I will die this month

As I wrote the closing chapter of my masters thesis it reminds me of closing chapter of a lifetime. Yes. A lifetime of 5 years it was. Coming to this place called IIT Kanpur I was reborn into a different individual. Possibly because 18 to 24 is the age where teens move into maturity and it is a window from which a helluva wisdom enters as deep as skull. Perspectives are formed, myths are broken and a whole new world egresses before our eyes.

Now the end is near and I am getting hard time winding up with this thesis thing. But as all things in life this will get over too. It is just a matter of time. I only look towards the one month off time I will get to spend at home on the other side of this hard time.

Happy Birthday Rubik's Cube

A cake for a conundrum which caused a revolution. That's what they call it.

Rubik's Cube is celebrating its 30th birthday... (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10158617.stm)

Wish you a long life.

Hiatus

It is longest hiatus I have ever shown on blogger. It is first time in last 4.5 years that more than a month passed without scribbling here. And it was not for no reason. I was way too busy winding up the work for my masters thesis. Most of the work is finished now. Only scripting part is left with it. Secondly I was not feeling very hearty past few weeks. Dont know why it was so. But better to leave out some bad memories.

No its going to be all over. The 5 year plan comes to end. I leave the college and enter into the so called big-bad-world. [edited on May,21] But that's the reality. All of us have to do something for a living. Then why not do something I'm good at for living's sake. But only as long as I like it. No immediate alternate plans right now. Hope I get 'em when needed.

By the way I was learning something new from last 2 weeks. Swimming. I still cant breathe while swimming but getting the hand and leg strokes right. Glad that I've learnt this much before leaving campus. :)

It's going to end very soon. The loving guys here, night fun, gossips and all. You know these things will be etched in fond memories. And in blogs too. Im happy that I've scripted most of the experience on blogger. Feels good to travel down the memory lane sometimes. Whenever I read them I see myself growing up through my own eyes. This blog thing is wonderful! I promise to keep writing as long as I live. and have internet access.

I am pissed off

I dont know why?

Today was a bad day.

That's all!

70+ people died in a massacre! 

I am working.

The hangover is close to over.

Bryan's book is great!

I'll finish it soon.

Sleeping too much.

Bad for health.

Bad for work.

Too hot here!

No option but to endure.

15 June is exit date.

28 June is enter date.

That's all!

Really that was all!

No more!

Only that I don't want.

Oh I wish!

OK. that's enough!

Over and out.

Few days

Possibly it is the first week of the last three (or so) months of my stay in an isolated planet called IIT. It's high time we ponder over what has been done over the last five years here. So I recall this article by Sandeepan Deb and go and read it again. It speaks the veracity of the situation.

Right now I am having a hangover which is usual when I come back from home. It will take a day or two before I settle down into normal daily routine.

Till then very little of work and very little of everything. But I'll try.

We cannot get everything out of life

Other way to say this is in Adam Smith's words "Human wants are unlimited, resources are limited". But this poem below summarizes it best. At times shayaris can look so beautiful!

Kabhi Kisi Ko Muqamal Jahan Nahin Milta
Kahin Zamin To Kahin Aasmaan Nahi Milta

Jise Bhi Dekhiye Vo Apne Aap Mein Gum Hain
Zubah Mili Hain Magar Humzubah Nahin Milta

Kabhi Kisi Ko Muqamal Jahan Nahin Milta
Kahin Zamin To Kahin Aasmaan Nahi Milta

Bujha Saka Hain Bhala Kaun Waqt Ke Shole
Ye Aisi Aag Hain Jisme Dhuan Nahin Milta

Kabhi Kisi Ko Muqamal Jahan Nahin Milta
Kahin Zamin To Kahin Aasmaan Nahi Milta

Tere Zahan Mein Aisa Nahin Ki Pyar Na Ho
Zaha Umeed Ho Iski Wahan Nahin Milta

Kabhi Kisi Ko Muqamal Jahan Nahin Milta
Kahin Zamin To Kahin Aasmaan Nahi Milta

Racquet

In august I bought a squash racquet. In march this year its gone. That bloody frame made of carbon fiber broke down. The worst part is it did not happen while playing. Otherwise it would have been a consolation. Somebody borrowed from me. I lend him. He goes to his room. After minutes he discovers that racket is broken a bit. When I look at it that 'bit' was not really a bit. It was byte. Or may be megabyte if not gigabyte. Carbon fibre is supposed to last life long. That bloody quack who sold me the racquet told me this. My life goes on but its life ends. What am I supposed to do. End my life or somewhat.

Non living objects are to be used and living beings are for loving. So it's not love for racquet .But it carried more significance than just being a racquet. It was birthday gift.

Anyways there more setbacks these days than this. Nothing seems to be working in thesis these days. And I have to anyhow do it well before joining date- 28 june. Right now I have no clue how will I make it. I will make it through though. Because all things must pass! All things must pass away!

Talking sense

Why do people think that they sound more convincing by stretching R's and L's and making faces with the words and jumping around with the words. All they need to do is speak logical and sensible and intelligent things to convince people. Is it really that very difficult to say things sensibly?

When you have to say something say it. Don't over say it. Don't mix the sense of simple things with shitloads else they might get lost in the shitloads and never appear to surface of the matter.

Im staying back

So now it's official that I am staying  back at campus in summers. According to my supervisor I have to stay here at LEAST till mid of June. Good and bad in some sense. Good that I have one month more to enjoy campus life. bad that I wont make it to attend the SPIC MACY fellowship will not come after this year reason being it is offered only to students. A lot has happened. I am working more. At least trying more if not working more.

