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Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Saturday, August 6, 2011
This is going to hurt just a little bit
I was at the dentist's today for the first time in my life. The experience brought back to my memory a poem that I had read in primary school. A little googling and I could find it again :) Here it is.
One thing I like less than most things
is sitting in a dentist's chair with my mouth wide open.
And that I will never have to do it again is a hope that I am against hope hopen.
Because some tortures are physical and some are mental,
But the one that is both is dental.
It is hard to be self-possessed
With your jaw digging into your chest.
So hard to retain your calm
When your fingernails are making serious alterations in your life line
or love line or some other important line in your palm;
So hard to give your usual effect of cheery benignity
When you know your position is one of the two or three in life
most lacking in dignity.
And your mouth is like a section of road that is being worked on.
And it is all cluttered up with stone crushers and concrete mixers and
drills and steam rollers and there isn't a nerve in your head that
you aren't being irked on.
Oh, some people are unfortunate enough to be strung up by thumbs.
And others have things done to their gums,
And your teeth are supposed to be being polished,
But you have reason to believe they are being demolished.
And the circumstance that adds most to your terror
Is that it's all done with a mirror,
Because the dentist may be a bear, or as the Romans used to say, only
they were referring to a feminine bear when they said it, an ursa,
But all the same how can you be sure when he takes his crowbar in one
hand and mirror in the other he won't get mixed up, the way you
do when you try to tie a bow tie with the aid of a mirror, and forget
that left is right and vice versa?
And then at last he says That will be all; but it isn't because he then
coats your mouth from cellar to roof
With something that I suspect is generally used to put a shine on a
horse's hoof.
And you totter to your feet and think. Well it's all over now and after
all it was only this once.
And he says come back in three monce.
And this, O Fate, is I think the most vicious circle that thou ever sentest, That Man has to go continually to the dentist to keep his teeth in good
condition when the chief reason he wants his teeth in good condition
is so that he won't have to go to the dentist.
- Ogden Nash
Dear buddy Ogden Nash, I must say, I simply couldn't agree with you more.
One thing I like less than most things
is sitting in a dentist's chair with my mouth wide open.
And that I will never have to do it again is a hope that I am against hope hopen.
Because some tortures are physical and some are mental,
But the one that is both is dental.
It is hard to be self-possessed
With your jaw digging into your chest.
So hard to retain your calm
When your fingernails are making serious alterations in your life line
or love line or some other important line in your palm;
So hard to give your usual effect of cheery benignity
When you know your position is one of the two or three in life
most lacking in dignity.
And your mouth is like a section of road that is being worked on.
And it is all cluttered up with stone crushers and concrete mixers and
drills and steam rollers and there isn't a nerve in your head that
you aren't being irked on.
Oh, some people are unfortunate enough to be strung up by thumbs.
And others have things done to their gums,
And your teeth are supposed to be being polished,
But you have reason to believe they are being demolished.
And the circumstance that adds most to your terror
Is that it's all done with a mirror,
Because the dentist may be a bear, or as the Romans used to say, only
they were referring to a feminine bear when they said it, an ursa,
But all the same how can you be sure when he takes his crowbar in one
hand and mirror in the other he won't get mixed up, the way you
do when you try to tie a bow tie with the aid of a mirror, and forget
that left is right and vice versa?
And then at last he says That will be all; but it isn't because he then
coats your mouth from cellar to roof
With something that I suspect is generally used to put a shine on a
horse's hoof.
And you totter to your feet and think. Well it's all over now and after
all it was only this once.
And he says come back in three monce.
And this, O Fate, is I think the most vicious circle that thou ever sentest, That Man has to go continually to the dentist to keep his teeth in good
condition when the chief reason he wants his teeth in good condition
is so that he won't have to go to the dentist.
