*Mike testing 1 2 3…. *

*Good to go sir… you’re online*

*Clears Throat*



Friends, Romans, Countrymen…



*Egg lands squarely on face*



Oh wat the hell… chuck the glorious eloquent stuff… i’ll have lots of time to kill you people with that later… anyway first meetings warrant introductions… so lets begin. I’m Sharu… the guy who started this blog and God of this humble piece of virtual (fourth) estate. And you, dear readers, are my dear readers.



*Like they didnt know that… Sheesh you are SOOOO corny!!!*



You’re probably wondering what the deal is… And after scrolling up to check the title of the blog which you were nice enough to miss earlier, you’re thinking, “What kind of a psychopath is this guy???”.



Sorry to disappoint you… I’m just another ordinary guy with an ordinary life bodering on the wrong side of mundane. But wait… what happens in my life may be ordinary, but my take on it isn’t… so thats what this is all about… I take anything from my life, and start off on a tangent from there….



*Okay people, this is yor cue to evacuate the place… MOVE IT!!!!*



You’re probably wondering who that guy is…. lets just say its my alter ego… he’ll be performing the highly valued and sought after role of snubbing me every few lines…



*Muwahahaahahahahahaha… Now they’ll like me more than you*



Err…. Whatever… Anyways… Enjoy yourselves here… Can’t guarentee you the most educative or language rich blog on the net… but i CAN guarentee you an honest, cynical and at times hilarious look at life… because thats how i live it….



Ciao!

*Ciao… Sheesh wat a dork…later!*

What are you passionate about?

Movies? Are you the kind that, given the name of a movie, or maybe even its initials, starts reciting the entire cast and crew, the result of whose sweat and blood it is that you see on the screen? (I am, though I generally start with the actresses)

Soccer? Has never a club existed that managed to elude your scrutiny?

Music? Well, that’s been around ever since the caveman went about beating monkeys with a stick.

Quite frankly, if you’ve ever looked at somebody, and wondered why he or she is crazy about something, well, don’t. Everybody has their passions, and if you were thinking, “no, I don’t,” well, you’re the freak here.

And if you’ve ever looked at yourself and asked why you were crazy about something, I hope you’ve found some good enough answers.

I’m a programmer, and I make my living, oh wait, I don’t, I’m still in college. The one thing that drew me to computers so badly was that, well, the small box you keep on your desk, or on your lap, or even in your pockets packs more punch than world history, or geography, or perhaps both.

How does a package of circuitry, a maze of conductors dotted with diodes and transistors, a weird looking PCB that’s smart enough (or dumb enough) to recognize (just) 0s and 1s let you listen to music, watch a video clip and check the latest EPL results all at the same time? How do you get to read your mail, or print your resume? What makes your favourite games come to life? (If you answered, a GeForce, I’m with you, buddy!)

The answer lies in software (I’m sure your GeForce came with a CD). It’s those tit-bits of programming marvel that adds that sparkle to your otherwise worthless heap of hardware, that acts as an interface between man and machine (power extreme!*). Trying not to sound too technical, programming is that art that lets those gifted human beings communicate with a computer. Sounds wacky, but hey, you wouldn’t be here reading this without them. Any kind of (useful ;) ) communication with your hardware needs to be done through software. Everything you see on your monitor is due to software. And well, like any energetic youth on the lookout for opportunities, I grabbed it by the throat, and now I’m called a programmer. I daresay the venture has taught me a thing or two about how puters function, among other things.

However, as is the case with many professions, being a programmer is one thing, being a good programmer is another. The learning process never ends, and the strife to become better never ceases. Every day somebody or the other teaches you something new. It’s this very fact that keeps things interesting.

Anyway, I think this’s enough on me. I’ll be keeping this blog alive with more (and much better, I promise) posts.

- a Rugged Rat starting off his blogging streak.

* The phrase “Becoming man and machine, power extreme” goes way back. Ever seen The Centurions? Consult the omniscient wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Centurions_(TV_series)

well, i have joined my new company on monday.

how do i feel?

SCARED….



yes, it might be surprising to hear that i feel scared…

it’s not because of any incident which happened or things like that.



i am scared because this is the time when first impressions get created about me in this new environment…and also after college, this is my second job…so change in itself is new.



donot know how to go about doing things… donot know how others feel about us…



yes, i have got a few friends now…and HR people are very friendly…and also it’s a small company…

but still, i think it’ll take some time to get the comfort feeling…and i think this period is very crucial.



and another problem is i donot know what to talk with every person, because i donot about them…am i talking too much with a person or am i talking a boring subject with him?



yes, i might console myself that i am in the learning phase and can’t expect things to fall in place in these 3 days…

but still the problem is, i need to be a bit skeptic in every activity i am doing…



or maybe, as my brother says, i am thinking too much…maybe i should learn to take things as it comes…

