digital curry

"Mono No Aware"

2011-06-19T20:11:00.003+02:00

Today I learnt about this beautiful Japanese concept of "Mono No Aware". My understanding of it is derived just from English interpretation of it but it's such a beautiful concept that regardless of words or their essence to capture it I think I know quite well the feeling those words are trying to capture.

Literally, it can be translated as "the 'ahh-ness' of things", life, and love. The feeling it tries to convey is the feeling of wistfulness, the deep joy touched by that hint of sadness at the awareness of impermanence of things. The awareness that the joy and beauty in the current moment is transient - and in a way that makes that moment even more special, but also knowing that the moment is going to pass and the best you can do is live that moment and cherish it to the most.

There are moments where you come across something - a term, an explanation, a description - and your first reaction is "Yes, that's happened to me before!" And that initial feeling of pleasant surprise of learning a term, an 'explanation' a reaffirmation of what you've been feeling soon gives way to a mind boggling realization of the depth, the profoundness of something that simple.

And in your mind - a window opens, an seed is sown, and the way you think will never be the same again because of that awareness. And this moment, the one I'm writing in, and that moment, the one you're reading this in, will never come again too - close your eyes, savour the thought, the moment, and live it.

Mono no Aware :)

Measuring Time

2011-05-12T00:13:00.000+02:00

Do posts that start or end with smart quotes feel smarter? I'll leave you to answer that but start with a quote from Einstein anyway:

"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity."

One of the fun parts of working as a Design Researcher is thinking deeply about how people perceive things. Time is one of those things. With interactivity and flow being such an integral part of today's applications this becomes even more important.

So this week I'm spending some time trying to understand perceptions of time and what an experiment design to measure some of the questions I am interested in might be.

One interesting thing I learnt about were the two classic theories of time perception:

1. The Internal Clock Model
2. The Attentional Gate Model

The internal Clock model roughly underlines the fact that humans/animals are capable of learning the temporal structure of tasks. (via an internal clock - hence the name)

The Attention Gate Model deals with the estimation of time and the influence on that estimation by the "secondary task" (which is introduced as a method to check 'counting' of time - because counting makes time estimation much more accurate)

The real interesting part, however, is that the nature of this secondary task turns out to have an influence on the estimation of the interval. If the secondary task is very demanding, people’s estimation of duration tends to be shorter than when the
secondary task is less demanding. The attentional gate theory accounts for this by assuming that fewer "pulses" accumulate when another task demands attention, leading to a shorter estimate.

For now I'm devising ways that I can use both these theories to better study some interaction design issues that I'll be testing in the lab to better inform our designs!

Why People Blog

2011-02-15T21:01:00.004+01:00

While researching something about blogs I came across this bit of research on why people blog.

1. Blogs as documents to “journal my life”

2. Blogs as commentary: A point of view, not just chatter

3. Blogs as Catharsis: “Me working out my own issues”

4. Blog as muse – Thinking by writing

5. Blogs to build community: “Getting in conversation with each other electronically"

I guess my primary motivation (if you can call such sporadic posts motivation ;) ) would lie around 1 and 2. Yours?

From Incheon

2010-09-25T06:45:00.002+02:00

Writing this from Incheon airport and am a little tired after last night in Seoul so this is going to be a little garbled or if you'd like to give me a lot of credit - my experiment with 'stream of consciousness' writing.

Loved the vibrant energy and buzz of the Myeong-Dong district yesterday. In a strange way it reminded me of the places like the mall road, or tibetian market in Nainital - not in the way they visually or physically resemble each other but in some way the experiences they evoke seems based around the same concept and the flow of people is similar - shops on both sides with people in a fused browsing-shopping mode and shops ranging widely from one to the next.

This stop over at Seoul was kind of unexpected. It's a long story but somehow me - and another girl just as confused as me ;) - somehow didn't realize the flight was the next evening and not that evening. So we found ourselves with a day and a half in Seoul!

The first thing that struck me was how absolutely polite and helpful everyone here was. It was amazing. Everyone from the airline staff, to the immigration officers to shopkeepers and drivers. It was easy to make friends with everyone you interacted with.

Surprisingly a US Visa was enough to get you into Seoul even though none of us had a Korean Visa.
The bus ride into downtown Seoul gave a bit of a peek into the terrain of the country. Way less traffic than Delhi :) though the terrain reminded me of the region around Dehra-Doon.

Couldn't use my laptop when I got into the hotel initially because the plugs were different and even the adapter the hotel people provided didn't work for me. The plus point is I now have a nice new adapater :)

The currency - Won-makes you feel like you're spending way too much money (and korea is actually kind of more expensive than I imagined) When I exchanged money the sweet girl at the counter told me 10,000 won would buy me a sandwich. When I seemed surprised at just 1 sandwich....she sort of comforted me with - ok maybe, two :) A quick way to convert (approximately) is divide by thousand and replace won with dollars. So 10000 Won is around 10 US dollars.

Tried some roasted chestnuts. Not bad but I'd have preferred them spicier :)
Tried some other road food - thought it'd be different but it was like corn dog.
Some of the more exotic road food I was too queasy to try ;)

On a crossing asked a stranger for recommendation for a restaurant. He turned out to be super helpful (Thanks Su-Chan!) and took us to Myeong-Dong district. The shopping district was teeming with people - and he said the rush was so low because of the holiday a day earlier! He took us to an old and famous restaurant - pictures coming - that had a huge line of people waiting to get in.

He introduced us at the door and they took us right in past the line - I felt guilty and a little rude but everyone else seemed not to mind at all! Once inside he explained the dishes and then we ordered.
The food made us realize why the line was so long outside! The kimchi was delicious and very spicy! Loved the design idea of having cutlery in a drawer at the table !!

Followed this up with a stroll around the Myeong-Dong market which is a whole post in itself and then met with a couple of polish tourists - who were super fun and made for a very interesting late night conversation !!

Flying back to Seattle in a few hours - wish I could stay home for another week and then spend a couple of more days in Seattle before flying back..............

3 Idiots and Chak De India

2009-12-29T07:46:00.003+01:00

I'm a strong believer that who we are shapes a lot of our decisions. So assuming that hypothesis is true, let's try to look at two roles from two major bollywood actors: Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan. The purpose to try to see how how they perceive themselves - or project themselves if you will - based on what appeals to them in a role.
The two roles we'll look at are - Shahrukh as Kabir Khan in Chak De India and Aamir Khan as Ranchoddas (Rancho) in 3 idiots.

Take Racho's character, A genius , who believes the right way is to chase excellence and not success (box office?) which will chase after you if you excel at what you do. The traditional system doesn't understand him and resists his ways at first but ultimately he proves his mettle. Interesting to note that Aamir's characters doesn't do badly in the courses but tops it - despite doing things against the system, and eventually is very 'successful'. If you remove the context of the movie from the above interpretation you could almost be talking about Aamir Khan the actor - or at least a way he's quite likely to see himself.

Now take Kabir Khan's character played by Shahrukh - he's a talented, loyal, hardworking who has been wronged by circumstances and people. He has everything going against him - except his faith and confidence in himself. Even at his lowest, despite no one else believing in him, in his heart he knows he can pull off a miracle and he goes ahead and does that, reinventing himself. Again, remove the context of the movie and it's a character that you can see would appeal to Shahrukh - the outsider who on the basis of his talent, against all odds fights to pull off a miracle and becomes a loved, appreciated star.

Any other interpretations? Thoughts?

Moments.....

2009-08-10T05:08:00.003+02:00

It was around 11 pm in Rome. It was summer so there was still a blush of light but it was that time where the night life was vibrant and living and throngs of people partying made the entire place so lively and wonderful. I was with a group of friends and we'd drunk a couple of bottles of wine - umm or maybe three :) The wine had just started to get to my head 0 It was the kind of buzz where you start to get a nice warm feeling inside and the conversation around you gets livelier without actually meaning too much to you. We ate dinner at the restaurant and stepped out into the lively streets or Rome. We were walking to get some dessert - I think- and then it happened. Just when we were about to cross the street.

It's hard to say how long it lasted - it still does in memory but probably not too long. I think I first smelt her fragrance before I actually saw her. And then I heard something to my side and realized my friends had a big "REALLY!" smile. I turned and looked at her - she looked angelic - and blushing a little like the sunset. She said something and handed me a rose. I mumbled something - she held out her hand again and I took the rose - still confused about what was going on. Then the light turned green and we all crossed and she smiled back again and walked away with her group of friends. It happened SO fast and no matter how hard I try I don't even remember the sequence of actions clearly - and NO not because of the wine, because when it was happening I was too busy capturing the essence of the momemt to concentrate on the details ;)

I never saw her again - and maybe it's best that way - to leave such a lovely memory untouched by any other emotion - pure, the way it was meant to be.

Leadership ?

2008-12-13T19:29:00.004+01:00

I just finished reading an article on leadership that talked about six different leadership styles and in what situations to apply each. The article didn't resonate with me at all. While trying to deconstruct something into its elements and trying to analyze those pieces to understand a style can be a useful problem solving technique it doesn't always work well; especially when dealing with more abstract concepts like emotions or motivation. Such technique can be very limiting at its best and way off the mark at the worst. Also a lot of journals and management articles make leadership to be some some abstract, out there concept that frankly sounds boring and burdensome.

I think leadership is fun. I think you need to have been around a leader , and reflect on your times around him to truly understand leadership. A leader does more than getting work done - he affects you profoundly and leaves you wanting to be like him. A good way to think about it is to take a walk down memory lane - go back to those school days - and think of someone who inspired you, someone whose qualities you aspired to.

I'm reminded of an incident way back when I was in Sherwood. I was in the 6th grade then - the first year we moved from junior school to senior school. Everything was different in the Senior school. You need to have gone to a boarding school to get a feel of what it was like - but the one thing to note is that while teachers handled most matters related to you in junior school in Senior school everything Prefects - selected students in class 12 - would be responsible for all activities.

We had an yearly elocution event and in the junior school - classes 2,3,4,5 - I'd come first twice and second once in the event and I was keen to make my mark in my first year in Senior School. So I prepared hard for the event. The teacher who organizing the event had heard me a few times and was very pleased with my progress. A number of students from each house went for the tryouts and the house captain or a person designated by him made the selections.

Time to introduce a few characters:

1. Hitendra Bisht - our awesome house captain :) who was exceptionally good at elocution himself.
2. Deepak Punetha - a class 11 student who was again very good at elocution. He went on to be the house captain the next year.

There were 4 students from LJ who would be trying out. In the practices I was considered by the teachers and other students as the best amongst those (no not bragging :) just trying to give a context to the incident) - Hitendra had heard us once and had been very happy with my performance.

On the day we had out tryouts we learnt that Punetha would be taking the auditions. I elocuted as I usually did and so did the others. Punetha heard us and after hearing us selected two people. I was not one of them. I was very disappointed and very hurt. I had not even considered not being selected, to me the challenge to be in the top three. But there was nothing I could do except feel hurt and wronged. This was about one and a half week before the finals.

Two nights before the finals Siddharth Gupta, one of the selected students woke me up and told me Bisht was calling me downstairs with something to do about elocution. I later learnt that he heard the two students but remembered me from the last time he had heard me and asked for me. I came down, half groggy from being woken up, and shivering slightly because of the cold and a little because Bisht had called me and I wasn't sure why.

I entered the room and the first thing Bisht asked me was "Do you still remember your piece." I nodded, and he asked me to say it. I went to the edge of the classroom, took a deep breath hoping I don't forget and started. I was halfway through the piece when he asked me to stop. He then asked another student to call Punetha. Punetha came and then he asked me to speak again. When I ended Bisht stood up and looked pretty irritated. He asked the others to go out. Only Punetha and I were inside the room. He then told me I was going to speak for the finals and told Punetha that he couldn't understand why I wasn't selected. He said he expected him to have done the selections more seriously.

Then he asked Punetha to leave and he told me that he wanted me to get the first position. He said if I spoke with the same sincerity that I just did I would be first and he was counting on me especially now that he'd changed the selection decision at the last moment. He said he knew I could do it and there was no way I should let it go.

It's hard for me to explain what I felt at that moment. He had not only give the hope of participating back to me but I was amazed at the realization that he still remembered how I spoke my piece having heard me more than a month back. And he changed the selection decision after the names had been sent, and overturned the decision of a person he appointed who was a good speaker himself. There was only one way for me to say thank you to him - get the first position.

I remembered I was up late into the night - practising, thinking over my piece......trying to analyze where I could get better. I was repeating the piece over and over to myself, making sure I remembered the voice inflections, the changes in tone, changes in tempo, pauses. I was matching those with points highlighted on the paper where I wrote the piece. There aren't many events where I've been under so much pressure to perform - certainly never another elocution.

I took a deep breath before my turn and then spoke the best I could. I'd not forgotten anything, everything was said the way I'd practised it before. I felt relived but still nervous about the results. When the principal came to announce the results he said two people had stood out from the other competitors and it was a close finish. I came second. I felt I'd let Bisht down and felt disappointed while everyone around me was congratulating me. I walked up for dinner in the cold, disappointed with myself and wondering what Bisht was thinking. We walked in the dining hall and as soon as we sat down for dinner, I saw Bisht striding in - a big smile on his face.

He walked up to me and hugged me. "You were by far the best speaker there, I'm proud of you!"

I've certificates from various elocution contests where I've stood first after that. But those words mean more to me than any of those certificates.

That is what a leadership is.

Forced Choice Experiments

2008-10-05T08:12:00.002+02:00

I intend to try the forced choice paradigm in one of my upcoming usability studies along with a payoff scheme. Looks like it would be more useful in a formative study but I definitely think we can use this to test some features of the interface even at a later level.

Salmon Days!

2008-10-05T07:58:00.002+02:00

This weekend is Salmon days in Issaquah and despite the horribly rainy day I enjoyed visiting the local hatchery and talking to a few people from F.I.S.H. (Friends of Issaquah Salmon Hatchery). Going for salmon days was quite a no-brainer, since the moment I stepped out of my cute house, I'm in downtown Issaquah right where the Salmon days celebrations are going on.

The story of Salmon's is fascinating as I learnt today!