- Ogden Nash
Dear buddy Ogden Nash, I must say, I simply couldn't agree with you more.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
GPRS with Nokia and Kubuntu
For the first time in years, my BSNL internet connection stopped working - for 4 days. So, I was forced to try out GPRS. Airtel has this nice plan which provides 50MB internet for Rs 5, valid for 1 day (midnight to midnight - dial *222*5#). Perfect for my situation!
I have Kubuntu on my home comp and have a Nokia 6300. I was wondering how difficult it would be to get my Nokia phone to work with it. But surprise surprise, configuration was a breeze, and I had internet working in about 4 clicks and 0 key strokes. KDE network manager rocks! \m/
Being used to a speed of 4mbps, well, GPRS felt SLOW. The connection was pretty stable. Gmail took 5 minutes to open (the basic HTML view). Google chat worked fine through pidgin and thunderbird managed to pull my office mail. All I could download in 5 hours was 11MB (so much for the 50MB per day offer).
In all, I learnt 3 things - Nokia modem works with Kubuntu, GPRS is a decent backup if the main internet connection breaks, and it is really really hard to use up 50MB!
I have Kubuntu on my home comp and have a Nokia 6300. I was wondering how difficult it would be to get my Nokia phone to work with it. But surprise surprise, configuration was a breeze, and I had internet working in about 4 clicks and 0 key strokes. KDE network manager rocks! \m/
Being used to a speed of 4mbps, well, GPRS felt SLOW. The connection was pretty stable. Gmail took 5 minutes to open (the basic HTML view). Google chat worked fine through pidgin and thunderbird managed to pull my office mail. All I could download in 5 hours was 11MB (so much for the 50MB per day offer).
In all, I learnt 3 things - Nokia modem works with Kubuntu, GPRS is a decent backup if the main internet connection breaks, and it is really really hard to use up 50MB!
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Shopping in Bangalore, minus malls
I still haven't got used to malls. Having lived in Bangalore since the time there were no glitzy malls, having bought things in the places I mention in this post, I always get the feeling that the mall prices are a tad too high.
If you are looking for clothes at low prices, this is the place to go. A five minute walk from the majestic bus stand, this is one of the oldest shopping complexes in the city (I might have called it a mall 7-8 years ago). Though you have to bargain in most of the shops, these days I see quite a few shops with fixed prices too. The average price of a jeans pant is Rs 350, T-shirts start at Rs 125.
Located a block away from Alankar plaza, this place has many stalls selling cheap consumer electronics, cell phones and accessories, music systems, DVD players, speakers, pirated CDs, calculators etc. It is hard to find such low prices anywhere. Of course, you have to bargain. Since it is all grey, none of the shops will give you a bill, and the shop keeper is your warranty.
Located near Mysore Bank bus stop (once again, walk-able from majestic), this is THE place to buy and sell books. One side of the street is lined with book shops from one end to the other. Even the foot paths are stacked with books. Every kind of book for academic needs - be it engineering, science, architecture, philosophy - is available here. Most of the engineering books are available at a 20% discount at all shops. They buy old books at 60% of their selling price.
Alankar plaza
If you are looking for clothes at low prices, this is the place to go. A five minute walk from the majestic bus stand, this is one of the oldest shopping complexes in the city (I might have called it a mall 7-8 years ago). Though you have to bargain in most of the shops, these days I see quite a few shops with fixed prices too. The average price of a jeans pant is Rs 350, T-shirts start at Rs 125.
National Market
Located a block away from Alankar plaza, this place has many stalls selling cheap consumer electronics, cell phones and accessories, music systems, DVD players, speakers, pirated CDs, calculators etc. It is hard to find such low prices anywhere. Of course, you have to bargain. Since it is all grey, none of the shops will give you a bill, and the shop keeper is your warranty.
