelling near my ear . Dissmissed it. Worrying makes ailment worse, says my father, just ignore it and it will go away.

Tuesday: 

The swelling has increased. I should'nt worry.

Wednessday:

I had sleepless night, the pain on the bulge near my ear was killing me. Now am really worried.

Thursday:

 I called my Doctor, told his secretary its an emergency, she told me to come in 24X 60X60 seconds. Gosh ! Why so urgent ? Let me propose a date in next century. 

Friday: 

I woke up with a swollen face , the swelling had spread and made me look like an ogre.

Cycled to north most corner of Delft to reach the clinic. There I had to first fill up a form with same info already available from my Resident's Permit. Welcome to Dutch Bureaucracy!

And then I had to wait. Each second of pain and suffering seemend eternity. 

After only 30x60 seconds (read pain) the doctor called my name. After 15X 60 second of deliberation he told me that he cannot treat me. Great!! If I live through this suffering I will admire your honesty, but what now? Go to Hospital Reiner De Graaf in the south of Delft.

 Yippie, another cycle trip.

Hospital Reiner De Graaf :

I reach Reiner De Graaf fifteen mintute ride away. Thankfully Prem and Nestor joined me in this trip.

We went to emergency section where I got yet another form to fill and a waiting room.

After a long wait (I did not mind this time since I had company to distract me from the pain) the doctor came and took me to his chamber. He was young and looked nervous . Then without warning he touched my swelling and I shrieked with pain. I could not tell who was more scared:  me or him. He said he cannot treat me. Yeah, tell me something new.

He ran out, and brought another doctor with him. This one looked experienced and examined my swelling confidently, ran his fingers gently on my ear without hurting me while explaining his colleague about his opinion on the treatment. I was getting to like this the doctor untill he spoke the golden words: I cannot treat you. Please go to the other building to see the Head Surgeon. Atleast he made me laugh inspite of the pain.

So, we embarked on our third journey to the other building five minutes walk away.

And waited till eternity in the waiting room. 

Finally, the head surgeon met me and I was diagnosed of the most disgusting disease on this planet. No, it was'nt Leprosy. 

The surgeon made incission in the swelling , and whatever came oozing out of it, turned the surinami nurse green but relieved me of my pain. Doctor patched my wound and dismissed me immediately, recommending rest and no stress. Well, the only thing that was stressing me out was shuffling between docters in the hospital. 

Nestor was quite dissapointed, he was expecting a more dramatic operation scenario. He also preffered that I be admitted in the hospital wards so he could visit me and the surinami nurse more often.

I still don't know the name of this disease. I think they are gonna name it after me.

Friday (contd..)

The day is not over yet. I slept throught out the afternoon, woke up in evening....

Door bell: Nestor and Max came to visit. They brought fruits and chocolates. Nestor still looked dissapointed.  Max was cool, my swolen face did not scare him.

Door bell : Its Shiva, of all days he decides to to visit us when am bloated like boiled potato. 

Door bell: Oh no! Its Rajeev, he looks at me, first with disbelief and then with hearty laughter. I am furious but then I CDNY.

Door bell: Joe and Raghu, Thats just great ! Why don't I put my face on the national newspapre. But first I have to give Joe and Raghu scoop of my story. 

Door bell: Christian and Sandeep , the story is gonna reach the masses before its reaches the Newspaper.

Lest the bell rings again I hit the bed. 

Lot Messaging Service

When I arrived Bangalore for my BE in 2002, I was amazed to see that every student had a cell phone in his/her possession. Telecommunication was booming in India. And Bangalore was the centre of Telecom Industry . The cellular services were competing with each other armed with attractive 'student' offers to lure the growing market segment, namely college students. These offers invariably included unlimited free SMS's.

Soon, I got my Nokia 1100 and overuse, misuse, abuse of this revolutionaly technology called Short Message Service followed.