Salmon's are in fresh water and then migrate to the Ocean for a period of 4-5 years where they mature and then return home (homecoming!) travelling miles and miles of Oceans,seas and lakes, typically to the streams where they were spawned to reproduce. This is the last stage of their life and after laying the eggs they soon die. It's fascinating that they travel all that distance to be back they were born.

Even more intriguing is the way they get there. There is apparently no conlusive answer, but I was told today the friendly and knowledge docent at the hatchery that it is strongly believed that while in the Ocean Salmon's navigate through the earth's magnetic field. Once they reach the freshwaters they use their highly (and the way he described highly was that if you put a drop of ink in an olympic size swimming pool the salmon's can sense the difference in the water through the smell!) developed sense of smell to get back to where they were born.

Before the knew the story watching them climb up the ladders and return home was something fun to watch. After I knew the story it was touching in a profound way :)

If you do get a chance, watch the salmon coming home! It'll be worth your time.

Random Happenings

2008-08-18T07:31:00.003+02:00

So I'm back on my blog after a really long time. There are quite a few reasons, some legitimate and some that I make up to feel better about my not posting quite often enough.

Either way: here are a few random things to get started again. Probably inspired by the thought of "quantity over quality". Not that I approve of the thought (or disapprove of it) or to suggest that this post is sub-quality.

1. I spent the weekend in the lab! Why ? Hardware woes!

I installed Vista x64 on my swanky quad core 8 GB machine and spent a couple of days customizing the machine only to find that the the eye tracking analysis tool that I needed to install for my most recent eye tracking study wouldn't install on a 64 bit machine. The labs were all occupied during the week so I had to go to the lab on the weekend to analyze the data. The software was horrible! I'm inclined to believe that software is probably the only industry where a product as buggy as that can be sold. I can't imagine a car, a screwdriver, a rice cooker, a roller-blade or any other product that is so buggy which people will actually buy.

2. I found out my personality type was INTP. Well instead of answering the 64 questions I could have just looked up the descriptions and zeroed in on my type, but the fact that I completely agree with the type I was predicted by the questions makes them pretty credible for me. If you haven't done it, might be worth a shot. (If you do try it let me know what type you were :) ) I loved the term one of the sites used to express INTP. Architects - of ideas, philosophies etc. to arrive at truth.

3. Be careful of any Indian who randomly walks upto you and seems extraordinarily friendly - espeically in a store. I met two and both of them wanted to inform me of their "ventures". When I asked what they did, it's mentioned as a web-portal with 'focus of business development' and something that leads to personality development and leadership and other BS. Basically it's people who want you to sign up for pyramid money making schemes. I say Indian because out of the three such people who have come upto me all three have been Indian.

Meanwhile i'm looking forward to some more medals from India in boxing!

From Florence!

2008-04-10T19:28:00.003+02:00

Just came back from the closing plenary address by Bill Buxton at the CHI 2008 conference here in Florence, Italy. It's been quite a hectic week - with 20 hours of student volunteering, lunches, dinner parties and a smattering of completing assignments in bits and pieces thrown in. Florence is charming. It's got a charm about it, the streets, the air, the life in the city - almost purposeful and poetic at the same time. It was also fun to meet again with people form the Office Design Group at Microsoft including my manager during the internship! I also met with lots of people whose papers I'd read not knowing woh they really are. Oh, Natasha and I also ran into Jonathon Grudin late last night looking for directions while we were getting some icecream!

We didn't make it to the final four teams at the Student Design Competition ( I must say I hated the part where the time for judging was not allocated uniformly and we got the short end of the stick on that one). One of the judges was really nice though.

Anyway we shifted to the ArchiRossi hostel from our apartment today. The person at the desk was very helpful again! In half an hour we're going to the Central Part Disco for a student volunteer party!

Daily Diary

2008-03-27T06:20:00.002+01:00

Not bad, I'm posting the second day in a row like I promised myself yesterday - surprising myself!

Things that happened Today:

1 surprising thing: I actually made good on my resolution to write this entry today.

New Things I learnt:

1. one deviation principle for finite and infinite repeated prisoner dilemma games and their implication in reputation systems

2. Vulnerabilities in the $_FILES variable in php

3. Walrasian equilirbium and how we can use leverage competitive analysis in the design of agents.

4. Some surprising heuristics that can be useful in a game where strategic agents act as stabilizing factors.

5. Some dutch words :)

1 Adventurous thing I did today:
Nothing ....darn!

Something inspirational I read today:

A good story starts with something simple, takes you somewhere you don't expect to go and leaves you with something you cannot forget.......profound :)

I should go to bed.....its almost 2:00 am and I have class in the morning

The Daily Diary

2008-03-26T05:34:00.002+01:00

Reading diaries you write years later is an illuminating experience. Not only does it take you down the memory lane - but seeing yourself from an outsider's perspective tells you a lot about yourself. It's also a learning experience because you realize that things that seemed so important then don't matter so much now, and things that seemed trivial then are the things you treasure so much today.

So to gift myself those moments later in life I've decided to write something each night. Of course, I've bravely and foolishly resolved to do this earlier too each time failing but inspired by the adage that "If you fail once, try something different" i'm going to post each night with a specific goal. Even on the busy nights i'll write a short note on something new I learnt in the day, or something else that moved me.

Tonight I have two things to jot down:

1. One I read a couple of fascinating articles on the injection method in Ruby and the different things that could be done with it. One of the authors also called it the "Swiss Knife" of Ruby functions. The reading led me to some interesting bit of information on functional programming languages. It would have been fun to learn one.

2. I got a lovely surprise - a wonderful email from a friend in Belgium. The weather is getting better - in fact we're looking at 3-7 degrees centigrade! - and her bright email made my day better :)

Oh and I went on a massive cleaning drive trying to organize all my documents.
I almost forgot.....I also learnt how productive I can be if I switch off my computer :)

Crazy Weeks!

2008-03-19T05:13:00.003+01:00

I've been away from my blog for so long I almost started to miss it. The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic. I've been working from 6:00 pm to 3:00 am almost every night in the past week. The night-outs were mainly to get our poster for the CHI 2008 student design competition submitted. Now, that we've submitted it - things should get just a little bit better - or maybe i'm speaking too soon!

Back to work and maybe today i'll get to sleep by 1:00 am :)

reflections on the co-creating user experience class - 26th november

2007-12-03T17:27:00.001+01:00

The class brought together the concepts learnt in class throughout the
semester. Seeing them applied in various contexts in the projects which
were presented in class before was useful in building confidence and more
proficiency in learning how to apply the framework in different
situations.

I had seen the IDEO video before in an earlier class on design methods.
There it was mostly about how to gather user needs and requirements and
synthesize them to design products. Therefore, it was all the more
interesting to look at it now from a experience centric perspective. It's
interesting to note here that most technology companies (amongst others
I'm sure) now have some sorts of groups focussing on user experience. More
often than not user experience is thought to automatically follow if you
design a good product. The IDEO video, and it's discussion in the light of
looking at it by 'putting on the co-creator's hat' brings this point
nicely into perspective. While a good product design does include the
user's experience there is a difference in the way you look at the
problem. Designing for user experience looks beyond designing just the
product but designing for the other three platform actors too - processes,
places and people!

Once you look at it from the perspective of designing considering three
four factors at the *start* of the problem there may be a lot more
opportunities that crop up even if the ultimat aim is to design a better
product. The idea is that looking into these gives you a deeper insight
into the locus of interaction of the product with these factors - giving
you a firmer foundation for your design decisions. I think this was my
main takeaway from the class.

The other interesting aspect was the more analytical approach we are
beginning to take in class now, and appreciating that designing for
co-creation requires iterating between the big picture view and the
details. This is essential in ensuring that the processes, firm
capabilities and strategy is well aligned with the goals of the project

The bicycle journeys -2- crash into you!

2007-11-15T04:57:00.000+01:00

So my bicycle journey's weren't always dreaming about difficult things. For those of you who have never been to Lucknow, it has a really nice area called Hazratganj which is a popular hangout for everyone in Lucknow. Luckily, I lived at a 5 minute walking distance from there. I was living in a room in an apartment, a couple of other students preparing for a medical exam were sharing the apartment with me- and one of them introduced me to "ganjing" or something like that - which basically meant when you're exhausted with studying you go and stroll around the place and grab a bite at one of the popular restaurants there. The other attraction was in the evening you got to see a lot of girls :) !

I read the Godfather quite a while back but I remember there is a mention of a "thunderbolt". It's when you see a girl and at first glance you're totally mesmerized, speechless, hypnotized........
I was returning from a Maths class when the "thunderbolt" happened. There was this lovely girl in the rickshaw and as my bicycle passed by her I looked at her, and she smiled back. I don't even remember her face clearly now, but what I do remember is at that point she seemed like the girl you've always dreamed of without actually knowing who you are dreaming of!

A lot of things happened in the next moment. I suddenly realized that the theory of relativity was not that abstract after all - that time can stretch and compress. That one moment seemed to extend forever. I also realized that the material world was an illusion created by the senses when left idle - and when they were all focussed the material world seemed to disappear and all I could see was her.

At this point you need to realize that the other thing about Hazratganj is it's maddeningly crowded and a moment's lapse in attention can get you in serious trouble. The moment - however long- was finite and as it ended I was thrown back to "reality" with a loud CLANK and a harsh jolt as my bicycle hit the scooter ahead of me.

Awake from my slumber I looked up at the person in front of me. I saw he was shaking his head disapprovingly with a smile. I also realized the person to the left of me said something to him and was also smiling. I didn't hear what he said but I guess he was explaining why I hit into the scooter ahead of me. I apologized to the person ahead of me and he smiled saying it's okay but I should keep my eyes on the road !! I stole an embarrassed glance at the girl and she was smiling too! The traffic started moving again and at the next turn the Rickshaw turned another way, and I went back home grinning foolishly.

The bicycle journeys

2007-11-15T04:14:00.000+01:00

I was riding my bicycle back from college today, with the cool Michigan wind sending a gentle shiver through my body, and I was reminded of the days I was in Lucknow, cycling my way back after the tutorial classes for the joint entrance exam late at night.

I have so many fond memories of my bicycle :). I had scheduled my classes in such a way that my Maths and Chemistry classes fell on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and Tuesday and Thursday I got most of the day to myself with only physics classes. However, my tutorial class for chemistry was around 8 kilometres away from my Maths class and I would hang around with friends solving some maths problems for an hour or so after the maths class and head off for the Chemistry class. The class ran from 7pm to 10pm. The teacher was excellent and taught at his home and I had to cycle back to the apartment I was staying at after 10:00 pm through Aminabad which was super crowded in the evenings but relatively less crowded at night - although it still was pretty crowded.

I'm a huuuuge day dreamer, and once I crossed the crowded part, the best way to spend the journey was start daydreaming. Most of the times I'd dream about IIT, and how one day perhaps i'll travel back on these streets after having a degree from an IIT, or perhaps when I return on holidays from a dream job in the U.S. :). I'd look at the tiny restaurant with the delicious egg curry from where i'd occasionally take some egg curry to eat when I got back and escape the horrible Paying Guest food that'd be waiting for me. I'd wonder what it'd be like to come back here and eat one day when i've reached somewhere in life. There were high days and low days and on the low ones i'd often wonder what if I didn't make it. That one result could shape to a great deal what my life would be was a terrifying thought.

If you haven't prepared for the JEE exam it's hard for you to imagine what it's like. At one point you are right on top of the exam and at the next exam you get a few really difficult questions and even in your favourite topic you end up doing miserably. I've talked to a few friends later at IIT later and all of them seemed to agree that preparing for that exam in some way fundamentally changes you. When you start out knowing that you are competing against 200,000 students and you know only 3000 something are going to be selected and there is so much at stake, it makes you realize a lot of things about yourself which you probably didn't know before. You have nothing else but your hard work and your mind to get you there. It doesn't matter who you are (well not considering reservation-which is another story!), who your parents are or whatever - you have to walk through those gruelling six hours on your own. And that journey changes you, it shapes you and if you have the perseverance to go through it teaches you a lot about what you really in a lot of ways.

I don't think I can ever work that hard again, ever work that sincerely again. That phase is like a madness - I remember waking up excited about a new way to solve a problem I couldnt solve last night. For that one year I dreamt physics, chemistry and maths most nights!

But that's perhaps why that'll be one of the most special years of my life. A large part of where I am today is because of that one year. It's a part of my life i'm most proud of. I still look forward to riding my bicycle on that road once I go back to India and perhaps eat the egg curry in that tiny restaurant :).

During the preparation i'd wish nothing more than that I'd somehow do well at the exam without having to go through the whole journey. But today I'm glad I had to go through that experience. I can almost hear the echo of Swami Vivekananda's thoughts "God gave me nothing I wanted, He gave me everything I needed".
Thank you God :)

Google OpenSocial announced

2007-11-02T16:43:00.000+01:00

So I just read about the announcement of the awaited OpenSocial from Google.There has been so much of talk and hype around Social Networks that people have started throwing around the name and all sorts of sites have come up with their own "flavour" of social networks, pretty much disregarding for most of the time what's really happening. A way for people to connect with others in different spheres of life, extending the interactions that are limited distance and availability.

I'll have to still read more about the service to form some concrete opinions about the service itself but its approach seems bang on!

Here's why:

What's really happening are Three things we've known for ages.

1. Sharing of information makes it more valuable (as long as its not scandalous love letters or something similar - which btw is an important consideration here since i've personally been asked to take a couple of survey where HR people seriously considered the merits of using Facebook to gain more information for recruitment! and for the fact that for e.g. both LinkedIn and OpenSocial - two very different kinds of networks-are going to be a part of it.) So access control and how it is managed is going to be a big usability consideration.

2. Remixing of information makes it more valuable.

There are tons of ways social information can be leveraged with probably professional information. The trick is again in information access control. What kind of mechanisms do we want to put in place for information to be remixed.

3. Repurposing of information makes it more valuable.

This is different from remixing - as the original information may not have been intended as to be used for a purpose which it can now be used for. Think of testimonials in Orkut used as recommendations for linked in.

Strategically it's a pretty decent example of a "New Game" by Google (again!), which is pretty impressive. The lesson to learn here is how Google thinks at a scale where without actually knowing the details about the project, just thinking about the idea you have to saw "Wow!".

