Typical

I cannot agree this any better. The peaks are so well placed. The trying to complete mode before a vacation and the panic mode on seeing 350 new mails are so well placed. "Phew" is ultimate after checking all the mails. :)

A debate

We are a good bunch of *bachelor* nerds at out home in Bangalore. We spend time at home, reading, laptop, movies, cooking and chatting. Some days we get to a big debates on certain topics, just because of the topic or for the sake of argument. But its fun always. Yesterday we even recollected the big debates we had during the last 5-6 years. Some interesting topics include:

Love marriage ↔ arranged marriage.

Usability of Windows ↔ Flexibility of Linux

Rajini ↔ Kamal

Sensible age for the girl/guy to get married

Illayaraja ↔ AR Rehman

Illayathalapthi Vijay a mass hero or a massive zero

I really cannot trace how it started, But two groups got divided based on the discussion on, "Spending huge on wedding saree a must or its material wastage".

One group claimed that its a traditional thing that many families wanted to follow. It becomes a pride & prestige factor when it comes to a wedding gathering when your relatives and friends have gathered. Wedding is an one time occasion for many Indian families and whats the problem in not making that grand. Many people have the money to spend on it, hence they do it.

The other group seems very calculative, whats the amount spent on that saree? How many occasions does the girl wear the saree again? If its just the grandness that its expected out of the saree it could have been got from a nominal cost saree. Is there a resale of that saree? Including the maintenance cost of the saree in a longer run, its not worth the money spent. Instead of spending in materials like this it could be spent on Gold which appreciates in value. Its like procuring an elephant for one ride.

....

Worth fighting for?

MARCUS: Maximus, let us whisper now. Together, you and I.

You have a son? Tell me about your home.

MAXIMUS: My house is in the hills above Trujillo. A very

simple place ... pink stones that warm in the sun ... kitchen

garden that smells of herbs in the day ... jasmine in the

evening. Through the gate is a giant poplar. [His voice

accelerates with the joy of the memory.] Figs, apples, pears.

The soil, Marcus, black ... black like my wife's hair. Grapes on

the south slopes, olives on the north. Wild ponies play near my

house, they tease my son. He wants to be one of them.

MARCUS: [Smiling at Maximus as he listens to him describe

his home.] Maximus, when was the last time you were home?

MAXIMUS: 2 years, 264 days and this morning.

MARCUS: I envy you, Maximus.

...

Reassuring

I keep running all day and night for my survival like others. I turn around to see the backgrounds changed and things are not really the same. All along I got lot of hurdles to jump and choices to make of which path I will keep running. I only had Boolean choices in a perfectly designed digital circuit were the choices once made cannot be redone (God's genius). I made those choices assuring it would be the best I would have made.

Now, I stop for some breather and think of the choices I made. If I had to pick once choice I would want to think over again? I think. Wait, or do I already know it? What ever it is, I have one. Instead of sitting ducks, I'm reassuring that things are fine.

Do you have a choice that you want to make again? Think again!

:-)

Find a fast solution

I came across this problem recently and found it interesting.

Say you got an input array and output array of equal length. The input array has random integers and you need to populate the output array by following this criteria.

The element at index i of the output array will the product of all the elements in the input array, excluding the element at position i.

ie output[k] = Product of i's { i=0..n-1, where i≠k }

Write a code/algo that will work the FASTEST.

cross posted at basicsuncovered.

Divinity: Ganesh & Kumeresh Violin

333

If I was David Shepherd, I would have done the hop, skip and jump for this post. Yeah as the title says its 333'rd post here or at least close to it including the hidden drafts. :)

Sometimes its good to avoid writing when its not so pleasant. After The hyper active brain that disobeys to rest during sleep. When characters around your life starts to overlap and cross boundaries. One would feel almost drained when the alarm blares early morning. Some day,

Nallaval/Vallaval Friend: hey

me: yea

Nallaval/Vallaval Friend: do u know any counsellor/psychologist?

me: no, I will be searching for one soon..

why?

Nallaval/Vallaval Friend: lol

Today I did a reality check by playing football (that too in rain). Approximately after 3 years and literally my tongue was hanging outside at half time. Right calf muscles had cramped already! Its fun you know, I keep telling all that I played football today like I'm doing here. My roomie said, "Dei you have already told it twice to me! Let me see if you play it continuously for a week."

Been to Login 2009 (my department's annual technical symposium) last weekend and it was interesting to meet many faculties. Thanks to Arumuganathan Sir for his good feedback on my blog. It motivates!! Dinner stand up meeting with HOD and many other faculty. Not much change, except for the college buildings that have occupied every square meter of the campus.

I recently discovered a phobia of missed calls. Searched the phobia's official and seems like its not named yet. May be not many cases were reported. May be I will suggest a name like miscalphobia.

Had been learning cooking from my cook for my survival skills. :-) Will share them soon.