1. Where are you ?
It was most common SMS text ever circulated in Ramaiah's campus. (and am sure in every other college in Bangalore).
Lost in a crowed? SMS where are you to 'send all friends in group' to get real time location of your pals.
Boredf? Send a wer r u to your mobile chat friend to start a sms conversation.
Waiting for unpunctual friend too long : sms w u .

The utility of this text became so apparent that soon this phrase was replaced by a single letter w.

I was once riding my bike (ok, borrowed bike) already late for a birthday party. My cellphone in my pocket began to ring. I took out the cell phone at red signal only to find that there were no missed calls, but 20 sms from friends with same text: W

2. Okay !
Okay (and in due course just K) was the most popular SMS reply to every possible SMS. Here's an example of its overuse
Dinesh: W
Dushyant: Room
Dinesh: K
Dushyant: K
Dinesh: Don't Ok fr K
Dushyant: K
Dinesh: u r as ol
Dushyant: K

3. cm40

This SMS has its root in Student's home. It was first coined by Tushar Pandit. The original SMS text used to read 'Come for Tea' which circulated in hostel during the tea-time in Hostel-Canteen in evening. After Tushar's brilliant coding, cm40 became the trend.

Some more SMS's which were quite popular among hostelites

4. sagar ? : want to go to Sagar Bakery for snacks
gt ? : want to have Ginger Tea (at Sagar ofcourse !! )
down ? : Wanno go Down for snacks
( Down was a down hill road which led to another bakery)

5. Q3-a ? (typical sms during tests)

6. Call me , no currency

7. movie 2nite , arrange bike

8. Proxy plz

9. Dude, am standing next to you

10. last sms ws nt fr u

To cut the long story short

 Last weekend, Nestor complained that I wrote too long a blog.

  

 I went back to my room and tried to read it myself. 

 I almost fell asleep.

 On his suggesttion I have edited them. 

 They are now divided it into a series of 3 blogs.

 Howzzaat ? 

 

Scientific Skepticism : Part 3

And what does these deliberations teach me as an engineer ?

As an engineer my pupose is to use scientific knowledge and creativity  to produce a technology for the upliftment to human lives. 

But there is a catch. Actually two catches !

1.Science is inexact. Engineer cannot rely completely on Science to create/design/modify his technology. He will have to use his imagination and intuition , which is beyond systematic step by stem evaluation system of  contemporary Science. It sometimes takes just a Blink to assimilate the complexity of a technological problem.

2.How will an engineer know what technology is best for the industry and in turn, society? (remember upliftment of humans) 

In the Institutes of Technology all we learn is Science (and in some better universities, technology). Do they also teach how to evaluate the benifits of technology ? I am proud to say that TU Delft confronts this problem through its emphasis on Sustainability. However, we students need more training in sustainable thinking to be able to apply it in practice.

I have come to realise that although an industry is driven by Technology, it is manoeuvred by Economy,Ecology,Ethics (ideally) on the path of Sustainability. It is therefore the essential for an engineer to be aware of these aspects. If misguided by frivolity, his invention and innovation can lead to disasters. The History teaches us from the horrors of Atom Bomb and the current global economic crisis. They both are  perfect examples of the need for a Sustainable way of thinking. 

Scientific Skepticism : Part 2

I differ to the claim that one day we will be able to discover that Ultimate Universal Law of nature solving all mysteries of nature. Its not that I am being pessimistic. There are so many events far way in universe , in this world, in our minds and souls which are beyond the receptory organs of petty humans.  We can only TRY to 'touch', 'see' 'taste' or 'smell' them, but they will always remain elusive to our observations and we might never know that they even exist.

Does that mean we are doomed to state of perpetual ignorance ? 

I am very optmistic in answering the question. I believe Science will keep discovering new facts and figures refining the understanding of the Nature, recieving vivid and varied interpretations. 

And what this means is that we are blessed with exciting  quest for knowledge perpetually !!

It also means that contemporary science needs reform. It must expand its scope to include unconventional domains like spirituality and meta-physics. Science must be more holistic in scope and in approach. 

Today,the scientific advancements are guided solely by technology and materialism. 