For people who for various reasons are on more than two social networks, there was also a very real need and hope that there would be some kind of consolidation where you could see all your friends without being locked up into a service for each set of friends. For example back in India I started on Orkut and most of my friends from there are on Orkut. Most of my friends here in the US are on facebook. So I have to deal with two different services for the same purpose. This consolidation is immensely useful. Again this is a great example of consolidation based on need vs products by Google. Before this we saw it in the integration of Gtalk into Gamil and to some extent Gtalk into YouTube and Orkut too. Basically we used messengers to communite and these are all places where we might communicate with others so it makes sense to integrate them rather than having different applications to do that.

Got to rush for a class but i'll be sure to write up more into this!
Exciting times :)

Vedas - the science and beyond, the facebook version

2007-10-25T06:46:00.000+02:00

Around two years ago I started a community on Orkut, the Google social network, "Vedas the science and beyond" because I wanted to learn more about the Vedas from others far more knowledgeable than me and have a platform for discussion of issues. My vision of that of a community where people could discuss, question and learn from an objective look at the Vedas. This was based on two observations:
1. Having talked to quite a few people I'd met and who could have known about the Vedas I didn't find satisfactory answers to most questions I had. Perhaps it was my ignorance or their blind belief without an understanding of the Vedas that left me utterly confused. Either way it called for a different solution to try to learn - hence a platform where different people could discuss.

2. The second was giving people a chance to talk about it so that more people are aware of such a valuable heritage left to us by our ancestors.

I remember logging into the community every day and seeing whether anyone had joined it. In the first month it had grown to 10 or 12 members and we had some good discussions going on. There was a sense of excitement each time I logged on and went and saw another member join in or another topic started.

Today the community has 12,196 members as of today, and threads with some amazing discussions. In the process I've got to know tremendously smart people whose knowledge continually amazes me, and I've learnt a great deal from them. Today out of curiosity, I searched for Vedas on facebook, another social network I'm in and there was no community there. So in a similar hope i'm starting a similar community of facebook - perhaps to involve some more people in the discussion and create an awareness.

Here is the description for the new "Vedas- the science and beyond"

This community is intended for those who want to share their insights ,and learn from those of other about the Vedic thought. The definition of the Vedas we follow is that of Swami Vivekananda which doesn't necessarily confine itself to the four books.

In that definition It is held that the vedas are without beginning and without end. It may sound ludicrous how a book can be without beginning or end.But by the Vedas no books are meant. They mean the accumulated treasury of spiritual laws discovered by different persons in different times. Just as the law of gravitation existed before its discovery, and would exist if all humanity forgot it, so is it with the laws that govern the spiritual world. The moral, ethical, and spiritual relations between soul and soul and between individual spirits and the Father of all spirits, were there before their discovery, and would remain even if we forgot them.

The Vedas teach us that creation is without beginning or end. Science is said to have proved that the sum total of cosmic energy is always the same. Then, if there was a time when nothing existed, where was all this manifested energy? Some say it was in a potential form in God. In that case God is sometimes potential and sometimes kinetic, which would make Him mutable. Everything mutable is a compound, and everything compound must undergo that change which is called destruction. So God would die, which is absurd. Therefore there never was a time when there was no creation.

This community then celebrates and grows from a learning of the Vedic philosophy with an aim to learn the meanings of life and a means to discover ourselves.

Chai Garam and memories

2007-10-06T06:51:00.000+02:00

It's 1:00 am in the morning here and I have this nagging cough and cold. The American health system is absolutely retarded - but that's another story in itself and has already been told my michael moore so I won't mention it.

I'm not sure why but I suddenly had the urge to make some tea for myself, probably because of the cold. I also remembered how my Mom makes the most awesome tea with organic black pepper and cardamom in to help with the cold! I hunted around in my bag and found a box of the mix my mom had packed for me :) ! Ma you're the best !! Who else could you count on in the world to pack something so seemingly insignificant but something that she knew I'd miss sooner or later.

So here I am cuddling before my screen with the warm, comforting tea in my hand, the subtle aroma of bringing back fond memories and almost transporting me back in time. The number of nights I sat up with tea at night struggling to keep myself awake studying Physics, Chemistry or Maths for the JEE exam, the feeling of doubt whether i'll ever make it, the effort to find the hope and courage within. Travelling on those overcrowded north east trains, being woken up late into the night by the sound of the tea vendor calling out "Chai Garam" (hot tea), fumbling in my pocket for coins and sipping the hot tea in those clay cups with a couple of friends - excited to be going home after a long semester.

It all seems so long long ago. Like I've written earlier, sometimes the simplest things in life are things that you hold on to and which mean so much. It never fails to astonish me!

Back to my perl homework and then maybe I can read a chapter by Swami Vivekananda before the long awaited friday night sleep!

her hands, my hair and a new haircut :)

2007-04-29T01:53:00.000+02:00

You never really know, what's going to be special each day. So I got up in the morning realizing that it's high time I get a hair cut. I got up late and headed off on foot to look around San Jose and find a hair saloon. I asked a couple of people, but each of them seemed even more lost than I was.

Tired, and famished, I started looking for a restaurant instead. Usually I end up eating not so good food, when I eat randomly like that - ok maybe that's not totally true but.....So anyways I get into this nice empty restaurant seeing falafel written outsid. Long story short- because this is one about a haircut- I had the most fabulous tandoori chicken "sandwich" i've had in the US yet :) - I'm going back for dinner there!

So I stroll outside aimlessly after that lovely meal and to my surprise as I'm passing by I see a hair saloon. So I walk in and there are three guys waiting. I have some time to kill, so I sit down and start reading some mind numbing rubbing about suits under 500 and celebrities. So finally its my turn. I sit in the chair and the girl walks away for a while. Then she comes in and checks messages on the mobile and starts messaging someone. Like I said I had time so I was just sitting there nearly dozing.

Then she asks me what kind of haircut I want. I realized I hadn't really thought about that and cursed myself softly. I tried hopelessly to explain something to her - not quite sure what I wanted myself. So finally after a lot of explaining I managed to make some sense. Make them short from the back, I beamed - happy that I'd reached a decision.

She cut my hair a little and then asked:

She: " Is your hair now long or very long ?"

For some reason something about common ground in communication came to my mind before i stamped out the thought of 502.

Me: "Sort of very long..." (why did i say sort of!!)

Anyways she said "I think they'll look better quite short" and I readily agreed.

She started on it a little and then suddenly got an idea.
She: "I'll give you a new style!"
Me: "ummm...er.... Sure, as long as people don't laugh"
She: "No, no I'll make it look really good, You'll look cute ;) !"

Well, that's the part in all such incidents I smile foolishly at and agree to anything.

Anyways she started on her masterpiece between talking about all sorts of things - about California, my major :), her hair cutting training, vietnam, india and bird flu :D.

She had a really great sense of humor! And kept telling me on how nervous I looked and asking me not to close my eyes. She said someone once told her that he had shut his eyes in a hair saloon and found his hair all gone :D. I was laughing so much I was afraid she might nip of my ear because of all the movement! She kept telling me how I would remember her after I left california as the person who ruined my hair :)

She made a far greater effort than she needed to and then told me how I could change the hair style in two different ways using gel. I told her I didn't really use gel and she said I would have to start using it now - because otherwise my hair didn't make sense :D - she was joking btw! She then actually put some gel on my hair and was teaching me how to use it in the future! She was so incredibly sweet!

And then she when I went to pay at the counter, she charged me less than the listed price!! I didn't know what to do. So I just added the largest tip i've given :) - not knowing what else to do. I feel so ridiculously awkward sometimes!

As I walked out, I realized how a small everyday encounter, that could otherwise have been insignificant be special, just because the other person is so sweet. A weird thing to remember at this moment but I remember I read a story for my 10th grade exam. It said that the most important time in your life is now, the most important person you are dealing with is the person you are with now and I think that's so true. In our busy lives we so often forget how important and special the present time and the person with us is. And I sort of made a note to myself - that I'm going to try my everyday encounters with others special too. Let's see how well I can keep it!

Oh btw, she told me about a great sea food restaurant in Seattle and I forgot the name!! damn!

those small moments ..........

2007-04-29T01:08:00.000+02:00

You hear so often that the joy of life lies in small things but how often do we get to experience the joy of small things ? I don't know about you, I don't get to do it very often. Try to think back the last time you enjoyed something really small, when you smiled spontaneously, when the sun seemed to shine just that little bit brighter, when you felt the world was smiling with you, when you felt joy in being a small part of the life of this planet ?

didn't even realize I would remember them so much, so fondly. When I try to think back, a few priceless moments that immediately come to mind are:

1. Place: Sherwood College: Time: Afternoon
The time just before founders and after the hectic house PT competition. Just lying in my cubicle - the dorm 4,5 cubicle - perhaps one of my best places in sherwood :) - feeling the may sun shine down on my face as I lay on the counterpane, my eyes closing dreamily, looking down at the front quad, thinking about my 10 years in school, savoring the best time in school.....looking forward to going home in a few days - and a large ice cream in the evening :)

2. Sitting down at the Delhi Airport with my Mom and Dad before the flight to the US. Just sitting there, trying to hold that moment forever.

3. Sneaking out at night to the 'dhobi' washerman's place to smuggle into the dorms cold 'aloo parathas' wrapped in silver foil - which he illegally got for us from town and sitting down in the locker corridor at night, munching on the aloo parathas between sharing our dreams and hopes with each other.

4. Running to the pastry man in my boarding school really hungry after swimming, realizing that you just made it in time for the last veg. pattie and the last bun ! Sitting by the pool, huddling a little after the cold swim, eating on the last vegetable pattie....I can almost taste it!

5. getting distracted by a gorgeous girl in a rickshaw, and ramming into the scooter ahead in the crowded lalbagh street. The smile of the girl as the guy ahead curses you - priceless :)

6. Sitting on the hostel stairs, way late at night at IIT, excitedly talking about what we would do if we got to go to Europe in the summer and then sitting at the same location a few days later, with Maggi plates in our hands, discussing what we will be doing when we get to Europe :)

7. Getting caught going to "All Saints" - an all girl's boarding school, by making up "sisters" we didn't have. Being threatened with a selection of hockey shots on our backsides, and timidly walking up in the middle of the whole dorm as the prefect stood waving the hockey stick and asks the whole dormitory to clap for us for being "true Sherwoodians" and giving us a pat on the back!

Tough times don't last, tough people do ......i hope :)

2007-04-16T05:18:00.000+02:00

What a week! And I have an ever more hectic one coming up!
I spent the entire day sitting at one placing trying to finish up all my deadline material for this coming week.

I have an assignment due on Monday. A final presentation and a big assignment due on tuesday. Wednesday I have two interviews - for practice really - since I'm pretty sure where I'm going to be going. Thursday I'm traveling to Redmond, i'm a little excited and a little overwhelmed by the burden. I'm going to be presenting my project to a group of hotshot designers, and they quite casually agreed that they love asking questions :). That's quite a relief - just something I needed after a week of looming deadlines.

I found the quote "I love deadlines, especially the whoosh sound they make as they fly past" funny once. Not any more.... :). Either i've lost my sense of humour or the quote has changed! Either way its not too funny anymore.

Also there was a time at IIT where I would wait for the end of semester for that long awaited break and the hope that next semester was going to be a lot less work. Now my lazy side has nothing to look forward to. Next semester is going to be more hectic that this and although i'm kind of super excited about the MoRAS course with Prof. Geroge Furnas, the reading list has me more than a little intimidated :).

Sometimes I feel that life my life can be simple too. Take a few easy HCI courses, get a decent job, party! I don't even know why I won't do that. Actually I kind of do, but its more kind of intuitive knowledge and so few people would share the view that there are times when I doubt whether i'm just deluded.

Either way I have a love hate relationship with myself. Hating myself for getting myself into taking "these" courses and loving myself for having taken them :)!

I guess i'm a simple man with complex tastes!

2007-04-16T05:14:00.000+02:00

आज मैंने गूगल कि नयी रूपांतरण सुविधा के बारे में पड़ा और इसलिये आज अपनी मातृभाषा में पहली पोस्ट लिख रहा हूँ।

Google's new translation service to hindi rocks! This was the first time I was using it and I was typing as fast as I type in english (ironic eh :D ) but that's a thumbs up for google usability. Maybe by writing a new post in hindi everyday I will manage to improve my hindi, ummm I mean revise my hindi. I got 92 on my class 10 boards in hindi. And my essays were religiously read by the masses - ok at least by a few people including my professor :) !

yaaaaaaaay for the new translation feature!

Google Free ISP : haha!

2007-04-01T17:56:00.000+02:00

This surely tops the Google dating service last year :) !

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Vacuum-sealed to prevent water damag

I wonder whether the elaborate schematics and diagrams were drawn up in the 20% off time or company time ......aaah the contracting course is getting to me!

Ferguson Case Study

2007-03-23T20:15:00.000+01:00

Hidden Action:

Will Ferguson (F) consult for an outside client after the funding.
Will Ferguson leave the company after the funding.

What will prevent VCs from taking the information of the Entrepreneur and give/sell it away to another company they already have a stake in.

1. Reputation
2. More tacit and implict and actual technical knowledge required than just the basic idea for the startup.

Participation Constraint and Initial Valuation

Initial Valuation directly sets the expected utility from the company and the company share of the financier.

So initial valuation is directly related to participation constraint whether or not the agent will accept the contract offered by the principal.

To determine participation constraint it is important to consider the opportunity cost. For example the previous employees were treated better since they had more technical knowhow and the impact of their leaving was higher on the company.

Position on the board is both a monitoring as well as an incentive structure.

Heaviest weight on incentives based on stock prices was placed on Ferguson's pay because of it being a big indicator of the performance of the firm.

Incentive Centered Design : Incentives Pay

2007-03-23T19:48:00.000+01:00

Comparative Evaluation

Should performance be based on performance of

1. co workers
2. performance of workers elsewhere
3. performance of other companies

2. "Not fair" agent can't control what others do

but can act as a performance indicator.

Information Intensity Principle

If pay takes the form t(z,y) = alpha + beta(z+gy) then beta measure the intensity of the incentives: how much pay varies with effort

Optimal intensity depends on four factors:

1. incremental profits from addl effort
2. precision of estimating effort
3. agent's risk tolerance
4. agent's responsiveness to incentives.

