Closing time folks!

I hereby, officially, declare this blog closed.

I am off to find better things to do in life. Thanks to all the people for reading and commenting. I appreciate your time!

All posts will gradually be removed.

Just a panorama

A panorama that I created today. I might consider buying lunch to the person who can identify the "event" happening when the photo(s) were taken.

Note: Reward is negotiable.





Click on the image for the larger version.

Home Sweet Home

I have always kept saying Home Sweet Home but not as much as I did over the past few days. I am back after my longest trip away from home. Not that I get nostalgic or am afraid to go out but only that I haven't been away so long.

My "home" in Delhi might not have been the sweetest given that I had to do with 45-degree-days but my "work" was indeed the sweetest ever. Never had I thought any place could be better for work than Anna University, at least in India. I was wrong. There are better places.

That is all that I will say. If the reader is interested in the details of the work I did then please visit

http://www.cse.iitd.ernet.in/~srinath/

http://srinath1905.users.sourceforge.net/

My First Vote

I have voted! I voted for the party that I felt would do more good to me than bad. After being unable to choose between two close candidates, I decided to vote for the one who had the greatest chance of forming a stable government at the centre. No prizes for guessing!

The Arts

I have never been a very great admirer of music. Why, I have never even been an admirer of fine art. The harmonies (and disharmonies) of nature, of society, of all the things around me seem art enough to satisfy my senses. I am and will remain a fellow fascinated with science. For me science is art.

But over the past year or so I have realised that there is more to art and music than what I have seen. This inclines me to think that taking up art as a hobby might prove fruitful in more than one way to distract me from the rigours of life.

First about art. When I was at the National Gallery in London I was astounded by the importance that people there gave to their art and artists. It is typical for art galleries to have paintings on both sides of a large hall and a couple of benches right in the middle of the hall. People sit on these benches and admire the art. So I sat there and looked at the paintings. All of them looked very nice, but I was unable appreciate their beauty (if there was any). But I am sure that great artists are not over-rated. They must have been extremely devoted to art and their art must truly reflect their passion. A reflection that I have totally missed thus far.

Next about music (with which I am little better off). The first time that I remember listening to music seriously was when I was about 9 or 10 years old when my father introduced me to the 70's music of BoneyM. The songs were nice and I still listen to some of them. From then on, I have been listening to music passed on by friends and relatives. Although they were all good to listen, I never really was content. It is only recently that I have "discovered" the kind of music that I like. Now I am finding new music that I can listen and appreciate without being prejudiced by reviews from others.

This music that I speak of is not pertinent to a single country, genre or culture. It is anything that pleases me. At the moment though, Irish traditional music seems to be my favourite and Solas seem to have more music that I like. But I am whimsical. These tastes will evolve as time passes.

I still remember that over 2 years ago I had this idea for a "start-up" company. A music search engine that finds music that a person might like. I was pursuing it for a while with a friend but nothing has materialized so far.

Now that I have a different view about the arts maybe I will develop keener senses for appreciating the subtleties that lay hidden in them.

P.S: Right now I am listening to The Hanover Reel by Solas from their album Waiting for an Echo.

Summer Time

As the Americans (the British too?) would say, "Long time no see..."

So, I am back with the following.

A new love

A new hobby

A summer job

A date with GRE

And a list of things to do which is longer than the river Nile

I am so excited that I cannot even wait for my exams to get over before I post this. :D

More on all the above in the days to come...

Prospects for the Immediate Future

I usually do not keep worrying about the future and always concentrate on the present. Given the choice, I would choose to spend my time on writing programs to solve linear equations than to familiarize myself with the pattern of the CAT. But no matter how detached one is from society in general, at some point one must think of his future. It is my turn now.

It dawned to me in a hard way today that the next 6 months are the most crucial for my professional success than anything before. Again I wouldn't care about my profession if I were the son of a lord in England and were born 200 years ago. But I am not. I cannot spend my time worrying about friction or about Braag diffraction unless I want to earn nothing. So I must choose to do something and so I have.

This "actvity" of mine can make it quite impossible to update this blog any time in the immediate future. In the meanwhile, I wish all the best to the readers of this blog for whatever they might be preparing for :)


P.S. : I am certainly NOT preparing for the CAT.