“He is a silent,ever-smiling, sarcastic b*****d who loves tearing peoples’ reputation to shreds with his blogs”

Hmmm (*enough adjectives used ,i guess)..Thats a very common opinion you would hear about me from most people in nitt. True enough, the 4-yr stay in the vast campus had given me enough to write about. But like most people, the senthu( senti + enthu) got to me in the last month of our final sem. The same things that we had complained n cribbed about all these years now became elements which aroused and added dollops of ’senti’ (nostalgia) in us. There was hectic frenzy all around as Reminiscence videos and pictures constantly circulated in the hostel lans. There were pictures of us in fake “study” postures, us in the depts n labs(yes, at least for once we had to show our parents bak home that their money wasnt going waste),pics of us at the roof-top,tree-tops,at 3-star hotels ..we were everywhere. Treats had now become as common a feature in our lives as bread for breakfast, much to an extent that we longed for mess food sometimes. Job-treats, get-togethers,wing-treats, dept-treats, hostel treats, timepass-treats..they just assumed different names but the objective was the same - To make the most of whatever little time was left, with our mates before we passed out of the insti and went different ways. And it all ended on the 15th of may,as I vacated my room and transferred all my belongings into the rickshaw and bid farewell to the college and my friends. As anticipated, it took quite some time for me to digest the whole “getting out” feeling. 4 eventful years have gone by and dvds (or comps) filled with college photos n videos are the only real snippets of reminiscence left with many of us. One thing which most of us wont forget is the nitt college lingo which was part n parcel of our lives ‘in’ there. These are just a few specimen words from my nitt lexicon.



Chaat ( ch’aat’, the number of a’s in “chaat” actually gives out the intensity of chaaat one is subjected to (chaatitude) )- Used to describe someone who is well accomplished in the field of dry humour to an extent that you tear your hair in frustration n start screaming, a PJist or someone who can keep talking endlessly. Quite easily the most frequently used word in daily nitt conversations. Used as a noun, verb, adjective. Normally all class lectures are classified chaaaat!



Eg: Abey chaat mat! (verb)

F**k u , chaat b*****d! (adjective)

Man, how can u be such a chaat! (noun)



Qjaada (Jaa’daa’, the q is just for timepass. its silent actually)- brimming with too much atti. Mostly used when talking about juniors

( “The guy has just too much ‘qjaada’. We need to increase his score.”)



Score- an outrageously crazy system put in place to measure the number of hits a hapless junior gets (for no fault of his).

Junior to other junior:” Look (gleefully showing his cheeks swollen like a fulka on the pan)!! my score is 200,its definitely more than yours)



Kela- ( K’laa’, dont confuse with banana because the meaning is completely different )- a failure, alternatively used for a situation where things dont work out the way u wanted and hoplessly become worse.

(”another kela for me! 5 kelas in 5 interviews! great going”)



funti- girlfriend or someone who can be remotely termed so



funti - male version of the above



Dosa - (dont confuse with the south indian dish) dean of student affairs



coe- (pronounced as ‘koi’ or just C O E)the richest person in college thanks to numerous students’ exam paper re-evaluation applications, transcript and grade card requests( along with the cash..i forgot)



cycles- Once in a month phenomenon. short for cycle tests.



afty- (aaf’ tee’)- still not sure about the spelling (whether its halfty or afty). It basically means that your day ends with the lunch break coz there r no classes after it.Afty can be a matter of pride especially when there are inter-dept clashes on the issue of which dept really works its ass out.



mornty- (mon’ tee’)- A situation where there r no classes in the morning and the day begins after lunch.



Fulty- (full’ tee’)- mornty + halfty - classes. Ok fine, its a weekday holiday!



supple (sapp’ lee’)- Another chance to screw up your grades. Arrears as they call it



baap/maa- one who chaats u, guides u, bugs u with useless advice, n basically gets to boss u around(during the first yr) just beacause you commited the cardinal sin of writing the aieee a year after him/her,from the same state as him/her and choose the same branch as his/her.





beta/beti - Someone who feels the same about u.



potha/pothi- part of the hierarchy



parpotha/parpothi- last in the hierarchy.



maal- Something nice to the eyes,, eye candy!



dog-rice- (the mess annas have a name for it- Pulav) a saturday-nite delicacy served in each n every mess across nitt campus.A must-eat for anyone visiting the campus. Every nittian had eaten it at least once (the only one time). This ‘nitt special’ comprises of undercooked rice and a generous sprinkling of vegetables, with a brownish-gold color to it.