Monitoring intensity principle

1. Spend more on improving monitoring when incentive intensity Beta is higher.

If principle can invest in better measurement/monitoring, then if incentive intensity of high then it is better to have more precise measures of performance.

Equal Compensation Effort

If agent's effort on multiple desirable activities cannot be separately monitored, then the marginal payoff to the agent for each must be equal or those with leser marginal payoffs will receive zero effort!

This is basically a possibility for leading to unattended consequences.

Eisenhardt Summary

Behavior Based Contracts Outcome Based Contracts

Info systems + -

Outcome Uncertainly + -

Agent Risk aversion + _

Principal Risk Aversion

Degree of Goal Conflict

Incentive Centered Design : Hidden Action

2007-03-16T19:49:00.000+01:00

Some results from class:

1. When principal (P) is neutral and agent A is risk averse - fixed payment contracts.
and the principal bears all the uncertainty

2. When the P is risk averse and the agent A is risk neutral then : "Sell the project to the agent". i.e. franchise contarcts.

e.g. the agent pays McDonalds to own the franchise - McD gets a fixed payment and the franchise takes all the risk.

However in real life both principal and agent will have some kind of risk aversion and so in real life the contract will be something between the two.

The contracting timeline:

1. principal designs contract
2. agent accepts of rejects contract (IR contract - forms one variable in the lagrangian later)
3. how hard is agent going to work (Incentive Compatibility Constraint) (forms another variable for the lagrangian later)
4. Uncertainty is resolved, i.e. we have some outcome; important point to consider
how do payoffs depend on the outcome of the project - design decision.
5. contract payoffs are made - and happily ever after :)

The timeline allows us to use backward recursion to design optimal contracts.

Lots of weird, torturous equations later :)

IR > 0 => how costly is it to get the agent to just sign ujp
IC > 0 => how costly is the lack of monitoring of information for the principal

and most importantly

t(x)= optimal payment to agent

t(x) depends directly on the likelihood ratio : i.e. the ratio p(i,L)/p(i,h)
{ note here:
derivative of utility of agent t(u(x)) is decreasing
=> as t(x) increases => du decreases => 1/du increases
}

where p(i,h) represents how likely it is to observe result i (state i of the world) if agent worked hard (h)

so if p(i,h)/p(i,l) is small we are much more likely to see results x(i) if effort to high i.e. e=e(h)

the takeaway is since we can't measure effort we measure some quantity that encapsulates effort. here x. so effective you are being paid not for e but for the information encapsulated and communicated by x.

Thus we want to motivate profitable behavior for principal my making working efficiently attractive for agent well - and be able to monitor that in some observable outcome.

For example Varszegi paid his employees at fotex four times the market price in the new hungarian regime - their incentive ? - to keep their jobs by showing Varszegi that they were valuable to his business by working hard. So the profitability of the business encapsulated some information about the work of the employees and Varszegi made a killing. Stock options in companies have the same purpose.

The design question for me is: how many ways can we leverage this in interaction design. How can the interface encapsulate knowledge about user actions and then reflect that to either motivate others or motivate the same user; Are recommender systems at least in part an instantiation of this - or not ? i'll have to wait till i take that class I guess !

And the Sun came out to play!

2007-03-14T02:03:00.000+01:00

Finally, after months of the gloomy winter weather - well it was cosy at times, especially in the beginning, but four months is taking it a bit too far :) - today the sun was out!
I had almost forgotten what good weather was; But today was awesome! The university was buzzing with so much activity, people out everywhere, music at the DIAG, pretty faces all around :) and the gorgeous sunny weather.............it kind of took me back to my first few days at the university last fall! It was a lovely feeling.

My 503 exam went ok - at least I hope so; I haven't yet stopped kicking myself for my stupid answer in 503, having crossed out the right answer to a 10 mark question in the last minute on a whim and written the wrong one. I'm trying to console myself that it was destined but it's a losing battle.

The weather was so gorgeous that instead of taking the bus, I got down at the Indian store and walked all the way up home from there! Oh, yes and I had dosa :)

I can't wait enough for more of this weather!!

Information Economics : The Long Tail

2007-02-16T06:51:00.000+01:00

What's powerful about the long tail is the sheer size of it.
Average borders carries around 100,000 titles, yet just more than a quarter of amazon's earnings comes from outside these 100,000 titles. And the thrilling part is this is market is growing - and rapidly!

In fact most successful internet businesses capitalize on the long tail in some way or the other. Google gets most of its revenue from the long tail, so does ebay. The two important aspects they overcome are :
scale geography expaning not only existing markets but creating new ones!
In fact as these companies offered more and more they realized demand followed supply!!
The act of vastly increasing choice seemed to open up demand for that choice.\

These niche markets account for anywhere between 25% to 50% of their total revenues and these are not sold by their mortar and brick competitors!

The essential lesson to learn is:
A very very big number (the tail) multiplied by a very small number (demand) still equals a very big number - which is only increasing.
The advent of new technology increased the distribution channels and the distribution capabilities. This was the case with the church and the bible with the coming of the gutenburg press. So was it with the coming of radio and electromagnetic waves. But still things were local and reaching a natioal audience was not an option. This changed with the beginning of chain or network broadcasting. The formation not only allowed distribution channels but also created a networked culture. This shared culture, the network, the commonality of opinion was what the marketing expolited.

It was almost as if the marketing people could make or break a hit. And for some time they did. However, all this started to end with the onslaught of the p2p networks, and not only because people were getting 'free' music but because there were fundamentally more choices and for once people could actually realize what could music was and what trash they were being served as popular earlier ;)

Information Search Retrieval : Memory

2007-02-07T19:22:00.000+01:00

If homomorphism between two domains is not well established then analogies are susceptible to two kinds of errors:
errors of commission - when irrelevant information is imposed on the target domain.
errors of omission - information transferred covers only part of what it pertains to.

Memory becomes manifest whenever the behavior of a system is influenced by events that occurred n the past and information about them then must have been retained by the system in some way.
An implication of the above is that memory becomes not the property of a system but that of the observer-object relationship because it arises from the inability of the observer to explain the behavior of the system and fully predict it in the absence of full information.

K makes an assertion that a system possesses memory if its history behavior cannot be explained by either his psychological processes or the technical processes in place. Social Memory explains history determined behavior by reference to structural features of society.

Information Retrieval devices - past information needs to be unitized, logically distinct. Followed by classification and indexing which depends on ability to understand data.

The four stage process: 1. acquisition; 2. storage and maintenance; 3) search; 4) retrieval.

two important aspects of temporal memory:
1. communication delays
2. identity transformation

atomic elements ? social systems ?

Retrieval of information from temporal memory then involves interception of the flow of information thus implying both spatial (certain location) as well as temporal (certain time) dependencies.

Another way to carry 'memory' : by semi-permanent changes in a medium - e.g. recording tapes, writing books etc. The very important fact to note here that recording memory in this way essentially involves a complementary retrieving system that understands this coding. e.g. need to know the language of the written record, or have a system to play the recorded ferromagnetic information (or even the linseed example given). In social system things get more complex - since it is not only the encoding standards but the combined effect of encoding and decoding that has significance.

thank god it's friday ?

2007-02-03T04:46:00.000+01:00

So it's 10:47 pm, and i'm sitting here in the shapiro library......with a few other people around, on a friday evening. And what am I doing here on a friday evening ...... trying to model network growth patterns through various preferential attachment algorithms. And the worst part of it is.....I'm loving it ! :)

We'll actually that has more to do with the fact that I think I've just managed to solve the ten point bonus problem- that too on NetLogo which I just started a couple of hours (ok 4 hours!) ago and which I thought was going to take me a significant part of the night!!!!

I guess i deserve the excitement ? ;)

Usability in Search

2007-01-30T18:42:00.000+01:00

Marissa Mayer on the usabilty of google search results.

http://searchengineland.com/070126-124723.php

Nothing too new here.....but the point is once you have done stuff like optimize the top left of the page where do you go from there in terms of usability ?

Sensemaking ...anybody ?

checking

2007-01-20T06:18:00.000+01:00

discombobulated

Google Tips - Power Corrupts ?

2007-01-03T18:36:00.000+01:00

Blake Ross has an interesting analysis of the 'subtle' changes in Google search tips and their
implications. It's interesting how blurred the boundary can get between suggesting the best service and the suggesting your service.

Another interesting thing to note is the difference a single tiny icon can make in the searching process. Basically, it boils down to getting the attention of the user. In the case of Google the implications are so vast because:

1. The suggestion occurs at a place that might virtually be the "home page of the internet".
2. It occurs at a place where the user is in "need" of the information - i.e. searching for it!

Here is the complete article:

http://www.blakeross.com/2006/12/25/google-tips/

Another take on the issue from Matt Cutts

of morals and monies

2006-11-06T07:45:00.000+01:00

"Don't you have any morals man"

"Can't afford them Guv'nor".

I think that was Geroge Bernard Shaw. Profoundly hilarious.

late nights!

2006-11-06T07:23:00.000+01:00

Disha: "How's life ! ?
Me : "Not too good ! I've hardly been getting any sleep!"
Disha: "Fie, fie, you're in love :) "

Yeah ! if only it was that.
It's going to be a super hectic week. And i'm already exhausted thinking of it :).
Somehow i've had disdain for things that require me to take great care in completing but require very little logic. I would rather think over something really really complex and just scribble the output on paper , Its a different matter that i seem to be losing my ability to do that too !

Its a farce, I know it is. What do I really want to do ? Head off, make my life an experiment, reflect, fly, know my inner self, actualize. Ancient hermits in india put years of their life experimenting - wore only one color, ate only one color to study the effect of the color on their body, learnt of things we can only dream of today- it's probably the most exciting thing i think of doing -and yet i don't do it. Will i ever ?

i school conference : google book project

2006-10-15T22:43:00.000+02:00

I'm quite excited ! I'm going to be at the i conference 2006 at the University of Michigan. I'm looking forward to two exciting days of (surprise surprise) information flow :)!

i conference is organized by the ischools project - the naming of which I'm sure has nothing to do with an ipod as suggested elsewhere! . I'm sure the people who thought of it had better things to do than name an important movement after an ipod !

The iconference started with presentation by John Wilkin and C. Perry Willett of the University of Michigan Library on the Google Book Search Project. A brief overview of their talk is at the SI 504 class blog.

Apart from the host of interesting points disucssed on the class blog here are a couple that I think will be fascinating to look at:

1. from the interface design point of view - browsing scanned books in the current manner (clicking next on a link to go to the next page is primitive and in my opinion a poor translation of the hyperlink metaphor. Can reading online be made more interesting ?

2. hyperlinks within the books ?

3. a social tagging perspective to the hyperlinks in books ? How controlled should the tagging be ?
who should see content tagged by whom ? and a host of such issues that are inherent in any
tagging system.

(remind me of our concept of virtual annotation at the CAIF conference.)

The next talk is by John Seely Brown at 7:00 pm today which I will be attending ! You might want to view the plenery session live , or if you don't do that just stay tuned for updates here ;)

Grudin at SI

2006-10-13T21:46:00.000+02:00

Today, I attended a talk by Jonathon Grudin - well half a talk actually, I had to head off to class halfway through the talk, but the talk was pretty interesting.

Having had a couple of his readings as course readings ( groupware, is hci homeless? ) it was interesting to see what he had to say in person.

I liked the way in which he put spoke of the history of hci from a very practical point of view; He spoke quite a bit about how the research fields in hci have evolved based on technological innovations. At the very beginning he asked all the people in the room where they stood in relation to technology shaping human behaviour and living:

The four categories were

1. hard determinism - firm believer that tech determines the way we live
2. soft determinism
3. co-determinism
4. no determinism

He saw himself somewhere 1.5 :) . Prof. Judy Olson - 1 :), Prof McQuaid 3 with two hands up !!!
I, like the majority was 3.

Also, he said most of the places he asked this question there was one brave person who said 4 - none at SI though !

It was interesting to note how people who had actually done considerable amounts of research were quite convinced that technology significantly DETERMINED the way we live. I wonder if its a cyclic realationship of cause - i.e. because they study its influence so much they believe it influences us so much ?

recommending music ?

2006-10-13T21:35:00.000+02:00

There was an annoucement today about Pandora coming to Michigan for a presentation. I'd never heard of pandora but inquisitive as I am decided to give their website a look. I loved my first interaction with the website.

Pandora is based on the music genome project (http://www.pandora.com/mgp.shtml) and is the third largest online radio broadcaster. What was interesting to me was that the site didn't clobber you with information, didnt ask you to decide the genre or some other attribute of music and doesn't innundate you with choices of search results for your query. It simply sets up a station for you to listen to based on its "recommender system". I'm not really sure what they base their recommendations on. Also there is a nice balance between people who want to learn more about artists/music and people who just want to listen to some songs through their feature called backstage.

I'm going to return to the site more often, apart from going for their presentation :)
you might want to check it out too.
www.pandora.com

GMap

2006-10-09T05:22:00.000+02:00

Unbelivably, I'm writing in again today !

It's been a long weekend. Long because there were so many things to finish over the weekend - and i've almost managed to cram them all in.

I've finally been able to integrate Google Map into the RideNow project ride display !!!!
The long time was primarily because working twenty hours a day at another place I didnt really get any time to work on it through the week. So I was mostly working on it some late nights and at the weekends! Nevertheless, I'm so relieved its done - because it involved getting my feet wet with GMap and AJAX by looking at code of a significant level of complexity :). But then somehow I think I learn better that way ;)

Weekends have become more like a time to catch up on work for the week. There used to be similar times at IIT too but that was more because I wouldn't have worked through the week.
Here, after slogging through the week, i've to work at weekends to try to catch up with the remaining work - and even after that I sometimes don't end up doing all the readings for the week!

Is it too much work or too much of inefficiency on my part. This time I think its the former [:)]

trying to get myself ready for anther hectic week !

The new chapter

2006-10-07T20:42:00.000+02:00

I'm writing in after a huge break - but with a new resolve to write in more regulary (deja vu ?)!

Its been quite a while since I landed here at the University of Michigan and i've been meaning to blog about such a lot of things !
Lest you begin attributing it to my laziness - let me absolve myself of it now - this time its not laziness :) - well not totally !