ScribblinG turns 4 today

Time runs fast and here this very own blog of mine turns 4 years today. Happy Birthday ScribblinG! Yeah it seems sane to me to wish this page Happy Birthday year after year. It was so much part of me all the way.

I always wanted to have a page of mine out there on the web. Even with limited and high cost in affordability of Internet, I did have a page in geocities (but geocities is already history and I'm not able to trace my page back). Thanks to Google and Blogger, things got simpler and I created this blog during my internship in Intel. Started writing many rants and became a serious hobby. In fact it was a space for me.

Those rants, travelogue, sports, photography, poems, videos, minima template and lot more have always given me so much fun. I gained many friends and critiques through this very own page. Personally I improved on my writing.

Posts: 332

Once again where ever you are Thanks for being a Reader!

A walk with a mahout

Punnathur Kotta Elephant Sanctuary is 2kms ride from the Thrissur temple town. Around 66 elephants are care taken in this sanctuary. Starting from the security gate to the far corners inside the sanctuary there are elephants tied to tree trunks and big cement blocks. We decided to take a walk through the elephant sanctuary guided by a one of the mahout's there.

This is a typical sight one can find, elephants tied to the trunk of the tree. Some take the shade and some do the sun bath. They do "yo yo" moves for some jazz music to keep them warm as well away from the small bugs. Interesting to see innovative moves done by the elephants. Also some use a branch of a coconut tree to scratch their body, other throw sand on their body to keep the bugs away!

Its easy to differentiate a male tusker from a female. The male elephants have long tusks, Ah some tusks are really long as you see in the above pic (6 vidyasangal sollungal paarpom). Trust me its a really tough skin and rock solid tusk. I almost fled the spot when the elephant made a sudden movement. (@revs & @tom your requests fulfilled)

The female does have tusks, but they are very small. Like the one you see above. They are also slightly short in height than a well grown male. There are some male elephants that has a female face, ie with a shorter tusk these are the ones that will be used the circus, said the mahout.

Elephants will undergo a period (around 3 months) known as musth. During this period the testosterone levels increase in the elephants and they become very aggressive. Its identified by a thick oil like substance that's secreted on the temporal glands on the side of the elephants head. So even an experienced mahout dares to go near the elephant. Once elephant is identified for this, all four legs are tied in huge chains, food & water is supplied from distance using a hose pipe.
This is a sad part of the elephant care taking. A stick is kept behind its ear. The elephant has to stay (stand) without the stick falling down. This is said to teach discipline to them. If it fails to hold the stick, it is given some lashes with it, says one of the mahouts. Some times the elephant takes the stick thats dropped and pleads for guilty by holding it on the trunk.

Also this sanctuary has some of the elephants that were donated by film stars and politicians like J.Jayalalithaa.

Transitive

Teacher tells a student
a=b, b=c implies a=c.
Tell me an example.
Student: I love you,
you love your daughter,
so I love your daughter.

All right

So, if I asked you about art, you'd probably give
me the skinny on every art book ever written.
Michelangelo. You know a lot about him. Life's work,
political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual
orientation, the whole works, right? But I bet you
can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel.
You've never actually stood there and looked up at that
beautiful ceiling. Seen that....If I ask you about
women, you'd probably give me a syllabus of your
personal favorites. You may have even been laid a few
times. But you can't tell me what it feels like to wake
up next to a woman and feel truly happy. You're a
tough kid. I ask you about war, you'd probably
uh...throw Shakespeare at me, right? "Once more into
the breach, dear friends." But you've never been near
one. You've never held your best friend's head in your
lap, and watched him gasp his last breath looking to
you for help. I ask you about love, y'probably quote
me a sonnet. But you've never looked at a woman and
been totally vulnerable...known someone that could
level you with her eyes. Feeling like God put an angel
on Earth just for you..who could rescue you from the
depths of Hell. And you wouldn't know what it's like
to be her angel, n to have that love for her be there
forever. Through anything. Through cancer. And you
wouldn't know about sleepin' sittin' up in a hospital
room for two months, holding her hand because the
doctors could see in your eyes that the terms visiting
hours don't apply to you. You don't know about real
loss, because that only occurs when you love
something more than you love yourself. I doubt you've
ever dared to love anybody that much. I look at you: I
don't see an intelligent, confident man. I see a cocky,
scared shitless kid. But you're a genius, Will. No one
denies that. no one could possibly understand the
depths of you. But you presume to know everything
about me because you saw a painting of mine and
ripped my fuckin' life apart. You're an orphan, right?
Do you think I'd know the first thing about how hard
your life has been, how you feel, who you are because
I read Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you?
Personally, I don't give a shit about that, because you
know what? I can't learn anything from you I can't
read in some fuckin' book. Unless you wanna talk
about you, who you are. And I'm fascinated. I'm in.
But you don't wanna do that, do you, sport? You're
terrified of what you might say. Your move,
chief.

Source & more

Happy married life 02mw(01-09)

There are days

When I said (f#$k off) a polite Thank You and left the room.