PBM - Short for Paneer butter masala (also the conveniently modified name of a certain hostel deputy-warden)



barotta - No, not a failed attempt at pronouncing paratha. Its the staple diet of Tamil Nadu. The phrase ” roti, kapda, makaan” can be suitably modified as ” barota, lungi aur makaan”



dew lime - Water + Ice +Mountain dew + Lemon juice ( Pateneted by the roadside gate annas).



Rem - short for Reminiscence. A rem book and rem video are the highlights of the final sem.



Senti- (Sen’tee’) the feeling of nostalgia. If the things that you loved to hate all these years bring tears to your eyes, then you are feeling reaally “senti”!!





Regards



Vishwesh

After successfully making a ‘coin picker’, we decided to try our hand with a line follower..

We decided to start out with a simple line follower.. using not gates and only two sensors..

For a more detailed look at the theory behind this take a look at this http://www.geocities.com/xjroolz/myrobot.doc or mail me…

Anyway this time around things were not going smooth like before.. we were facing problems..

More than the technical side there was trouble working as a team.. this was the first project we were doing as RMI firstys.. Through this i learned abt the problems associated with the working of any team.. Anyway we had a tough time soldering cos there was sooo much to solder.. And the first board we did dint work! so we tried it on a bread board.. and it worked fine.. It took so much time to get the circuits ready.. we then had to think abt the robots body..

Then we decided to improvise roboray( renamed lofty by one of my friends) We removed the old board.. fixed in the line followers board.. and fixed the sensors out in the front on the electromagnet.. And it was all set to go.. we made some track on a chart paper. And set it up and all ready to go!

We were sure that there will b more problems and we will have to work a lot more.. but then the robot surprised us all by pulling of an extremely smooth 90 degree and continued on the track.

We had seen other bots with 8 sensors and micros and all that but this was much faster and much more smoother compared to those.. credit of that has to be given to the really good high torque dc motors of lofty.

We celebrated the robot with a video session.. here are the videos..







It couldnt take that U turn cos the radius was too short for the robot..







And here we run it in the reverse direction to prove that it can indeed take that turn..

but it became kinda jerky though..





if u cant see the embedded videos try these

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA6lad_DC88

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBkyyzeZ3-s







So thats it.. nothing much.. I think we are a pretty good team and u may see us soon in local robotics contests.. big hopes(:D)

Oh wow i cant believe one year of college has flown past so quickly..

Its been a year since many things happened.. exams admission councelling tensions.. whew..

And looking back it has been a great year.. Enjoyed it a lot..

Dono wats coming up in the next year.. and the dumb results will also be out soon..

oh boy..

Anyway have been relaxing nicely at home for abt a month.. only eating and sleeping and internet…

Im more clear abt certain things in life.. bit i got more confused about other things..

But I’ve discovered real good company in college.. wat makes NITT so amazing is the students.

It rocks.. Its a different world inside campus.

Am kinda looking forward to going back.. I think I’ve lost touch with writing.. my posts are kinda dull dont u think? Maybe I’ll get inspiration one of the days.. :-D

anyway catch u later

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This week, I read an article in Outlook Business about IndianRailways.

I remembered a mail which i sent to my friend in 2004. Here is the email.



From:

Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2004 9:17 PM

To:

Subject: Getting India’s railways on track by Christoph Wolff

Check this attached Mckinsey article.

When i was returning back to hyd in train,was thinking that Indian Railways is one typical example of a govt Organization

1.with Huge employees and hence with less productivity.

2.with lot of untapped growth areas like goods carrying.

And this thought got strengthened,when i saw the Railway goods area last week,when i went to get the vehicle sent from CBE.

Strangely,it is still not computerised and the godown is just so horrible with improper maintainence and they track the goods by the sketch writings on the sack.

There were so many old uncollected goods and the place was a real mess.

This author has captured all the thoughts and expressed it in such a structured manner…it’s really great.

(maybe thatswhat they’ll learn in MBA!!)

But at the same time,he hasn’t covered or expressed the varying fields in which Railways can earn revenue.(maybe this will be explained,when the government appoints them for consulting :))

Below one is an example of a missed out thing.

There were plans of laying down fiber optics cables across the railway network…such a great idea…but don’t know to what extent it’s really happening now…check this site for further details on this…

http://www.tenet.res.in/rural/rail.html

Hope our government does something to Railways soon,instead of trying to split into several more regions.It’s a great organization with untapped potential.

rgds,



——————————————————————————

And strangely the article which i read about Railways was how IT is changing the way Railways is working….Below mentioned are 3 such cases…

It talks about something called CRIS(Center for Railway Information Systems). Strangely as per this website, http://www.indianrail.gov.in/abcris.html this was established in 1986 and the effects are slowly seen only now…

The another one mentioned is FOIS (Freight Operations Information System). Railways has made good profits this year thanks to the improvements due to these systems in place..