Life here is really hectic. For the past one week each day i've been sleeping at 3:00 am in the morning and getting back to class at 9:00 !

The coursework is pretty hectic itself but on top of that i'm working twenty hours a week. Not that i'm complaining though! It's kind of fun to go through all this. Not exactly FUN but fun nevertheless.
Oh! another thing I intend to do is start writing more 'academic' stuff on the blog.

If nothing else it'll help me keep notes !

To end the post on a interesting note - i'll be at the i-conference 2006 at the end of this week!

Go blue !

okay its stupid but i had to post this one !

2006-08-20T22:00:00.000+02:00

Desi Summer of 69'

I had my first real six rupees,
stole it from my father's pants.
went to a madrasi hotel,
to eat the sambhar of 69.

Me and some kadke dost,
had it all and we caught bukhaar,
jimy puked, joey got ulcers,and Bagga ne maari dakar.

Oh when I went back there now,
the food was as stale as ever,
and though it was 1999,
still the sambhar was being served over there,
that was the worst food of my life.

Therez no use in complaining,
when you got no other place to eat,
rushed in the evening to the doctors clinic,
but he too was at thetoilet seat,

yeahstanding there waiting outside,
nurse told me I will wait forever,
oh and when I held my breath,
I knew that I had to use that loo there
That was the worst food of my life.
Back to the sambhar of 69

so much for sportsmanship !

2006-06-26T19:13:00.000+02:00

Just got back after watching the Australia Italy World Cul 2006 match. What an utterly shameful way for Italy to win after that delibrate 'dive' in the 'D' that fetched them a penaly in the last breath of the match.

I remember back in school during a house match when a player objected to a decision by the referee, our coach ran into the field and asked him to do 5 head rolls as punishment!

Such an act at a world cup final by a player of one of the best teams in the world is utterly disgraceful. If you thought it couldn't go worse, you got another think coming - because I was even more horrified when in the post match analysis one of the people analysisng the match condoned the act saying that in the italian and spanish football culture this wasn't frowned upon and was something 'natural'. So it wouldn't be weird for Italy to do it. Also in the replays the referee was in a perfectly good position to see that it was a dive.

It was wrenching to see the aussies play such a hard game with such fine spirit again a team that was obviously much higher ranked than them and then go out in this fashion. Although Australia lost the match, they did win a lot of hearts with their play - as did the Italians in fact during the game. However, because of that one last dive - there is shame in defeat for them.

And such awful referring throughout the game !!!! The referee deserves to be kicked out harder than the football.

The Curse of Reservation

2006-05-22T18:32:00.001+02:00

So in the world's largest 'democracy' students are beaten up like common criminals for peacefully protesting against something that aims to cripple both their future as wel as the future of the country. It's really a pathetic state of affair - but then what else can you expect with prized morons like Arjun Singh making decisions. The guy is unbelievably dumb - seriously !! I mean you think you've heard Bush and you've heard it all but you've just got to listen to this asSh07E.

Just to give you an example of how dumb this moron is - here is what the HRD minister, someone who was considered for the Indian Prime Minister Post actually said on a national interview:

Interviewer : we are talking about the reservations for the OBCs (Other Backward Castes) in particular. Do you know what percentage of the Indian population is OBC? Mandal puts it at 52 per cent, the National Sample Survey Organisation at 32 per cent, the National Family and Health Survey at 29.8 per cent, which is the correct figure?

Arjun Singh: I think that should be decided by people who are more knowledgeable. But the point is that the OBCs form a fairly sizeable percentage of our population

WTF ??? you moron how are the people going to decide what is the percentage of OBC's in India ? I mean the most basic thing the guy who proposed the reservation should know is the SIZE of the OBC population on the basis of which the reservation will be proposed !

And trust me this is just the start ...If you're really in a mood for some laughs here:
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/decision-on-quota-is-final-the-chapter-is-closed/11063-4-0.html

The saddest part is - you don't know whether you should laugh at this moron or worry yourself sick about the future of India when dimwits like him are incharge of making rules for so many lives...
God save India.

The Curse of Reservation

2006-05-22T18:32:00.000+02:00

vanity !

2006-05-19T08:22:00.000+02:00

Rrrrrrrrring.....

Me: "Hi Dad!"
Dad : "so you are supossed to be an IIT Graduate ? "
Me: thinking what kind of a question is that ????
Me: " Well, I've finished my exams and just have to fill in the no dues form and...."
Dad : " At least learn how to write an adress ! "
Me : " Now what did I write wrong ? "
Dad: "Where on earth is michigan supossed to be.....is it a country ? "
Me : " Oh great....so you called me up for that !!!!!!!! I just copied the address [:)] ....just write
U.S.A. na !"

Me : "Oh btw.... Dad , I got a 9.85/10 this semester !"
Dad : "That's wonderful......so our coming to convocation will be worth it...How many other prizes are your getting ? "
ME : OTHER Prizes...errr.....now just a sec...hold on !!
Me : " Errr......Dad it's not like school. I mean
My first few semesters were not good...cause you know they were kind of boring....so I don't really think I'll be getting a PRIZE as such"

Dad: " Oh! but you'll be graduating with honours or distinction or something like that ? "
Me : " Well...There isn't anything like that........i mean you just graduate...and the departmental top rankers get an a medal".
Dad : " Ok, anyways, congratulations for 9.85.....great going"
Me: now you say it ! shd have been a few lines above !!!!!!!
Me: "Thanks!"

9.85.......what a way to finish my undergrad! I love myself :)

The Science of the Vedas

2006-05-16T18:41:00.000+02:00

Rig Veda: 10th Mandala: Sutra 129 :

"At that time existed only Brahma, imbued with energy in his nature and nothing else existed. Darkness was hidden inside darkness and existence was unknown. With the exertion of its own tapas,Brahma emerged out of nothing without external cause or action"

Stephan Hwakings 'n' thousand years later in 'A brief History of Time'

"At the big bang , the universe is thought to have had zero size and so to have been infinitely hot." (tapas above directly implies heat). The universe has arisen after this big explosion and has its origin in this super condensed mass.

Rig Veda 1-50-4:

"I bow to the one(with reference to the light of the sun)which travels 2202 yojans per half Nimish"

this when converted in the SI units comes out to be 299,000 km/s which is very close to the currently calculated speed of light !!

Its amazing how we have utterly disregarded even the mere consideration of Vedic teaching in the Indian curriculum describe such unmatched science and wisdom contained in them. The India of the past seems like a mere dream that somehow today we cannot believe existed. It is imperative that we realize the intellectual heritage that we have been left with and at least give students the options to study these as electives as a part of the curriculum of various courses. It is time we wake up to our legacy.

the grad bucket party !

2006-05-13T13:37:00.000+02:00

Scene: the third floor of a residential hostel in IIT Guwahati.
Time: 1:00 am
background: Pink Floyd - We don't need no education.
Occasion: a big sweet baboon - Tushar (T) was leaving IIT Guwahati after spending four memorable years with us. All of us were naturally nostalgic ;) and wanted to celebrate this time together.
Players: Doctor (D) (drunk - and unwilling to accept it!)
Tushar (T) (excited that this was his night! nostalgic about leaving; a little drunk)
Kataria (K) (sensible, having fun goading doctor!)
Abhinav Mathur(A) (drunk like hell - and boasting that he is sooo in control)
Arup(R) (trying to make sure all of us are okay; the guy in control)
Me ! (M) (the second guy in control ;), nostalgic and fooling around)

Mood : Really Really sentimental , thinking about the future.

Doc: No matter what guys, we'll always keep in touch - and let's promise to invite each other whenever we
marry. And we'll all going to %$%$%^& the guy who doesn't invite all of us okay ?
Mathur: Yes .......we'll make sure to do that.
Doc: Mathur, you'll be the first one to change man. You told me now that you are graduating no one is
supossed to call you a *#$&&#$$$(his nick name) , you asshole i feel like throwing this (brandishing his
glass of vodka) in your face.
Tushar n Me: Laughing at the look on Doc's face.
Kataria : Yeah...then throw it man !!!!
Doc: Looks at kataria with a semblence of intelligence and then throws the contents of the glass in Mathur's
face !!!!!!!

All of us: doubling with laughter and carrying mathur to wash his face.

While mathur washes his face and we're rolling with laughter .......doctor fills a bucket with water and throws it at us .....then there is this mad rush where people are running about with buckets throwing water at each other at 1:00 am in the morning!

Soon , the water isn't interesting anymore - someone walks up to mathur and solemnly suggests : " There is quite a bit of chicken left in the dish- it'll make a fine missile".

Mathur realizes how dumb he has been - leaps to the chicken and runs behind Doctor. Doctor maybe drunk but he's quick to realize that his body won't quite take the same liking to chicken that his palette does and does a sprint that belies his all size !

They run gleefully around the floor and come back towards us !!!!! Sensing danger, the rest of us sprint down the stairs - praying with don't fall on those wet stairs when there is a loud thud. I look back - Tushar is fine, so is Kataria and as we reach the same conclusion there is again a bout of laughter. Its either Doctor o r Mathur! Doctor's booming laugh confirms who it is !!!! and there is another round of laughing as we realize mathur fell splattering the delicious chicken all over the floor and himself!

Then there is some exchange of tactic and strategy and the two drunk buffons on top play their ace. Mathur calls us to speak to us and to say that he is coming down and to wait for him - while he keeps looking over his shoulder towards the bathroom (where doctor is filling the bucket - oooh how awfully clever ! ). We're smiling down at their 'covert' plan when we are taken slightly by surprise by a bucket full of water thrown down at us.
While all of us jump aside the splash and hulaballoo brings up a visibly excited guard running up.

Guard : Whats all this !!! this won't do in a hostel - i'm going to call the warden. I'm calling the guard right now.
Me : Relax....no problems....we are going away and those people upstairs are going to sleep, so cal m down and go back.

Tushar : in his characterstic in control style full of fundae ! trying to explain to the guard how he should understand that these were his 'last three hours' and this was just routine stuff going on. The guard apparently doesnt seem to understand and Tushar again reaffirms that he was leaving 'in three hours!!!' after four years...so what if there were some puddles of water around and chicken splattered generously on the floor ;)

The guard stubborn and not wanting to see the briliance of Tushar's logic shoves him aside and starts to run up just when ............

Doctor has reloaded his ammo and sends a full bucket of water right on top of the security guard to give him a spectacular early bath at 1:30!

<<>>

Microsoft Imagine Cup

2006-04-28T21:07:00.000+02:00

Oh, meanwhiles !
Our team is in the semi-finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup.
We were one of the 8 or so judges' selected teams from around 600 !
Exciting...very - except for the fact that our interactive prototype now needs to be on a microsoft platform !!!!! I don't do that !!!!! :D
guess we'll have to mash something up - and do it quick !!!!!
time is running out - the submissions end on the 8th of May.

thoughts as passwords

2006-04-27T19:34:00.001+02:00

Read this interesting piece from techdirt :
"Wired News is looking at the possibility of one day being able to use your thoughts as your password for better security. The idea being that the computer would recognize your specific brainwaves, that couldn't easily be copied by someone else. Some people believe this will never happen, as distinguishing on that fine a level of brainwaves might be impossible. However, even if it was possible, you have to wonder how effective it would be. It could work for normal logging in... but how does it work when you don't want to log in, but someone else wants you to? Ever try to not think about a certain thing? Our brains aren't really wired that way..........."

If its thought dependent what about when we are in a hurry, or a disturbed state of mind, or when really really angry !!!! will the brain waves be the same and consequently the login process smooth ?

advice from professors !

2006-04-27T19:34:00.000+02:00

Today we - a bunch of people who are going for their higher studies to the United Statesthis fall-had an informal chat with four of our professors who were telling us of their experiences and what choices we would have and what India might have to offer us in terms of research and work when we get back. It was a nice feeling the way they explained to us various aspects of the situation. There was also a lotof variety of opinions amongst the professors themselves - with someone mentioning that the the world was becoming increasingly more global and itwas not really a big decision whether to come back to stay abroad. Someothers however were more fervent and said that it people like us could be instrumental in helping shape the India of the future and whatever our decisionwe must realize the responsibility we carry. The one thing that stood out was that all of them encouraged us to go out, seek,and learn from what the world had to offer has and use that in whatever way we could to give back something to our country.Final thesis presentation is looming up and I'm not really sure how my workis going to turn up !!!!! Let's try to finish it asap !

floating bicycle !

2006-03-30T07:37:00.000+02:00

I just read this piece of information at :
http://www.ibnlive.com/article.php?id=7372&section_id=3 (article also pasted below )and its fascinating.......
necessity is definitely the mother of invention and this is just another proof of something I believe in so strongly - there is so much of knowledge around, and the perspective of people who have actually been in the problem can make so much of a difference. Second, there is a strong need for India to support grassroot innovations like this and take ideas like this forward with credit - both monetory and othrewise to briiliant people like Saidullah.

-----------------------------------------

Necessity they say, is the mother of invention. When floods ravaged Mohammad Saidullah's village, he found a new way to survive.
"Nadi ke kinare mera ghar tha. Aus usine mere ghar ko kat diya. (My house was near a river and it was destroyed by the river)," Saidullah says.
Saidullah designed a bicycle that can not only travel on land but also float on water.
He has named the Noor Bicycle, after his wife.
On land, it is just a bicycle and in water, it becomes a boat.
In a nation of a million cyclists - it took one man to think out of the box. And he even built in some special effects.
The cycle can goe front and back. If it gets stuck just pedal backwards and it will reverse.
"Isme ek aur khubi hai. Ye aage bhi chalti hai aur peeche bhi. Doosri cycle sirf aage jati hai (It has one more speciality. It can go front and back unlike other cycles which can only go forward.)," he adds.
Air floats keep the bike from sinking and fan blades propel it forward. It took five years and Rs 6 thousand to perfect the cycle.
The idea is brilliant and worthy of an IIT engineer.
Yet, Mohammad is just a simple villager. Geniuses like him live all around us.