Avenue road
Located near Mysore Bank bus stop (once again, walk-able from majestic), this is THE place to buy and sell books. One side of the street is lined with book shops from one end to the other. Even the foot paths are stacked with books. Every kind of book for academic needs - be it engineering, science, architecture, philosophy - is available here. Most of the engineering books are available at a 20% discount at all shops. They buy old books at 60% of their selling price.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Bhendi Fry
Today, for the first time in my life, I cooked a curry (of course, under the watchful eye of my mother). If you don't mind handling gooeey stuff and washing a very stubbornly greasy kadai, I think Bhendi Fry is one of the easiest curries to cook. Below is the recipe :)
Ingredients:
Lady's finger - 0.5kg, serves 4
Garam masala - 1 Tb sp.
Ginger garlic paste - 1 Tb sp.
Turmeric - 1 tea spoon
Salt - 1 Tb spoon
Oil - Approx. 50 ml
Optional ingredients: My mum suggested Til and grated coconut. Add anything else that you feel like adding :)
Time:
Takes about 30 mins (assuming you have already chopped the bhendi)
Procedure:
Chop the bhendi into small pieces. Pour the oil in a kadai. Add a little salt (apparently, it prevents the bhendi from sticking to the kadai).
After the oil becomes a little hot, add the bhendi. Wait 5 minutes - mix well. Repeat this at 5 minute intervals until about 80% of the gooeey stuff vanishes. Then add salt, turmeric, ginger garlic paste, garam masala (and everything else that you want to add). Mix well. Turn off the stove after another 5 minutes. Bhendi fry is ready :)
It came out pretty well, dad said super (yay!)
That's all for now.
Suggestions, anyone?
-Prashanth
Update
Do not close the kadai with a lid throughout. Keep it open :)
Update
Do not close the kadai with a lid throughout. Keep it open :)
Monday, August 16, 2010
Lost in translation
I saw this notice on Old Airport Road today. The kannada text reads "ಅತಿವೇಗವೇ ಅಪಘಾತಕ್ಕೆ ಕಾರಣ" meaning "High speed is the reason for accidents".
Sunday, August 8, 2010
The honeymoon period
It's been 3 weeks since I joined Oracle and I have gone through 3 weeks of extreme joblessness. My manager calls it the honeymoon period.
Well, the honeymoon period officially came to an end last night with my first night-out at office. (It was actually fun working on a saturday night). This morning, I got a mail from my manager with my first assignment and deadline. All this while, I used to think that Prof. PB is the only person crazy enough to work on weekends and nights.
In conclusion, managers don't sleep. I finally have some work. Things look good :)
Well, the honeymoon period officially came to an end last night with my first night-out at office. (It was actually fun working on a saturday night). This morning, I got a mail from my manager with my first assignment and deadline. All this while, I used to think that Prof. PB is the only person crazy enough to work on weekends and nights.
In conclusion, managers don't sleep. I finally have some work. Things look good :)
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Last day at IITB
I leave IITB in about 3 hours. And I have a lot of people to thank :)
- The mess workers for keeping us well fed throughout. Though a few may complain about food, I feel that I've had the best food of my life here.
- The house keeping staff, especially at H12, have been excellent. I can't imagine how things would be without them.
- The office staff who have been so kind and helpful. They have been so patient and such a great help during our final stages. I find it in stark contrast to the office staff at RVCE - ask 3 questions and you are shouted at.
- DC++ hub owners - thank you for the unlimited supply of entertainment.
- The man at the H12 printer shop for providing low cost, good quality prints; and also for the nice chats every time I visited him
- The excellent faculty who made us stretch our limits in every course.
- My guide, for giving me good grades and finally letting me go :)
- The government of India for setting up such wonderful institutions. I wish them success with all the new IITs.
- All my friends who made my life here so colourful.
So long.
Prashanth
Friday, July 2, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
Happy :)
A few nice things happened in the last 24 hours, and I'm reaaaallly happy about them.
Last night, my parents called to tell me that they received my Oracle offer letter (finally!). Today, I came to know that they've pushed my joining date by a week (exactly what I wanted :) ).