A good case study about this is present in CMC website..

http://www.cmcltd.com/case_studies/transportation/fois.htm



And one other obvious example of IT in Railways is IRCTC website. Nowadays, i think anybody who has access to Internet, books tickets only thru the website. And this is supposed to the No.1 online website in India. Imagine how much revenue can be achieved by advertisements, reducing resources…



Infact after reading the article, i really felt happy that not everything is bad in our system.



Thinking is in the right direction…but the problem lies in planning and execution.



Why does a CRIS setup in 1986 took so much time to really execute things?

This delay would’ve costed thousands of crores as loss to Railways and also the productivity of the industries which are dependent on Railways.



And i think this is the one of the problems in Infrastructure development side…



First of all, there are not many highways being constructed….still the major blunder is, the few parts where highways are being constructed, it is only 4 lane…this is not right, it should be atleast 6 lanes..



the cost involved in making a 4 lane highway to 6 lane might be equivalent to coming up with a new one…and 4 lane is really not enough in a country like india where we have all type of vehicles being driven on the highways…



when something of this scale is being done, it should be done right at the first time..

somehow i never believe in the Exit interviews…

what is the use of these feedbacks?



yes, we can give general fundas that feedbacks will help in improving the team, the working environment and stuff…

but the points mentioned in these feedbacks will never be something new…if it was new, ppl will not quit for that..they’ll try to convey it and try to change the system.



People quit because things are not working even after feedbacks were given or because they are just fed up with things and want to try something new…



maybe few people might feel happy that the company wants to know feedback from him/her, so company values the individual’s opinion…



so from this emotional point of view, it feels good…but if we think of the usefulness of this feedback,atleast i donot see any.

The old wall sodden with moss. That funny smell. The wall, crumbling under its own weight. Wondered what kept it together for all these years. Why would it stand through this relentless, all drenching rain. And those large deep brown bricks, don’t see them around anymore. Inside the house was even more depressing. The old tiled roof- i could actually see the chinks in the tiles, and patterns of moss underneath them. Yes, this roof leaked. I felt like i was in the last century. And how could i forget that old black and white television. The kind with the shutter in front you could pull and close. But that wasn’t what i set out to tell you, no.. Describing that house was the last thing on my mind. But the feeling of the place had seemed to have seeped into my skin, almost like that constant moisture you could feel inside the plaster, and the sand which seemed to be like an invisible grit carpet under your feet.

What did interest me was that old clock on the wall. Not a grandfathers clock, but those nondescript kind with a pendulum inside the glass case. Chimed at the half hours and the hours. Sounding out the time to an empty house. Empty. That’s the feeling you got when you went inside it. You could feel the hollowness in your own existence. Like that God damn moisture I kept feeling under my skin. God, it was as if the place was inside my veins. The house was far from empty ,it was full as it could be, with rotting furniture and random items strewn about the house which time had failed to rot like the rest of the unidentifiable things stuck to the walls or floor. Like the entire place had been soaked in a giant layer of spit, and everything had congealed into a uniform mass.

And that dampness.

I draw a deep breath as I feel the oxygen in my bloodstream run shallow. Its more like short gasps being all i can afford. I look across the dimly lit rooms. The humidity was so thick, you could feel the air making its way into your lungs like a liquid. A broken window pane looked out into an overgrown backyard. There was the crumbling remnants of a well there , and its paved surroundings. Moss there too. Even the old pulley with the frayed rope was there. Thick undergrowth. You could lose your soul in that vegetation. I push open the window. A shard of glass falls to the cement. It shatters the silence. I look at the millipedes crawling there get smashed by the glass. One of them curls itself up making it look like a wound up spring. The damp earth near pavement, with nothing but saplings pushing their way out, trying to crumble the cement as they continue their pitiful existence. I get the feeling someone is with me in this room. How many lives and deaths did this old hovel see. And how many different feelings did it harbour. My great grandfather whispering sweet nothings to my great grandmother. My uncle and aunt as teenagers courting by the door. My pitiful existence in solitude by the window. The cloudy sky offered no sighs of blue, just the dull white light that preserved this place a few centuries behind the world. An old clothes line sagged between two sticks. A dull red rag was tied to one of them.



The nurse walked into the dimly lit hospital room. She took the warm towel off the patients head and wiped it dry. She turned on the lights and went to check on the other patients. The bedside table had a bunch of faded flowers on them. They would never be seen anyway, by the patient. They would be taken away and replaced by fresh ones the next month. And the next one. Till he would die someday.



The sun finally managed to cut through the clouds and started drying the place up. That feeling of warm moisture under my skin stared departing.



Tomorrow I think I’ll go to the beach and bring back some old memories. I wish I could imagine people there as well. I feel so lonely sometimes.