2006-03-17T21:30:00.000+01:00

Okay, some things have got to be filed !
and this is *definitely* one of them. (the cartoon strip, i mean)

Life's been a roller coaster for the last couple of months. More on the high side :)
We'll i've got a little more spiritual, my heart filled with a little more love.
Been a little disorganized too. Work or no work, by some weird quirk of circumstances i somehow manage to stay awake till 3:00 am !!!! damn !
its 2:00 am here now.

Why the post today ? Well for one I've just managed to send in entries for two competitions which is like a big load off me. The first is for the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2006. Our entry is called "Sparsh- touching lives" :).
The second was for MotoFwrd 2006. Somewhere between the entry i got carried away with emotions and lost coherence. Of course i didnt realize it just then ;)

current interets : AJAX ;)

007

2006-02-17T05:16:00.000+01:00

You scored as James Bond, Agent 007. James Bond is MI6's best agent, a suave, sophisticated super spy with charm, cunning, and a license's to kill. He doesn't care about rules or regulations and somewhat amoral. He does care about saving humanity though, as well as the beautiful women who fill his world. Bond has expensive tastes, a wide knowledge of many subjects, and his usually armed with a clever gadget and an appropriate one-liner.

James Bond, Agent 007

92%

Neo, the "One"

83%

El Zorro

75%

Lara Croft

71%

William Wallace

71%

The Amazing Spider-Man

63%

Indiana Jones

63%

Maximus

58%

Batman, the Dark Knight

58%

Captain Jack Sparrow

50%

The Terminator

42%

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

the best chocolate ever !

2006-02-06T18:17:00.000+01:00

After a hectic bout of applying for graduate studies and in between a not so enjoyable spree of calling companies for placements and explaing to them what design is , luckily enough to keep us sane there was Alcheringa - our cultural festival.

Even as I write this there is a twang of nostalgia - it was my last alcheringa -as a student at least.
And it was truly memorable. After a spree of offstage shows - which i truly love doing!- i finally hostd the biggest game show of alcheringa 2006. Thanks to Shaiz for the wonderful way he organized everything and all the guys behind the scenes for the show. There were lots of expectations and I wanted it to end on a really good note. I do plan on writing a post about the show - another one on the to do stack ! - but for now i'll just say that the horde of sweet people coming to congratulate me and some truly lovely compliments do feel nice and i'll venture to say that the show did go really well. Thanks to all the people in the audience and organization for being so wonderful.

Not that i didn't do offstage shows. I did both informals and Crush- the dating game show - and it terms of pure fun - yeah it was the best :).

oh the post header did say something about chocolates right ?
well here's why ;) (p.s. the chocolate sort of disappeared in the pic to come !!). And to the lovely girl with those hypnotic brown eyes and the super smile ...........thank you for everything :)

masterpiece !

2006-01-12T17:36:00.001+01:00

I watched "The Road to Perdition" for the second time today and now I am certain - Conrad Hall is a true genius. Watching each frame of the movie was like watching exquisite poetry in motion.
I loved "The professionals" but "The road....." was way out of league even for the Conrad Hall !
Sometimes you just want the scenes to flow out and stay pasted on your walls. And the movie is not just a collection of a large number of beautiful shots - Each shot is beautiful !

I want to watch another movie by him soon !!!!!!

new year resolution

2006-01-01T05:30:00.000+01:00

to strive, to seek, to find;
and not to yeild................

encounter ! - part 1

2006-01-01T05:01:00.000+01:00

she :"Stop staring at me !".
me :"you're talking to me ? "
she :"isn't that so obvious ? "
me :"don't flatter yourself. you aren't that attractive."
she :"i know ! you have pretty bad taste ;) "
me :"well, i'll show you a thing or two about taste; you like coffee ?"
she :"is that your way of asking me out ?"
me :"see you've got to stop flattering yourself. I mean i can understand what a guy like me
staring at you can do you raise your self esteem- but get real"
she :"am I hallucinating or is your sense of humour better ? "
me :"whatever! what i meant was I could show you what really good coffee is like."
she :" oh ok, lets see. Where are we going?"
me :" That depends how much you are willing to spend on both our coffee"
she :" WHAT ? you expect me to pay for your coffee !!! "
genuinely shocked>
me :"umm yeah kind of. You know I figured that a self-respecting, independent strong girl like you
would find it demeaning if I paid for your coffee?"
she : "how thoughtful of you ! but i'm kind of old fashioned when it comes to this"
me : "i guess we'll just go dutch then."
she : "sounds better. So are you always such a flirt ?"
me : " not really. its mostly when I see a really dumb, good looking girl."
she : " I thought you said I was not attractive ! "
me : "so you agree you are dumb "
she : "yeah. why else would I be going with you"
me : "gosh , can you ever stop talking ! "

shocking !

2005-10-05T19:34:00.000+02:00

"In a bizarre incident, more than 42 students, who had assembled to attended a Gandhi Jayanti function in Rampur district in Uttar Pradesh fainted while waiting for actress-turned-politician Jayaprada, MP at a public ground on Sunday.According to reports, more than 10000 students had assembled at a public ground to observe the October 2 Gandhi Jayanti function. The programme was supposed to be kick-started by ruling party leader Amar Singh and Jayaprada, local MP. The students, who had been brought in to the ground from their homes from 6' clock in the morning were forced to stand in the scorching sun for hours without food and water."

It seems a shame to me what they have reduced Mahatma Gandhi to. Apart from the obvious odious criminal behaviour of politicians like this what is even more saddening is the fact that these people are slowly strangling Mahatma Gandhi for the younger generation. Not that I am a great fan of him but what they have reduced Mahatma Gandhi to is an old man with a stick because of whom on second ocotber you have to take part listening to ridiculous some despicable speeches by even more despicable men and then get some sweets and return home.

What's also a shame for our country is the pitiful slavishness of teachers who let the children stand that way for so long ! These are the people who are supposed to inculcate values of courage, honour and moral strength into the children of india !
Bravo.

journalism with a short memory.

2005-10-05T19:00:00.000+02:00

There is no dearth of people writing in about the IIMs and the IITs in india. So what do you do when you really have nothing much to write about : you sharpen your pencil and go IIT/IIM bashing !
There was this one person on www.sulkeha.com who had his post reach the top slot (judging on the comments he got) because he wrote something he thought was was a ridiculously funny description of life at an IIT (what was really written all over his blog was "So what I didnt get into an IIT ...its for losers anyway ! ").

Anyway here is an article by someone a lot more responsible and somones writing I actually enjoy sometimes.
She write an article which was published at quite a few places on indian sites about the IIM placement scene. Misplaced as i thought i article was I quote :

"An IIM Ahmedabad student has reportedly bagged a job offer of $ 150,000 (Rs 50 lakhs). The news has made headlines in all the morning papers. And a million more 'I-want-to-attend-IIM A' dreams have been created in one fell swoop"

and then she goes on to explain why we must not be happy that this happened and how it has a
negative influence on others and stuff.

This is a more recent article by her about this years placemnts !

"Lastly is a small note on placements - the fact that a student from IIM B has already got a pre placement offer of 105,000 pounds (Rs 84 lakhs) which is of course CTC and all that but I am fully expecting "IIM students gets Rs 1 crore salary" to be a headline next March. It's just a question of someone offering 15,000 pounds more. "

I wonder if she even stopped to consider who those journalists are who make such a hype about the salary ! Besides i don't think there is anything wrong in creating a million " I want to be in IIM-As". Be it for the salary or for "profound" managerial knowledge -there is nothing at all wrong in aspiring to good things in life where your ability and hard work can take you. And lets face it - if a multinational is paying this money they must have a good reason to do so. So I dont understand the didactic attitude of know it all people who want to be well wishers of today's youth and let them know the true picture. Dont dream of this , dont dream of that - that may not be true.

Of course it may not be true. But i think that scotching a person's dreams are the worst thing you can do.

dream on....and yeah will be waiting for the one crore salary news !!!! ;)

Although for now -with just 15 days left for my GRE -its back to the books !

google blog search

2005-09-14T19:43:00.000+02:00

As a reply to a post of mine a little while back one of my frinds suggested an idea - which was really
neat and we sat down and after a couple of unsuccessful attempts did come up with something that
did seem to have a lot of potential.
Surprisingly, i came across the google blog search today (http://blogsearch.google.com) ......looks like word of our idea did get around eh ;) . Well, ilooks like folks at technorati (http://www.technorati.com) were ahead of google here and looks like blogging is going to be a whole lot more of seroius fun !

Anyway as for the idea - it strengths our belief that the idea has real potential - and our idea wasn't quite searching for(or just searching blogs per se) - that would be too obvious right , hehe !
Got to start working on this idea seroiusly as soon as i get some of the more mundane stuff regarding projects and exams out of the way !

I ate too much at a birthday party today ! couldn't even go for my customary jog ! and have to go and reserve train tickets tomorrow morning - so am going to hit the bed early !

not all who wander are lost.

2005-08-28T19:34:00.000+02:00

not all who wander are lost .....and not all who are lost wander.

things are moving real fast. I had my first simCAT today. I did well in the Verbal Analysis/Reading Comprehension section and screwed up the Data interpretation section. Well, so i probably wont make it to the top tier this simCAT ....did i hear someone say ......NEXT !!!
the next simCAT's on the 18th of Sep ... i'm gonna crack the exam big time ! ;) hopefully !

I have to submit my Curriculum Vitae for a company that is coming for recruitment in december - and joining a company is the last thing on my mind just now. I mean i really dont see myself working in a company after a year implementing an interface for a mechanical engineering software designed by some dude sitting in korea ! (well i'm not sure thats what the job profile will be but whatever ! )

Then again, on second thoughts I really dont know what I want to do. I mean, its not that i am lost.....its more like i'm wandering about. Actually I know what I would be most happy doing - getting together with a few really, incredibly smart people who are not afraid to dream big and start with our own company - and its not cause a dude called bill gates did it and became the richest man in the world - i mean everyway you look at it its awesome. You work for YOUR company, you work with friends as crazy as you, the thrill of working together for a dream - a dream that noone except you can see and believing in it enough to put your careeer at stake on it , it all sounds so romantically ideal. But then again, what if the company is not a success ?? I've thought quite a bit about it and i am quite sure that the thing i am afraid is not whether the company will do well or not - somewhere deep inside i am extremely convinced ultimately we'll do well. What i am afraid is defying what is expected of me and breaking away. I mean everyone from my parents, to friends, to professors, to the poster on the wall in my room expects me to head off for an M.S./PhD, or make it to an IIM (indian institute of management) or get some cool job (of course cool here means diff things to diff people).

Again my greatest fear is not that i will not do what i want to just now....its what happens years down the line when i've actually settled into a career too far to do something maverick. If i dont really find my work to be my passion then i know that i will regret not having done what i wanted throughout life.
Reminds me of a cool pickup scene in "Before Sunrise" :
The guy wants to convince a girl he met ten minutes before to get down the train she is on and spend the evening with him so he goes something like :
imagine your life 20 years from now....you are married and your life doesnt quite have that "spark" it used to and everything is really dull ! then you'll be dreaming of all those guys you met along the years whom you could have dated but didnt and wondering what it would be like if you did date him ;) .I'm just one of those guys ....so do yourself a favour and save yourself from the regret twenty years down the line. The girl got off the train.......will I ?

google talk !

2005-08-25T08:19:00.001+02:00

so sexy ...so google....
amazing VoIP even behind people with institute/organization firewalls....
perhaps the best solution for people with slow/clogged networks....its super fast !

have fun: http://www.google.com/talk/

google talk !

2005-08-25T08:19:00.000+02:00

so google ...so sexy....
cool VoIP , basic im functions and perhaps the best option for people with slow internet connections/clogged networks.

have fun : http://www.google.com/talk/

exam blues

2005-08-24T20:53:00.000+02:00

"Look at that smile on your face ! I'm sure you smashed it ! " - I heard.
"me ???? "
"yeah dude ! how did you do ? "
"screwed ! " i said .......smiling !!! I was totally bowled over by the exam.
"so how did yours go ? " I asked.
"worse than last time...and since last time i was my score was in the twenties you can imagine " he winked !

ok ...so maybe mine didnt go all that bad. I almost felt myself actually smile. Yeah it couldnt be that bad was it. I mean I hadnt really prepared for the quantitative part of it so it didnt go that well. And so what if i seeemed confused for most of the time in the Data Interpretation section. Verbal wasnt so bad. AAh who am i fooling...I screwed the exam ...and i was prepared !

Well at least i thought so ....until i matched my answers. I mean i thought i would get around 15 marks in the quant section ....i got 8 !!!!!!!!!!
At least DI was better .....8.5 (damn !!!!)
Verbal was pretty good (perhaps the only thing that kept me from smashing a few window panes ! )

I've taken my GRE date today ! if you are reading this ....please say a silent prayer for me ! two projects, courses and two BIG BIG Exams this semester !

I remeber something bill gates said " Life is not fair...get used to it"
Yes Sir !

freedom....

2005-08-24T20:18:00.000+02:00

its been around 14 days since I arrived and I have not and I have not gone out of the campus once ! I just got in touch with an old friend a few days back and it reminded me of our days in the boarding. How we would crave to get out of the campus - even at the risk of dire consequences - even expulsion !

I remeber wednesdays - the day the canteen was closed - and how we would walk down to the canteen hoping that perhaps there was an outbreak of temporary amnesia and the canteen would open ( it did happen once ! ). And how we would stare longlnly at "bishtis" - a small shop outside the college gate that was "out of bounds ! ". Of course the staring was not without pupose (we werent exactly day dreaming idiots ! ). On some days when you were extremely lucky and the guard was not looking (or perhaps had pity on you ! ) you could signal to the person there and he would send a worker. The worker would take your order and money and quietly slip out of the gate and get you your food (which was usually either a bum/bread omlette or a bun/bread cutlet - for obvious reasons of being quick to make and easy to carry away from the "danger area ! "). And though it might not be the best quality stuff - when you came after a thoroughly tiring football match and the canteen was closed few things you eat can ever come close to the taste of that bun omlette ( not to mention the exhiliration of having beaten the system and gotten it ).