Gone are the days when science was the quest for knowledge guided by logic and spirituality.

The quest for 'hard' facts and figures has become the sole quest for a scientist. 

Scientists are  struggling to become specialist, striving to learn more and more about less and less. 

Scientific Skepticism : Part 1

Sanjay Joshi once commented in his blog that history is an Inexact Science, open to interpretations. 

He is right and he is wrong. 

History is inexact but so is SCIENCE. 

What is Science ?

Its a systematic study of reduced natural events (called experiments)  and proposal of rule (called Laws) which can manupulate future events (called technology) with certain accuracy.

And History ?

Is it not a systematic study of residuals of events (fossils,texts,artifacts) in nature and proposal of rule (Racism, Universal Rights) which can manupulate future events (politics, social behaviour) with certain success.

Napolean once said "History is but a fable agreed upon".

I say, " Science is but a theory agreed upon".

Newton's laws, once considered universal, were mere approximations to a more complex and bizarre Eintein's Equations, which also were not universal. They did not explain various events of nature like electro-magnetism, and quantum mechanics.

Some say we just need to discover the Ulitimate Unified Theory to explain all the Laws of  Universe. Once we do that, every event can be predicted precisely. There will be no scope for interpretations or approximations.

  

Now THAT is mountain bikinig

Mondial Du VTT Descente de Venosc caméra embarquée
by 103TuRtLe

Simple Truth

Siddhartha got me the book from India. I wanted to read it for quite some time. So when Sid decided to go to India over weekend, I had pleaded him to get me 

" My Experiments with Truth " by Mahatma Gandhi.

Did you know that Mahatma Gandhi wrote this book in his mother-tounge,Gujrati entitled 

Satyana Prayogo athva Atmakatha?

The first thing that struck me about the book (after reading couple of pages) was the blatant simplicity. I was expecting a highly sophisticated, phylosophically charged rhetoric with citations from Aristotle and Kant. 

I was blissfully dissapointed. Perhaps, I had forgotten that Mahatma Gandhi had always stood for Simplicity.

 

The Industrial Redemption

Today was the second day of 'De Delftse Bedrijvendagen' , a three day technology oriented career event organised in Aula, TU Delft. Its a platform to interact with more than 100 companies throught out Netherlands. 

The thing that struck me most was the absence of 1st year MSc international  students in the fair, especially, the Indian students. I was expecting the fair to be crowded with them. I met not even one !! 

Where are you guys ?

I am sure you all are looking for internships and industrial thesis. And this is the best opportunity that could land right on your campus (if not on your lap). 

DDB is a good forum to interact with  industry and get first hand information on their projects. The best part of the fair is the interview with the employees who are alumni of TU Delft. It gives you a completely different (and real) picture of the work place as compared to the company site or pamphlets. The In-House Days is icing on the top.

It was also nice catching up with some old friends too. Snehal and Sarita were jolly as always. They are finishing their MSc and PhD thesis respectively this month and looking for a job. Poor Max is also desperate to find an internship. I could not recognise David again, he has dyed his hair this time. He told me all about Carolyne's birthday party ! 

So, what did I learn from the DDB experience so far :

1. Recession has definitely affected the job scenario. Companies are interesting but not interested. On the bright side , none of them are laying off employees. Atleast our alumni won't be our competition ;). Those cheap bastards are however offering interships/graduation projects to get their job done for less.

2. Stop Matlab. Learn Dutch. The the only skill which will help you win that hard job is your Soft Skills.

Confusiuos for Confusion

I panic. I rush to the refrigirator for Smoked Salmon Sandwhich. 

Eating helps relieving stress. The thesis work ahead is enormous. And time too small. 

I am stuck with a bug in my matlab code.

Eat Smakelijk!

God bless the Salmon!

The bug in my code still exists !

Godddamit !!!