My thesis defense is over (Y!). Both the internal and external examiners hinted that they have given me good marks (\m/) . And the external examiner bought me a pack of biscuits (Hide and Seek, my favourite!) and gave his blessings(!!!) when I went to see him off.
Only 15 days of IITB left!!!
Last night, my parents called to tell me that they received my Oracle offer letter (finally!). Today, I came to know that they've pushed my joining date by a week (exactly what I wanted :) ).
My thesis defense is over (Y!). Both the internal and external examiners hinted that they have given me good marks (\m/) . And the external examiner bought me a pack of biscuits (Hide and Seek, my favourite!) and gave his blessings(!!!) when I went to see him off.
Only 15 days of IITB left!!!
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Downtime@IITB
Officially, my first rant on blog
The last 3-4 days felt like we had gone back a decade in time.
To start things off, it was 12.20 at night when boom - the power went out. And it is so humid all the time here, it is impossible to sleep without the fan. All we could do was queue up laptops and watch movies till the power came back at 5 in the morning, using notepads to fan ourselves dry. (God help the people who were refactoring their code at 12.20)
Then, 2 days ago, a construction worker at one of the million construction sites in the campus had this bright idea of chopping the campus' optic fibre backbone. Result - no network for 2 whole days! With project presentations coming up soon, I must say, great timing.
Yesterday was supposed to be a no water day. But thankfully, we did not feel the pinch.
The last 3-4 days felt like we had gone back a decade in time.
To start things off, it was 12.20 at night when boom - the power went out. And it is so humid all the time here, it is impossible to sleep without the fan. All we could do was queue up laptops and watch movies till the power came back at 5 in the morning, using notepads to fan ourselves dry. (God help the people who were refactoring their code at 12.20)
Then, 2 days ago, a construction worker at one of the million construction sites in the campus had this bright idea of chopping the campus' optic fibre backbone. Result - no network for 2 whole days! With project presentations coming up soon, I must say, great timing.
Yesterday was supposed to be a no water day. But thankfully, we did not feel the pinch.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
One crazy night
This was the night when my juniors showed their love, my namesake got GPLs, I got wet twice in an hour, stole the draught of stinking hell, chased, got chased and got baptized.
So here is the story.
Prologue: Prashant Borole is one of my classmates here at IITB. Prashant and I have more things in common than just the name. His birthday is on 5th of April and mine on 6th. He stays in room 214 and I in 215. We were both TAs for the Software Lab course which is mandatory for all MTech first years. And all the first years remember him for the sed assignment he gave one day, which made them spend 1 whole day on just 1 problem, and there were 8.
Scene 1: The curious case of the redirected GPLs
It was 11.55pm on the 5th of April. I heard noises. When I came out of my room and looked, there were about 20 first years and quite a few of my classmates. My classmates usually spare me from the GPLs because I have a reputation of being a "Non-Kamina", but the first years couldn't be trusted! But to my surprise, all of them moved to room 214, pulled out Prashant and delivered well aimed GPLs. I was thinking they got the wrong guy until they wished me a happy birthday!
Phew! That was close!
Scene 2: The bath
After the regular cake-cutting, I went to the bathroom to clean up my face and hair. As soon as I came out, Ajitav emptied a bucket of cold water on my head. Grrrrr.....That wasn't there in the birthday protocol!
Scene 3: The great escape
As per the birthday protocol followed by us, the birthday boy gives a treat in the night canteen, and after that, The Draught of Stinking Hell(DOSH) is poured on his head. DOSH is brewed by putting bits and pieces of food in a cold drink bottle and shaking it well. Saurabh took up the initiative this time and ordered Slice (it's more for the bottle than for the juice). As the food arrived, people started contributing to it. As far as I know, the following ingredients went into the bottle - mango juice, slice, chips, dosa, chutney, ketchup, noodles, lemon juice, rose milk, chickoo juice, omlette and rice. It looked ugly and disgusting.