I also remember waiting for holidays to start. Since a lot of students went home on 3, 4 days holidays it left a considerably lesser number of students in school, and we could also get to wear "home clothes" (non uniform clothes ! which was a thrill someone who has never gone to a boarding school can never experience ! ). The holidays also generally brought with them better food, since food needed to be cooked for considerably lesser number of people ( soggy slices were replaced by toasts !!!! ). But it was only usually the case since that fateful night, even on a holiday we got exceptionally unpalatable dinner. And driven in part by hunger and in part by rebellion against the so called "food" we decided to bunk (sneak out of campus) to a shop about a 500 meters downhill if you go straight (the route we would not (read could not) take) and two kilometres if we went through the jungle (the one we would take ;) ). Of course we were well aware of the risk involved ....but the "Bumper" (noodles with crumbs of buttterd toast and an omlette thrown in on top) and a chilled pepsi at 10:00 pm was too good to resist. If only we had known ......

Tomorow BSchool ....DSchool ?

2005-08-21T19:22:00.000+02:00

Here some delicious bit of news i came across !

"More and more, companies find themselves involved in exploration," says Margaret A. Neale, a professor of organizational behavior and leader of the MTIS program at Stanford. "To be competitive, you have to be more creative."

Stanford is doing just that by establishing a new Institute of Design that will teach design thinking and strategy to business, engineering, and design students. This "D-school," founded by Stanford engineering professor David Kelley, also founder of design powerhouse IDEO, may well give Stanford an edge over its B-school rivals as innovation becomes more valued for corporations striving to increase their revenues. "

I wish Indian B Schools were quick enough to realise this ! ;)

learning ......together ?

2005-08-21T18:50:00.000+02:00

Its interesting to note two very different apporaches that try to achieve the same thing : making
learning more fun and possible in schools in economically disadvanteged regions/schools with very limited resources.

While one is the high profile MIT media lab project of the $100 laptop, another approach which is already being implemented in india is the K-Yan. Yan means a flying vehicle in Hindi and K stands for knowledge - literally giving flight to your knowledge.

The K-Yan has the functions of a multimedia computer, a large format TV, a DVD or VCD player, a compact disc writer, a projector, internet surfing facilities, video conferencing and visual audio studio systems in a single compact integrated unit, for just Rs.140,000 ($3,000) ( which is pretty expensive considering the target group !! - but a lot of the cost is due to the expensive projecter lens ). However with the K Yan you can teach a whole lot of students in a 'collaborative and (hopefully!) constructive environment'. Having been to a couple of schools of the kind which K Yan primarily aims at I think it would be a wonderful learning experience for the kids to learn using the K Yan. While K Yan has the plus point of making learning a whole lot more fun and engrossing its still very teacher centric which can be a plus point ...provided the teacher is that good - however, with the kind of teachers in most of these kind of schools in india - this is certainly a drawback.

" With the click of a mouse, an entire classroom can now access the functions of a multimedia computer with all its added advantages - and without the mandatory air conditioner cooling the room to boot.
This compact multimedia centre, developed by Kirti Trivedi, an Indian Institute of Technology professor of Mumbai, is now being used in schools in several states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and West Bengal.
150 such devices used in schools throughout the country. It also provides the content in the local language. "

The $100 project on the other hand has the wonderful aspect or providing each kid something that he can cherish, keep , play around and program in his spare time ! which i believe will be a far more potent learning experience. However, in a country where a whole lot of government approved technical colleges do not have adequate internet facilities it remains doubtful how the kids are going to learn. Add to it the issues of charging laptops in places where there is no electricity for around 8-10 hours a day on average and the temperatures easily reaching over 40 degrees in an environment full of dust and things ...its not sure how long the laptop will last!

Well there are no free lunches .......but its heartening to see work done in this field !

going mobile !

2005-07-22T15:15:00.000+02:00

Using the push registry to launch midlets :

MIDP 1.0 specified only one way to start a MIDlet: manual activation by the user.
However the MIDP 2.0 specification adds two new mechanisms to launch a MIDlet: in response to an incoming connection or at a scheduled time.

While the process is not really difficult as explained in the papers and articles given on the net (http://developers.sun.com/techtopics/mobility/midp/questions/pushregistry/)
The actual implementation of it is tricky mainly because of the practical difficulties and platform implementations.

We needed to auto start a MIDlet each time the phone boots up and the most obvious choice seemed to be using the Java Push Registry Alarm method. Having read a couple of tutorials and seen the example code given it didn’t seem something too difficult to do – however, and such is the software jungle, overcoming the practical difficulties seemed to be the biggest hurdle.
For example, in my case I was using Eclipse 3.0 with the java WTK 2.2 and the EclipseME plugin and the JRE 1.5, Eclipse for some reason refuses to recognize you’re the permissions set in your JAD file if you do not use the default package in eclipse(and ironically enough Eclipse discourages the use of default packages! ). So if you get an error of Class not found when everything seems to be okay try working on the default package.

The next problem is with signing the midlets. Because of signing issues the midlets behave very (annoyingly !) different on the emulator and on the real device. After setting the alarm the midlet ran as it should have on the emulator but on the nokia 6630 on which we tested it wouldn’t start up on booting the phone. However once we started it it would restart after the next alarm was set – but that didn’t solve our problem.

So we decided to use the Push Registry method to start the MIDlet on an incoming connection – and the incoming connection was to be generated by a symbian application which in turn would have to auto start on the phone booting up.

So in effect what we had to do was make a symbian application start on boot up. Open a connection to the localhost and send some data to a port on which the AMS would be listening for a connection to start a MIDlet registered with it.

Symbian C++ - auto starting a symbian application on phone boot up

After googling around and reading up on the forums and most importantly information from my guide on the project, Fabien, I learnt that there are three methods to auto start a symbian application (if you know of more please leave a comment ! )

1. Using the start on boot registration API :

The Start-on-Boot API allows you to specify that an executable of your choice be launched and kept running indefinitely by registering it for re-launch as part of the phone's boot sequence.

The developer needs to specify just the target path of the application after following the installation instructions in the AddServiceL function.

The add service function
IMPORT_C void AddServiceL(const TDesC& aExeFileName);

Adds an executable to start on boot up. The full path of the file must be given in the standard Symbian OS format e.g C:\\MyFolder\\myfile.exe or to add an executable that may be on any drive use the format e.g \\MyFolder\\myfile.exe. If the exe is not present on the device it will not be added and if it is not an executable file it will not be added. If the executable is not on the device this will Leave with the value “KErrNotFound.” Once added the executable is also started unless another version of the executable to be started is already running..

The details are available and API can be downloaded at
http://www.symbian.com/developer/development/syslibs.html#sob
An important thing to keep in mind here is that the .dll file ExeStartOnBoot is linked to Statically.
What this means effectively is that if there are more than one applications which have installed the dll and for any reason one of them is uninstalled any other application that links to the dll will also not function.

2. Using Recognizers
Another way to autostart third party applications is using a recognizer. A recognizer is basically a dll which contains a class. Although recognizers are mainly used to handle specific kind of documents and files the aspect of it that we exploit is the fact that recognizers are loaded at startup. So we can build code into them to perform some actions we want at startup. In this case code that starts the application(s) we want.

There is a good (though not very detailed for a novice to symbian like me!) introduction to recognizer along with sample code for download at
http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/mraento/symbian/autostart.html
A neat feature on the example in the site is that the thread spawned to start the application at startup restarts the application if it crashes. Also the thread is implemented in the example as an EXEDLL, which as the site explains :

“It is built as an EXEDLL, which means it's an exe for the phone and a dll for the emulator. It has the same first UID as an app. Now if we copy it to the emulator's \system\apps\starter as starter.app (note changing the extension) it can be started in the emulator by selecting it in the menu, so we can debug it. Of course starting it from the autostarter must be done differently depending on whether it's running on the phone or in the emulator”

However the page also starts with a warning :
“although the instructions on this page work (for sufficiently narrow values of 'work')…….” And keeping in mind that if you are not an experienced C++ for Symbian programmer you will be making changes into the code given on the website
Which will in effect mean you will be changing things in a thread implemented as an EXEDLL things might get a little tricky.

3. Using EzBoot.

A third way to auto start a symbian application is using the EzBoot boot manager which is a neat boot manager application. It allows you to autostart an application when the phone is powered on. The great part is you can deploy your application as a start on boot application by embedding the Ezboot.sis application into your sis file by handcoding a few lines into your package file and writing a one line .boot file.
The procedure is really easy and the best part is you can deploy our .SIS file as a start on boot application.
Also the EzBoot will wait for the sytem to complete the boot process and then launch each applications it controls.
This is important since its not a good it's not a good idea to start an application before the phone has booted completely, since not all services are yet available and applications might crash. Mika Raento says in his site that “ it seems that 45 seconds is quite safe (a nicer way would probably be to wait until one of the system apps has started and start yours after that).”

The procedure is really quite simple to create your own bootable SIS packages.

download and copy the ezboot.sis file to the directory where your PKG file is located
create a boot file. Ex for a application:
• open a text editor and create a file called .boot
• enter the path to your application (no need to specify the drive letter) [3]:

boot:\system\apps\\.exe
• save the file in the directory where your PKG file is located.
edit your PKG file:
• at the end, add the following line [4]:

".boot" -"!:\system\programs\ezboot\boot\.boot"
• and then, add the following line:

@"ezboot.sis",(0x101FD000)

Detailed info at the Eric Bustarret (author)’s site at :
http://www.newlc.com/article.php3?id_article=152We got our applications into a bootable SIS package quite smoothly with EzBoot on the nokia 6630 and its free for non commercial use. Thanks Eric !

my past life .....

2005-07-12T12:20:00.000+02:00

Although i dont really belive in this kind of stuff ...but this is what i got on a site ....
the surprising thing is i didnt get the same result again with my name(guess the first one is the true one ;) )

In your past life you were : An alchemist.(hmm i sort of always had a knack for chemistry ...organic at least ;) )

In your past life you lived in: India.....(ahm...guess i'm in love with the country!)

You died of ....: well who cares :P -....
here is the link
your past life

when open source can be a headache !

2005-07-11T13:37:00.000+02:00

I do think open source is great ! but there are instances when it can be a true headache.
For instance, just the other day I needed to write a Java MIDIlet that could interact with a EXE Daemon written in symbian C++ (which lets MIDIlets acces native services -something which otherwise they have no access to . The full paper is at Arvind Gupta's site).

So i got into the jungle of IDEs, emulators and Wireless tool kits. I downloaded the latest Eclipse 3.1
and then the eclipseme plugin along with sun's wireless toolkit 2.2.
Whimsically, the Eclipse 3.1 would not include the .jar files necessary for the project although the files were integrated into the IDE. After spending a whole friday and a good part of sunday trying to get the plugin to work, sense finally dawned and I downloaded the Eclipse 3.0 instead and it worked like a dream ;).

so incase if you're eclipse 3.1 has problems download eclipse 3.0 insated !

the world wide web is becoming a super messy jungle of tangled information !
and the development race is now between people trying to build better search engines and people trying to dump more waste into the information heap. So far the latter seems to be winning !

the Wi-Fi Hoover

2005-07-06T10:02:00.000+02:00

On the theme of innovating for the future, the OBWIous (Out of the Box Wireless Intellingent -ous) group -led by fabien- is currently working on a prototype for a Wi-Fi Hoover device. The device is being built for the internet 2 (backward compatibility with internet is still being debated though probably will not be built in.)

The Wi-Fi Hoover device scans the radio frequency in the surrounding area to search for objects specified through an any criteria search mechanism. The Hoover can then create a virtual image of the object which is directly manipulatable. A ei-piPEs (Enhanced Intelligent Performance Improvement Performance Evaluation System) has also been inbuilt into the Hoover which allows the device to network with similar or compatible devices for real time collaboration. This would provide for a mode of collaboration where different users manipulate and can synchronously change real time copies of actual objects in the nearby area. The area range can be set allowing for making the spatial context of object to become relevant.

Currently we are in the middle of the first phase of a three phase usability testing. The Hoover device is expected to support a wide range of input-output devices. Current usability testing has been done with a keyboard and a sleek head mounted display.

2005-07-04T09:34:00.000+02:00

Here i have a snapshot of the first user testing of the organic helmet. The testing was done on a user who had a long and glorious history of crashing all sorts of software : from home made to commercial to open source. The only thing he was asked not to try to destroy was the organic helemt itself !

The game that was played for the test was "galaxies -2". The actual interaction was recorded and also displayed on a wall mounted display (visible in the pic) for people who were watching. The organic helmet is also capable of being networked with similar helmets for augumenting collaborative work or just for the thrills of playing network games in agumented reality !

on a serious note .

2005-06-29T14:44:00.000+02:00

my recently increased activity on blogger is the result of inspiration of some super active bloggers in our lab - and so any benefits and more importantly repercussions (read my grades next semester ;) ) can be backtracked to them - nicolas, mauro, and fabien (not necessarily in that order ;) ) Although, being inspired is not really being fair since instead of blogging about news from the world of research and technolgy that matters (for which i religiously scan their blogs everyday!) all i do is blog about ...err 'other stuff'.

however i'm quick to realize that i must move on to more important meaningful things ......and hence as a result of a 'scholarly' discussion held one afternoon - over some delicious 'orange' wine !! -ok i'm new to wine ;) - my next blog will be a lot more academic. Its focussed on a futuristic organic helmet ( the first user test for which has already been conducted and i'm holding back posting details for some IP related intricacies to work out). A pic of that will hopefully be avilable !

Related to this work is one on a prototype of a cool looking augumented reality tool - which can send both visual and haptic signals that are interpreted by the organic helmet. Although the detailed documentation of both cannot be made public at this moment since the projects are still under development you should be able to get a first look at them soon.

remember you saw them here first ;)

way to go IIT guwahati ....

2005-06-29T11:52:00.000+02:00

i'm very proud to post this piece of information here.