Time to take a break with my Stress Busters : Idiot box 

A glimse of reality from around the world:

 Europe faces recession

 USA struggles with 'depression'

 Australia is under fire

 China faces drought

 Gaza, Lanka wounded by war

 Africa haunted with epidemics

 India bleeds with religious conflicts

I wonder if mein kamf with petty challenges in my self contained life has any comparison with the greater challenges facing the world. The guilt of my selfish motives over altruism confuses me and stresses me out.

Well done Stress Buster !!

The phylosophy of Ayn Rand comes to rescue my troubling mind :

' A man is an end in himself '.

'Man—every man—is an end in himself, not the means to the ends of others. He must exist for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself. The pursuit of his own rational self-interest and of his own happiness is the highest moral purpose of his life.   read more'

I don't know if I truely believe in it. Or is it just a my escape route.

Did I not believe in Gandhian Principles ? Did he not preach altruism ? or did he ?

The questions have always bothered me, and its about time I face them. 

The Stupid Case of Sports Centrum

 Last wednesday  we went to Sports Centrum, TU Delft to play badminton at 9 pm. On our way we were praying to Ram and Allah that the badminton courts be empty. Alas, God was not on our side. All the time slots of all the badminton courts were booked till 11 pm.

Anyway, we had expected this. So, we had brought our tennis gear as well. Thanks to Jaskaran, who had forssen this possibility. And, fortunately, there was a tennis court unreserved from 10pm till 11pm. 

By rule, you can reserve a tennis court with two Sports Card for a single time slot (half hour ). Since we were four of us : Jaskaran, Sonell, Yaseer and I, we were able to book one court for two time slots (one hour) and decided to play Doubles. But it was 9:15, so had to wait for almost an hour before we could claim our court.

At 10 pm, we claimed our court and started warm up practice session before starting a game. After ten minute practice we decided to start a match. We had barely finished a set, when these two guys approached us asking us to leave the court as they had reserved the next time slot (10:30 to 11 pm)on this court. When we protested, they told us that if you are playing Doubles, you are not allowed to reserve a court for more than half an hour. " We are sorry, but thats the rule" , said guys smiling. 

First we thought that the guys were playing trick on us. The rule seemed too stupid to be true.

But when these guys persisted on claiming the court we had to leave. We were furious, but kept our cool and headed straight to the reception and enquired if that was really a rule. To our great astonishment the receptionist told us it was. The rule was enforced to give opportunity to increasing number to students enrolling in sports centrum.

First of all, I believe this half an hour slot is too small for any player to practice properly. It takes about fifteen minutes for warm up and another 40 minutes (atleast) to play a decent match. You don't get to do anything wothwhile in just half an hour. 

Secondly, consider this scenario. A pair of students book a time slot (half hour) on a tennis court. While they sulk that they came all the way from home (half an hour away), to be able to play only half an hour ,they are approached by another pair of student who have booked the time slot on the same court after them.

They decide to play together (doubles) so that they can all play for an hour.

An excellent example of time management and optimisation and team spirit.

But how does TU Delft reward them ?

They snatch away their time slot !!

From my Work Bench

Today, after a week of hibernation , I forced myself to wake up early, threw myself out of home and cycle in the pouring rain to my work bench in Aerodynamics Department, TU Delft.
Now Its been an hour and am still staring the blcak screen of my computer.
I can't work. The brain refuses to anything that is called work. And so I blog :

This is my first visit to the work desk after the great war of GAS DYNAMICA I.
That dreaded exam has taken a toll on all my faculties : mental, physical and departmental [;)]

Departmental : Becasue, I have been neglecting my thesis work from the day I decided to start the preparation of Gas Dynamics. My Thesis Adviser is probably furious with me. Luckily, I am not alone. Even Jabus took a week off from ECN and came to Delft for the exam prep. You see, we both had failed the exam last year.

Nonetheless, it was good fun working with Jabus, again , after a long time. I have studied practically all my courses in TU Delft with Jabus and Nestor. We all respect each other's special skills and together we make a good team.

Nestor is an excellent organiser and very resourseful.
Jabus is a skilled, efficient and hardworker.
I have a huge list of qualities, am too modest to metion any of them.