All the time, I was trying to think of ways to escape. All I wanted to do was get rid of the bottle. So, after my friends were done with the food and were leisurely trying to envision my fate, I grabbed the bottle, ran to the sink and poured out the sticky, smelly DOSH in the sink :) :) And by the time Saurabh caught up with me, I had managed to empty 90% of the bottle :)
Scene 4: The baptizing
After the escape, I was talking to a few of my friends outside the canteen. This was my biggest mistake of the night. Saurabh had somehow managed to brew up the DOSH again! I ran as soon as I saw him. But Adil was quicker and caught me and Saurabh happily emptied the DOSH on my head :| Now that the damage was done, the best I could do was run after Saurabh and dirty his shirt.
As I write, my hair still smells of cake. And I'm glad it smells of cake rather than DOSH. And thank god Saurabh wasn't able to brew it up to its usual concentration!
So here is the story.
Prologue: Prashant Borole is one of my classmates here at IITB. Prashant and I have more things in common than just the name. His birthday is on 5th of April and mine on 6th. He stays in room 214 and I in 215. We were both TAs for the Software Lab course which is mandatory for all MTech first years. And all the first years remember him for the sed assignment he gave one day, which made them spend 1 whole day on just 1 problem, and there were 8.
Scene 1: The curious case of the redirected GPLs
It was 11.55pm on the 5th of April. I heard noises. When I came out of my room and looked, there were about 20 first years and quite a few of my classmates. My classmates usually spare me from the GPLs because I have a reputation of being a "Non-Kamina", but the first years couldn't be trusted! But to my surprise, all of them moved to room 214, pulled out Prashant and delivered well aimed GPLs. I was thinking they got the wrong guy until they wished me a happy birthday!
Phew! That was close!
Scene 2: The bath
After the regular cake-cutting, I went to the bathroom to clean up my face and hair. As soon as I came out, Ajitav emptied a bucket of cold water on my head. Grrrrr.....That wasn't there in the birthday protocol!
Scene 3: The great escape
As per the birthday protocol followed by us, the birthday boy gives a treat in the night canteen, and after that, The Draught of Stinking Hell(DOSH) is poured on his head. DOSH is brewed by putting bits and pieces of food in a cold drink bottle and shaking it well. Saurabh took up the initiative this time and ordered Slice (it's more for the bottle than for the juice). As the food arrived, people started contributing to it. As far as I know, the following ingredients went into the bottle - mango juice, slice, chips, dosa, chutney, ketchup, noodles, lemon juice, rose milk, chickoo juice, omlette and rice. It looked ugly and disgusting.
All the time, I was trying to think of ways to escape. All I wanted to do was get rid of the bottle. So, after my friends were done with the food and were leisurely trying to envision my fate, I grabbed the bottle, ran to the sink and poured out the sticky, smelly DOSH in the sink :) :) And by the time Saurabh caught up with me, I had managed to empty 90% of the bottle :)
Scene 4: The baptizing
After the escape, I was talking to a few of my friends outside the canteen. This was my biggest mistake of the night. Saurabh had somehow managed to brew up the DOSH again! I ran as soon as I saw him. But Adil was quicker and caught me and Saurabh happily emptied the DOSH on my head :| Now that the damage was done, the best I could do was run after Saurabh and dirty his shirt.
As I write, my hair still smells of cake. And I'm glad it smells of cake rather than DOSH. And thank god Saurabh wasn't able to brew it up to its usual concentration!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Addicted to this song
Lollipop Lollipop
Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli
Lollipop Lollipop
Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli
Lollipop Lollipop
Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli
Lollipop *POP*(2x)
Call my baby Lollipop
Tell you why
'Cause he's sweeter than an apple pie
And when he does'nt shake he rock and dance
Man I haven't got a chance
I call him
Lollipop Lollipop
Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli
Lollipop Lollipop
Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli
Lollipop Lollipop
Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli
Lollipop *POP*
Sweeter than candy on a stick
Huckle berry, cherry, or rye
If you have a choice you fill your pick
But Lollipop is mine...
