Tryst with Time

2003-05-24T01:54:00.000-07:00

Today I had a look at the sea for the second time in my life. I visited the Besant Nagar beach. A great experience. The vast expanse of water and sky. The line along which they meet. Little waves striking at my leg. The little crabs jumping out of small holes in the cushion-like sand. People exercising, meditating, running. The sky was a canvas with shades of red and blue sprayed across. These details I could see. But the inner thrill that I usually feel, on seeing an out-of-the-ordinary sight, was absent. I guess I am now a less sensitive person than I was.

2003-05-20T09:25:00.000-07:00

Checked mail and blogs after a good 20 days.

There's a kind of revolution going on right now at the CS dept of IITM. Extra discipline is being imposed on us. For example the attendance register has to be signed before 9 am after which you will be marked absent. Then, the motivation to contribute something to the department is being created. The fact that each of us is being paid 5000 rupees from the taxpayer's pocket was impressed upon us to reiterate the contribution funda. An example of our lack of worldly knowledge goes thus : The question is "What is pine?". I was searching for the exact words in my mental dictionary. Mail client , mail access program and so on. The answer "It is an evergreen tree". That much for lateral thinking.

The temperature is soaring here. The humidity is very high. The air is very warm. I have to take refuge in the labs with their centralised ACs.

2003-04-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

Its been a long long long time since I wrote anything here. Time, it seems, flies as fast as its wings could take it. [Where? nobody knows]. Though I could give 101 reasons for not updating this blog, I will purposely refrain from it (Speak lesser than thou knowest). The real problem for me being unable to update the blog is that I dont (or didnt?) know why I am blogging; why; if for any reason; for whom; if for anyone :-). That said, I amble along in my own characteristic unable-to-decide-and-unwilling-to-decide fashion and update this blog for once i.e. NOW !!!

I'll follow a reverse chronological order in reporting (as one of the readers of this blog sarcastically said) the events from the Beginning of Time (i.e. now).

Its one year since I arrived at Chennai. (Not actually an year but around 240 days. But some years are really short)

The world has been proved to be a small place. The newest proof for this conjecture (theorem?) being :
Ashwin is my friend from RVCE. He tracks one Ravi Pratap's blog.
I read The Fourth Estate, an IITM magazine, and had a hearty laugh reading the comparison of UGs, PGs and research scholars
Ravi's brother Rahul starts a blog.
Rahul is one of the editors of The Fourth Estate
Hence proved

The traditional new year days were celebrated in our hostel. When prayers were offered is unknown. Superb meals were served by people based on their mother tongue and their particular new year day. [One particular group of people served Mountain Dew with lunch]

The temperatures are soaring. Moving around during daytime, even in this forest-like campus has become difficult to bear. (Bangalore is the pleasantest city on earth).

A concert was organized as part of Purandaradasa Aradhane. I then realised why Indian classical music doesnt touch the masses as much as it should have. The singers have their preset style of singing and they apply it like a template to all songs irrespective of the mood and tempo.

Many more events and experiences that I tend to forget, to recall objectively as events and experiences, have happened during this long period of non-blogging. But the body and the mind are flowing through these experiences and they definitely are wet.

2003-02-13T23:35:00.000-08:00

I attended the volunteers' meeting of the Vivekananda Study Circle. I was surprised (and probably ashamed of myself) when I heard of their activities. Their primary aim for fostering the spirit of strength and self-belief in youth by giving spirituality its due importance in life. Along with that, they teach children of the nearby locality, organize meetings and discourses etc. During the meeting another person, who, with six more people were involved in thinking about improvements in the Indian system of education and about improved awareness of India's rich culture, spoke about his team's activities. They critically analysed Saarang, about which I was going gaga, and showed the extreme westernisation in such events. I also came to know that IITM had cancelled Bharat Utsav citing student disinterest!.

2003-02-04T08:58:00.000-08:00

Jam
I witnessed the Jam event at Saarang. It was a great one. The participants have to be quick and witty. Although what they spoke didn't make much sense, the speed and enthusiam held my attention.

Lost Cycle - 2
I lost my bicycle for the second time in my life. A strange occurrence, I guess. No hopes of getting it back :-(.