Jabus and I still have to work on Boundary Layer Assignment. We plan to do it every weekend.
Nestor and I have taken two extra courses. I am looking forward to work with him as well.

While, I mention all my nerdy friends , I would like to say few words about Maryline too.
Although she prefers to work alone in her room, she has worked with us on a couple of assignments. I marvel her persistent hard working capability. She can work between lectures, over lunch, while travelling. She can study at home, in train, computer room, bus. That girl is a machine.

I wrote a poem when Marilyne anounced 9/10 score in the Oral Exam of Gas Dynamics II (she passed Gas Dynamics I with an 8/10) . I end today's posting with that poem.

Mary has an oral exam ,
her face is white as snow;
And everywhere that Mary went,
Her notes was sure to go.

She studied night and day for hours together;
which earned her 9/10 from the proffessor;
It made the students envy and coarse ;
To see a girl that scores.

"Why does the Prof love Mary so?
"The eager students cry;
"Why, Mary loves the Prof, you know,
" Dushyant did reply ;)

LOST IN LOST

I am glued to LOST. I proclaim it as the best television series of all time. 

Even though I am not sure what the hell is happening in that creepy island, I love LOST.

Michael Faraday is right now at the centre of all events : Past Present and Future. He holds the key to all mystries. He knew about time travel and space time manupulations, he knew about the hydrogen bomb, and he knew why Charlie is bleeding. I am keeping my ears doubly open to all his dialogues.

Here is a poem I wrote , inspired by LOST:

Lost in LOST

 

It is dark , now its bright 

the island is now out of sight?

no one knew where was I...

no one knew when was I ...

when came the blinding light !

Shuffling between present and past

I am Lost, I am lost 

he is Other, now he is ally

he is dead, now is he alive?

no one knows if I ll live...

no one knows if I ll die...

when the island moves in time 

Got to survive at all cost 

I am Lost I am Lost 

 

for all the fans of Lost , check out this site :

http://www.timelooptheory.com/

Discovery of Books

This is my Pichhanwe Karodwa attepmt to write something worthwhile on this blog.

Thanks to Sanjay Joshi , am actually gonna write one today.

A long time ago in 2002 , I can remember very vividly Sanjay was teaching me how to read.... Novels.

Back then I was na⋅ïve and nerdy kid who had never read any literature except the passages reccomended in English Language Class at school and the abriged versions of Tom Sawyer and Robinson Cruso which I glossed over on some hot summer holiday.

I was more intersted in Mathematics and Science, which still continue to exite me. World for me was bunch of equations which once solved , solved all mystries of life.  I truely and logically believed in my own personal bible : Physics by Resnic and Halliday. Newton, Einstein and James Watt were my Gods. (they still are; and like any Hindu Devotee, the list of Gods is still growing).  The IITians were my Dronacharyas and IIT was the Promised Land. 

And then I met Sanjay in Student's Home of Ramaiah Institute of Technology. We became friends instantaneously. Conversations with him ruptured my time-space cosmos and added a completely new dimension to my reality. He talked with me about Leonardo Da Vinci and Che Guvera and the same time. He respected my acadaemic , but encouraged me to think out of box .

We discussed contemporary philosophy, hollywood, science and music.

It was then that I realised , that there is a world out there waiting to be explored. I started reading all kinds of books, provoked by the conversations, to prepare better for the next conversations. It was not easy reading thoes thick novels. The first one took me six months to finish. 

It was the all time classic  'Gone With the Wind' by Margaret Mitchell. Its still my all time favourite, my First Love. I have now read it several times already. But back then, it seemed I would never finish it. I was enjoying each and very word of this magnificient novel. But, after every two pages, I had to sit back and think about what I just read. It was too much to take in and process it with my limited understanding of the world, of love, of war and complexities of human mind.

Since, Gone With the Wind, I have come a long way in the world of books and novels and the journey still seems as exciting as it was the first time. I will be speaking a lot in this blog, about the books I have discovered and enjoyed in the last seven years. But for now I will end this post with the famous quote by Rhett Butler.