Lollipop Lollipop
Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli
Lollipop Lollipop
Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli
Lollipop Lollipop
Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli
Lollipop *POP*
Crazy way he thrills me
Tell you why
Just like a lightning from the sky
He loves to kiss me
'Till I can't see straight
GEE, my Lollipop is great!
I call him...
Lollipop Lollipop
Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli
Lollipop Lollipop
Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli
Lollipop Lollipop
Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli
Lollipop *POP*
Lollipop Lollipop
Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli
Lollipop Lollipop
Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli
Lollipop Lollipop
Oh Lolli Lolli Lolli
Lollipop oh Lollipop
Source http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/c/chordettes/lollipop.html
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Counting lines of code
$ find . -name *.java |xargs wc -l
But this counts blank lines and comments as well! Better ideas, anyone?
Monday, February 8, 2010
Shit happens
Disclaimer: I have posted this mainly for its humour value. It is not intended to offend Spammer in any way.
One of my classmates was sending a lot of forwards to our Google group. Some people didn't like the spam. Here are parts of the conversation with some witty replies by Chander Iyer (reproduced here with permission)
Chander:
No wonder that the streets of Mumbai felt a little cleaner today...cuz all the trash that was supposed to thrown outside has been transformed into Junk mail by Spammer...
Kudos Spammer...i can at least see uniformity in s*** in Mumbai now...Garbage in Bins outside, and garbage in Bits inside !!!
One of my classmates was sending a lot of forwards to our Google group. Some people didn't like the spam. Here are parts of the conversation with some witty replies by Chander Iyer (reproduced here with permission)
Chander:
No wonder that the streets of Mumbai felt a little cleaner today...cuz all the trash that was supposed to thrown outside has been transformed into Junk mail by Spammer...
Kudos Spammer...i can at least see uniformity in s*** in Mumbai now...Garbage in Bins outside, and garbage in Bits inside !!!
Spammer:
If its really junk then why r u so deeply digging into it..? I hope u guys r not scavengers....
Chander: (This one takes the cake :) )
Dude...when you defecate junk out in the open (in the MTech group), either we can ask people to stop defecating, or shut our eyes and walk away...so i choose the former, if indeed you persist with these unhyegenic habits, we might be required to notify the sanitation department...
The choice is yours...I just hope it does not raise too much stench around !!!
The choice is yours...I just hope it does not raise too much stench around !!!
Spammer:
It looks like u r lord of the sanitation deptt. btw ur nose seems to be too sensitive to smell the shit, I firmly believe u r a great competitor to sniffer dogs :) Btw does the M.Tech group lie at ur backyard tat u r concerned so much.
Other pals r enjoying a little... seems u have a problem with tat too... ??
Other pals r enjoying a little... seems u have a problem with tat too... ??
Chander:
Hmmm...comments seem to get pretty vitriolic...let's see...
I never did mention abt me being any sanitation head...it is just that the shit was a little too close to my doorstep, hence the stinker...
A sniffer dog is a better epithet than porks s***ting pellets out on the highway (read that information highway)...watch out, you might be run over by too much traffic here...
I never did mention abt me being any sanitation head...it is just that the shit was a little too close to my doorstep, hence the stinker...
A sniffer dog is a better epithet than porks s***ting pellets out on the highway (read that information highway)...watch out, you might be run over by too much traffic here...
Monday, January 25, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Friday, December 25, 2009
Christmas and VLC
Today's christmas. VLC icon on my taskbar is wearing a Santa hat! Is this regular, or are they doing it with only this version?
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Things I miss at home
It's been around 5 days since I've been at home, and I have already begun to miss a few things
- I can no longer download 90MB in 40s
- DC++, it's been such a long time since I stress tested the media player
- Gym, I feel ssssssooooooooo lazy
- Damn these regular powercuts, I had forgotten all about them
- Hostel food
- The noise free ambience of IITB
- Borrol and Kashyap's "discussions" over food
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
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