Epidemic
I was one of the many(20-30) inmates of the Cauvery hostel afflicted with dysentry and nausea due to contaminated water consumption. The mess people channeled drinking water through an overhead tank not cleaned for several months leading to this disease. It is suspected to be acute gastroenteritis or cholera. We are served food by private caterers who show scant concern for nutrition and health of the inmates. Now there is a signature campaign to remove them :-).

The Train to Bangalore
This saturday (2/Feb) I left for Bangalore. The journey was largely uneventful except for an interesting conversation. A lady teacher (T) at the Teachers' Training Institute at Arcot was sitting beside me. The other person sitting beside me was a leather goods exporter (E). E spoke on the cell about some money matters.
T: " May I ask you something? I'm sorry I overheard you "
E: " Yeah sure "
T: " What was that you were speaking about admissions? "
E: (confused) " Admissions ?! No; it was about transferring money to my account. "
....
T: " Dont mistake me. What is your profit percentage? "
E: (deep thought) " About 25%"
T: " You must be doing your business in lakhs. So for 20 lakhs you would get 5 lakhs"
E: (hesitantly) " yes "
....
T: " Which countries do you export goods to? "
E: " Italy, Portugal, Spain "
....
T: " During your contact with your clients there just enquire if someone wants to study here. You can bring them to us. We can charge any amount as donation; they wouldn't know. We can ask for 75 lakhs also. Whatever is left after paying money to the institute we can share on a 50-50 basis. "
E: (surprised) " Yes "
....
T: " My children are studying in Bishop Cottons. My daughter says I wont eat if you dont come home. So I am going "
....
T: " I am very religious sir. I want my children also to be like me. "
....

Her small talk, seemingly frank observations and revelations about her family seemed like a well thought-out strategy to trap gullible people. In the end they swapped phone numbers and addresses.

The Train to Chennai
On monday night I started back to Chennai. This time the journey was difficult because I had not reserved a ticket and a large number of people seemed to like Chennai that day :-).
There was this guy from Banaras. Along with his family, he was involved in a gunfight to settle a land dispute with their relatives. Due to a gunshot, his eyes had to be operated upon. He had a non-human eye.
He is currently working for a courier company based in Chennai. The company transfers silk from China hoodwinking the tax officials. Then Banarasi sarees are woven in Bangalore and are exported to countries like the US of A and other Europen countries. He gave a neat account of his nefarious activities and a few "good"s he had done.

PS: TRAIN == REAL WORLD

2003-01-25T09:48:00.000-08:00

Saarang exploded with all its colours. It was simply exhilarating. So many people; so many events.

The first day was the inauguration by Javed Akhtar. He shared some humorous moments of his life. Then followed a concert by Shaan. I guess 6000-8000 people were in the Open Air Theatre for the event. The atmosphere was electric and deafening. Almost everybody let his/her body loose and danced away. I could feel my chest pounding at the loud music. But overall, a majority of what he dished out were remixes. By the way, he sang continuously for almost two and a half hours.

The next day saw a fusion concert by Kadri Gopalnath (from Mangalore!) and the Moksha group along with Keith Peters. This show was a flop with microphone problems rubbing the salt on the wound.

Then there were competitions in categories like light music, classical music, crossword, limericks and many more. The dramatics part was good. I got to see a number of non-trivial dramas with near-pro performances. Then there was glass painting, clay modeling etc. There was even a dance workshop.

For a person who missed all cultural events at RV as holidays, this was a pleasant change. The enthusiasm of the people to be part of such events is great.

2003-01-20T03:54:00.000-08:00

The past week saw several events from my eyes. We sent our seniors off from IITM ;-) They mainly harped on self-motivation in initiating and completing the final project work. Profs are not to be depended upon.

Classes are in full swing. I am finding it hard to concentrate on the various subjects. Listening drains out lots of energy ;-)

One of the kannadigas got 3 U's (read as: failed in 3 subjects) and had to leave IITM.

Saarang's starting on 22nd Jan

2003-01-14T04:42:00.000-08:00

I came to know a Kannadiga from Udupi recently (Venkatesh Acharya). He is a jack of quite a few trades. Topper in KREC (EEE); writes kannada poems; interested in poetry; performs plays and skits etc. But I was impressed by his love of Karnataka's culture rather than just interest or respect.

For the past few days a book and photo exhibition on Vivekananda is being held here. Around 15 people associated with the Vivekanda Study Circle create a lot of publicity about such events.