" Dear Friends,It givesme pleasure to inform you that our students have won theprestigious Agilent All India Best BTech Project Award 2005.Students: S. Venkataramanan and Shubhodeep Roy Choudhury (ECE, BTech 2005)BTP title: EOG Signal Acquisition, Processing, Applications, andOcular Bio-systems ModelingSupervisors: Dr. Harshal Nemade and Dr. J. S. Sahambi The project was short-listed from 24 BTech projects from all over Indiafor the final presentation on 24th June at New Delhi. Venkataramanan andShubhodeep presented the work and went through an interview at New Delhi.According to the award, the cup to the IITG will be given in September in afunction at New Delhi. In addition, the students have an offer for a onemonth internship at the Agilent Technologies, UK or USA.A BTech project from IIT Kharagpur gets the second place. "

and thats when our institute is only 12 years old and the youngest IIT ;)
watch out !!!!!!

lugano .....a cheaper price and you get this post for free :P

2005-06-27T19:44:00.000+02:00

talking of travelling cheap ......i managed to finish my entire lugano trip under 15 francs .
Yeah thats right....from lausanne to lugano ...a night stay by the lake and an entire day in lugano. Then fort exploring in bellenzona...all for 15 francs*

well conditions apply ...but then they always do ;)...
I'll be back with the details and pics later.
In case you guys in india dont find 15 francs cheap ....travel in switzerland is DAMN EXPENSIVE ...and Lugano is FAR !

when in rome ........being a roman can be tricky !

2005-06-27T19:23:00.000+02:00

speaking a language when you only know a few words in it can be dangerous, or hilarious ..depending on whether the other person has a sense of humour ;)...and writing even more so .
I haven't yet had any experiences with french yet but some rather, hilarious/embarrassing depending on whose side you are on ! , experiences with Estonian :).

So one fine morning, fresh with the hangover of a two hour french class and an informal estonian learning session the linguist in me took a deep breath and i felt the inherent urge to communicate.
My landlady is swiss and she speaks some weird version of french which is so different from the one our french instructor speaks that i found it wiser not to shower my french on her. Iiris, the estonian girl, was still asleep.

Never the one to give up, i picked up a pencil and wrote the only two estonian phrases i remembered.
good morning -terrehomickunst
and i love you (!!) - Ma armistan seent . (its a kind of joke between us so ;) )
and with the smug, self satisfied smile of a man who didnt give up I shoved the note into the fridge and rushed off to catch my metro.

After lunch i got a short email message - with more rolling-on-the-floor-laughing icons than words-
from which i quote (without permission ! )

"....Because you wrote to me in Estonian : Ma armistan seent, which means I scar the mushroom"...
the rest of the email was errr.....awkward :D

apparently i love you is written as : "ma armastan sind"
I mean come on !!!!! how much difference can and 'i' for an 'a' and an 'nt' for a 'd' make !!! ;)

the first surprise

2005-06-24T16:04:00.000+02:00

oh btw the first surprise was pretty sweet too...but will write about it a little later !

a day to remember.....

2005-06-24T15:43:00.000+02:00

shit happens....and to be fair so do sweet surprises. Yesterday was one such day. i mean the sweet surprise one. I got two wonderful surprises and spent a lovely evening. And i didnt even have to ask !
Well this reall sweet estonian flatmate of mine asked if i wanted to join her to a cafe and then we headed out. The only problem we had no idea of where the cafe was, her only contact for the cafe was a geogian girl whose phone number she didnt have, and both of spoke little french. Err... the little here is sort of relative because my 'little' is two basic french classes ;) and her's was a lot better although she remembers hardly any french she studied(her view. i personally think she has a great french accent with no french vocabulary :D ).
Not that i have not found my way to places i had idea about in a place where nobody understood what i was talking about ..but this time i was in no real hurry. And her georgian friend conveniently erased her number from her phone (talk of -pleasant- surprises). So we walked around lausanne poring over maps and generally getting nowhere. Whoever said getting nowhere was no fun surely didnt know what he was talking about.

I picked up a 'little' -again!- Estonian. Basically how to say hello, yes, no, good morning, good night cheers and I love you . What might be a (pleasant ? ) surprise to any soul who wanders by these pages is that Estonians have real cute word endings.....one of them is -sex ;). And the word for cheers in Estonia ends in -sex like lots of other estonian words which is (in her words) the most fascinating part of estonian for foreigners !

Another thing I realizd was that India biggest brand name abroad are Indian Movies ! Everybody seems to have heard of them. Them come the indian food and surprisingly (unpleasant!) a lot of people seem to have heard about the indian caste system. Which i'm really not comfortable talking about so i'll skip it.

well we stayed for about two hours at the cafe and after midnight we returned and she actually found pulao cooked by me good....and she did seem pleased. Either she is a very good actress or she the spices numbed her taste buds. (ok i'm being humble here - the pulao was damn good :D )

she is a psycho-physicist who likes bull fighting (!!!!) and is an expert Falmengo dancer.

blogger woes

2005-06-23T16:33:00.000+02:00

for some reason, well actually (and probably !) the reason is beacuase the blogger system recognizes my computer ip to be that from switzerland, it automatically shows me the entire site in french ! and whats worse i dont seem to have an easy way to reset the language to english . So much for smart systems !

and my last post ...quite aptly titled irrational ramblings was an interface failure (the user is NEVER wrong ;) ) for blogger - dont ask me how...it just was - and so i ended up with a post that says nothing - ah well thats irrational enough !

irrational ramblings

2005-06-23T08:43:00.000+02:00

oh make up something will you !

generally about nothing at all .

2005-06-16T11:54:00.000+02:00

i've been thinking for quite some time to document my trip to switzerland, however for one reason or another
i have been unable to do so. And with evey day passing it gets more and more difficult to write about past events.

I bought my first digital camera yesterday a Canon A-510. it was a tough choice to make between the other offered by Sony, Olympus, Nikon and of course Canon. The winning points for the Canon A510 were its manual focussing and the 4X optical zoom. The manual however was in french - but since i'm going to attend french lessons from the 20th i guess i should be okay ;).

by the way if anyone else faced the same predicament of reading the manual in a language he's not well versed with despair not ! the manuals are avialable online as pdfs.... ;)

from switzerland....with love :P

2005-05-26T14:22:00.000+02:00

so i'm finally in switzerland and loving it. although i had decided to write and keep the blog updated from the very first day ......it was a little overwhelming getting used to all the new stuff here..my new place of stay....the lovely lab....wonderful people....and work !

but now that I have finally started getting a little comfortable with my work i'll write in more often.
added two new modules to the e-learning platform today. php is pretty groovy once you know your way around it.

this weekend ...hopefully will be going airboarding in mount titlis....!!!!!!
gotta get my halbtax and gleis 7 made though....

deva says he'll come from yverdon today....this is the third time he's saying it and i dont quite trust him now ;)...

on yeah the indian president was here today....heard him speak :).
also went to the epfl library....quite impressive - like most things here ;)...

more laterzz back to work for now

farewell

2005-04-23T22:08:00.000+02:00

just returned from the farewell we gave to the four yearites. It reminded me of the farewell at school- class 12. That strange visceral feeling was back - that twang of nostagia. Although the two farewells were far from similiar in any respect - our school one was a very formal affair - with all of us dressed properly and extra care being taken for etiquette and stuff while the one at IIT was anything but formal. It was fun to see seniors tell "untold" stories about each other.

A remarkable thing was in the way I saw some of the people today. The true spirit was being an IITan stared out at you as this bunch of young guys stood there ready to cross over the relatively protected environment of the college to the "big bad world !".

I am not sure whether I was the only one who felt it, but in each person there seemed to be a new desire rekindled. Something that hadn't quite shown itself in these four years could be seen now as each of them prepared for different destinations - but with the common aim to excel. One seinor put it really blunt and beautifully well - I want to be like I was ......"yahan aake mein kaafi neeche girta jaa raha tha...i want to reach back on the top".

It is true what they say about IITans - each one of them is a winner in some sense of the word. Each has fought his own battle and each one knows that he should be at the top.

well got a lot of work to do so will continue this in another post...
bye!

Erase and Rewind Vs. Undo

2005-04-17T17:43:00.000+02:00

Not a new idea at all but imagine for a moment that life could have an option to "go back on an action" . Looking at it from an interaction design point of view - nothing better to do !!!! - I was wondering would an "UNDO" button be better or an " Rewind and Erase" function better.

Well, perhaps this is due to the bias because of the "rewind and erase song" from the roxette - which i really like ;) -, I guess I for one would prefer the rewind and erase mode of interaction.

It more of an intutive decision but here is a glimpse of why I believe it would be better. Undo kind of implies to me that the action is simply undone - its like denying that actions its place in time !
With rewind and erase its a conscious decision - you recognize the action has occurred and make an effort to go back and ERASE it. There is more of a psychological sense of coming back to the place where you were and starting fresh - at least to me.

Its amazing when a seemingly insignificant difference like this can have so many implications for different people. Most people just shrug it off as something weird but for the ones who do listen and think over it - its quite a realization.

Well design does change your thinking doesn't it.
I remember something our ex- HOD Prof. Sudhakar Nadkarni said to us on our first day in college -
"Design can't be taught - It's learnt"
Well the statement is profound each time you look at it.

More on the statement later !

Spatial Communication

2005-04-10T14:50:00.000+02:00

Been reading up on the wonderful concept of Spatial Communication. I'm gonna be working on it
this summer internship and it really seems exciting. Reading of the research being done there I really felt a desire to go into research but then there is always the lure of the mba .......what with all the big jobs and big money involved !
The bumber placements at iims dont help simplify my deicision either !
Sometimes i just stop and ask - what the hell do i WANT to do ?
no clue ! i guess it either means I can be happy at either of the things MS or MBA or I am going to be clueless no matter what I do .......i prefer to think the former is right ....but then I might be wrong and thats a frightening thought !

the last month is getting hectic ! lots of projects to complete plus i've taken up freelancing work for a startup in delhi ! dont know why i do all this ....for the money ?? ;)

Hotel Rwanda !

2005-04-02T19:22:00.000+02:00

There are some movies that you like, some that you can connect to and some that hit you ......Hard.
Hotel Rwanda is one of the latter type- at least for me.
It was a totally moving experience. The simplicity of the terror and the nakedness of the ugly side of the human soul to so unpretentiously portrayed that it was all the more believable.
Its also interesting how objectively you can assess things when you are not really involved. I don't think I would have been really THAT objective had I been seeing a movie on the Gujrat riots probably.
I wonder if this movie should to be shown to all those people killing others out there - on second thoughts wouldnt do much good anyway.

Worked hard today - both on assignments and in the gymn....
already sleepy.
zzzzzzzzzz

another one bites the dust !

2005-03-11T19:30:00.001+01:00

why this topic ? cause tuppi - the dude sitting next to me said so .......
tuppi who ?? it doesnt matter who tuppi is you piece of trash !

ok ...so obviously you've figured that I have nothing much to write about ( the "you" here is obviously pollynaish optimism ) cause i guess this blog is going to be in the category of those esoteric refrence books in the library whom no one ever touches leave alone reads ;)

usability workshop day one over ! prototype made \:d/ ....
worked on my exhibition design \:d/
learnt how play two chords on the guitar ;) courtesy tuppi again ( you again wanna ask who ?? >:) )

slept and kept two seniors waiting for 4 hours in the lab >:) ~wicked laughter~

go get a life dude and stop reading this :P
if you're a gorgeous girl please come back ! :D

off to sleep !

true to form...my next post the very next day !

2005-03-11T19:30:00.000+01:00

ooooooh finally !

2005-03-11T10:21:00.000+01:00

ok ! this time its for real - that what i tell myself each time ...but nevertheless - i've heard optimism pays - just hope it pays soon cause i'm getting poorer by the day ;) - but yeah i guess i'm gonna write in way more regularly --- why you ask ? hmmm cause i'm overworked !

its 1:15 am here and listening to john lennon i promise myself to blog more often .
I've got a usability workship lined up tomorrow morning, got three major projects to work on over the weekend and loads of other work abour visa and stuff to take care of!

So i'm doing what any sane man overloaded would work would do - taking the time off to ponder over more philosophical issues ;) - triggered by everything and anything - at the moment its john lennon crooning "you gotta let it go ! "

thats all for now - between usability think aloud techniques and the beatles and blh blah blah
its me signing off do concentrate on more important work here : SLEEP !

the journey to nowhere

2004-08-26T19:04:00.000+02:00

"As you set out for Ithakahope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,angry Poseidon-don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that on your wayas long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,wild Poseidon-you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you................."

just a paragraph from something beautiful i read on the net.

It speaks of the sheer joy of the journey to one's destination..........

A dream- something we long to fulfil........ever remember a dream you had
something you really wanted badly .
the time you spend working towards it, realizing in your aspiration your shortcomings,
and working on them .........
the coffee breaks in between or the long walks you took to relax after hours of working,
or the joy of finding the solution to something you have been working on for days !

would that joy be the same if you had got the problem right the first day ?
would that walk feel as nice if you had not spend 8 hours straight in the lab ?

Its a pity we are usually so caught up in reaching for our goals that we have "no time to stand and stare "
to appreciate the joy of the journey..........and maybe thats why so many times when we reach
goal after goal after goal that we set for ourselves.......we find a certain void in us.

Don't the goals seem so much more worth it when we haven't reached them. Shakespeare said something like that in the merchant of venice (where is that horse that runs the second round with the same passion and fire that he runs the first -or something like that).

love conquers all

2004-08-26T18:26:00.000+02:00

for reason best known to blogger - it didnt post my last post showing only the heading......
never the one to give up here is the repost ;)

i read something rather interesting today ..........it was in context of this young guy who buys for his crush a bracelet with the words "love conquers all" written on them on valentines day. then he puts it in her locker believing that she will know who kept it there.However she is in love with another guy whom she goes out that evening with ..........
through dialogues with people etc this guy gets the insight that when we hear "love conquers all" why do we always believe love is on our side ? isn't it possible that we may have to fight love itself ? and if love conquers all is the fight really worth it ?
so often it happens that we must fight against love ! for the things we most love may sometimes be the things that ultimately destroy us .........metamorphically or otherwise .........and if "love conquers all" what chance do we have ?
neways that was just 'cause of some book i read !
life is rather busy these days ...........and even more confusing !i mean you actually go through studying stuff like informatin system design, cultural dynamics and corporate identity and then end up doing a routine software job at the end of 4 years !i dont know what i'll end up doing but as of know i sure am not planning to take up the routine boring coding job! are we really more than tech coolies ? outsourcing has its good sides n all but are all we ever gonna do is end up providing back end solutions to international software firms ......isnt it just like the sweat shops they have in some asian countries where they make nike shoes etc ......
gotta catch up on some assignments .....till laterz ! adios.

love conquers all

2004-08-25T18:02:00.000+02:00