Saw Devdas; Damp squib.

2003-01-09T21:06:00.000-08:00

I attended a carnatic music concert yesterday. The singer was very good at her trade. The violinist was not very confident and the khanjira artist fumbled. The notable fact was the sparse atendance. For a Bryan Adams (I am not sure of the name) concert people give up sleep and cheer him and dance like crazy. But when Indian music is being performed, very few people manage to even attend the concerts.

We have a few Germans in our hostel. I have christened one of them Quick Silver because he shaves so fast.

2003-01-06T04:24:00.000-08:00

I visited Gandhi Mandapam on Sunday with Panish. It has quite a few buildings which are memorials of famous freedom fighters and Tamil Nadu politicians. There is also a beautiful auditorium in the middle which is semi-circular and faces a stage outlined by a temple-like structure.

I met Panish after a long time. He made quite a few humorous quips about the kind of work he's doing.

2003-01-03T02:18:00.000-08:00

The second of the four semesters started today (officially). Classes had started yesterday. Three long queues, each of about 100 people waiting to pay their fees were visible. Fortuntely only those who dont get the stipend have to pay by DD. Be it RV or IIT, the students will always be herded through queues.

I read Robin Cook's Shock. It is about cloning and other solutions to infertility and the malpractices involved. Too much conversation (though ok). Conversation at very critical moments of action. But the grotesque of the medical field described without much emotion.

2002-12-31T01:45:00.000-08:00

Its a long long time since I updated my weblog. A long gap implies a long story which I will cut short.

The stay of 25 days at Bangalore was a good break from the Chennai environs. During this long break I saw quite a few films and read a few books and trekked a little (little ??). Of the films The Sixth Sense was good. Of the books Hannibal was good.

The trek at the fag end of my stay was eventful and stress tested my body and mind. The bridges were frightening to cross.

2002-11-29T00:58:00.000-08:00

Animals @ IIT
The forest-like campus of IIT has a rich variety of flora and fauna. As regards to flora, I am ignorant of the names (I'm neither Ruskin Bond nor a botanist). Fauna: yeah. Deer are the star attraction here. They roam majestically around the campus. The cheetal(spotted deer) and the blackbuck are found here. Next in line are the monkeys. They come in huge groups and raid the hostels (like the Mughal invaders of ages). The dogs of course are incharge of the various wings of our hostel. The insects amaze in diversity. Different kinds of butterflies and moths, fireflies, etc.. (spiders have taken control of my room). Among the birds a number of unrecognizable ones fly around. The usual quota of parrots, storks, and many others (a yellow breasted one was particularly attractive).When it rains heavily and stops, the frogs and toads and insects make a huge noise (or music ?!).The forest here is mainly composed of thorny low trees with a sprinkling of biggies like the banyan.

Read Salman Rushdie (Midnight's Children) for the first time (only 3 pages). He has very good metaphors.

2002-11-28T08:59:00.000-08:00

The difference between local colleges and (supposedly) premier ones like IITs and RECs is perhaps mainly of funds. The infrastructure is vastly better compared to the local colleges.
Also the profs at these institutions are not ones who work here beacuse they did not get a job in any software company. (sarcasm intended)

I am now tasting the fruits of my dislike of electronics and the lack of rigour in mathematics. The first four semesters of BE had lot of maths but I dont remember most of it. Electronics was pictured as a very difficult subject (mass hysteria; less harshly - peer opinion)

The number of people from Karnataka here is considerable; mostly doing PhD in basic sciences or doing BTech.

2002-11-25T03:17:00.000-08:00

Today, I faced one of the best question papers in Computer Architecture. It stood in stark contrast to Zulu's questions and our VTU's questions and presented me a conclusive proof that I am indeed studying in an IIT.

Sad that I am going to miss Linux Bangalore 2k. Probably I will get back only by 7th Dec.

2002-11-22T04:56:00.000-08:00

It is surprising to me that language is such a big divide between people. I never thought this would be the case. My feeling was that common people feel as if they are one and that the more educated the person is, the lesser he/she will feel uncomfortable with the language and cultural differences. But what I see here in the IIT hostel is a different tale. Language is the basis for almost all close acquaintances. Not that this is wrong, but the degree of emphasis is hard to take.
Finished two exams. Did well.