25 km cycling trip today was nice. Probably it was first time IIT Kanpur has organized such trip. The response was nothing less than humongous. 1100+ participation is something which misrepresents the usual laziness of IITK junta.

Btw I've just uploaded a new set of photos on flickr. All of them before sunset in hall 9. 

Locked up

Enough wastage has been done. To the satisfactory level. Now Im no more wasting away.

The price is I spent a cube crazy week and lost something like 10 second. 50% of the time Im getting below 50 sec. And few 40s also.

Finally to get rid and start working on thesis I had to lock the cube up. I've locked the Rubik's Cube. It will come out only after wasting satisfactorily enough time on thesis.

I will waste myself on

After a sweet break of 5 days at home life is back on same old track.

Loads of cubing. In early 50s. Lots of 40s and few sub 40 sec timings.

I will waste myself on.......

H@H

It's Holi at home guys. With all the usual papad, chips stuff its yet another colourful time of year. We love it when we are happy and we hate it when we are in sad composure. I dont know but it happens with me sometimes. I have mood swings sometimes.

For better this time I am happy and Im loving it. I went shopping with Mom. These days we are inundated with choices in the garments and I am that kind of tasteless fellow that I can't choose among them. It was quite a difficult time.

So friends Happy Holi and enjoy your time. I don't have much to write right now. If you are in :) mood then you are rocking! But if you are in a sad mood then just 'take a sad song and make it better'. Listen to 'Hey Jude' from Beatles.

Weekend out

I had a weekend out of college. went to attend wedding ceremony of a friend's sister. It was at a rather unknown place 3 hrs journey from Delhi. So we (I and a friend) went to Delhi and traveled with 2 others in Delhi by road. I must say it was a rather boring day sitting there idle with no one to talk. We stood like 3 idiots. I started to wonder why we in India make so much pomp and show of marriage. We should rather save some bucks instead. And save a lot of people from getting bored and wasting 1-2 days of their short life. We invite people, bore them, feed them then bid them. Better to KISS. Keep it straight and simple. I would chose otherwise if given an option.

In spite of all this I had very nice time on Sunday. Came back to Delhi in the morning at my brother's house. After that there was a sort of mini-family-gathering. Two of my (cousin) brothers, I and my sister. All 4 of us have spent our childhood together at our old house. We are childhood mates and share close bonds.

By the way I practiced a lot on blindfold solving and got close several times during the return journey. Couldnt make it successful though.

But right now got my first successful blindfold solve!

A * can change your life

A * can change your life. For worse if commuted with a /. This is what ruined my life for over a week. Absolutely simple shit-piece of code was not working. So I thought I was not using the correct equations for computation. I scanned many journals and looked around for alternative methods but with no hope. In the end yesterday was a path breaking day and it just flashed me trace back the values. And the moment was maddening when I found out that I actually mistyped * in place of /. I went berserk screaming like stabbed man in the middle of road.

Good thing is results are absolute match with the reality and Im on to the next step! :)
Sometimes things can be simple shity. Shit happens. At times, shit happens.

Blindfold

I am learning blindfold cubing these days. For the less enlightened ones let me tell you that in blindfold cubing you first take visual of a completely scrambled Rubik's Cube and memorize its configuration without moving it. Next you put on a blindfold on your eyes and in one go you have to solve the cube.

Right now the status is that I can solve only the edges of the cube. Still working on the corners. I have to device mnemonics of my own for each locations and memorize with the help of pictures-story in a journey form.

Since we are going to Delhi this weekend (in all probability, if my mates do not ditch once again) to attend a wedding ceremony. I will have lots of time while traveling in the train. Let's hope I would be able to perform a successful solve after return on Sunday.

The results of an absolutely simple piece of fortran code seem to trouble me since last week. Don't know what went wrong. Have to check it once again. Now I know why mtech thesis is extends beyond May.

Run time starts

Fun time up. Run time starts. Techkriti is over. A lot happened. IORC 2010 was good. This time it was good with decent number of turnout in events other than normal Rubik;s cube speedsolve. 11 people solved 4x4x4 cube (including me at last posittion :| ..) means it's also well known now. Quality of timings was definitely better than last two years. You can have a look at the results on WCA website as soon as they are uploaded in a day or two.

Among other things I lost two of my cubes. 3x3x1 also called Floppy cube which was the cutest of all the cubes I have. :( The second was 4x4x4 cube. It was turning weirdly since I lubed it last. Anyways I was going to get a new 4x4x4.

Yesterday we had a dinner with Mr.John Louis. It was nice time sitting together and sharing time with this wonderful gentleman and his prodigy child.

There was this girl from San Francisco who came to IORC for filming a part of her documentary on Rubik's Cube. He interviewed John, Bernett and me. She was on a fellowship of one year. What a dream fellowship. For one whole year you have to travel all round the world and meet people and see places and shoot movie!

Did a decent job and secured fourth place in gimmick competition to win some bucks. :) And this time, unlike the previous year when I was not able to en-cash the cheque, got the cash immediately.

Now back to square-1. have to meet my supervisor. Before that gota fix a piece of java code. Already I am running behind the target in the master's thesis. Today mamma asked me when I will be getting the degree in the robes. And I just tried to avert the question. Big task ahead. If I have to save my chances of wearing convocation robe then I should better get things running. Run time starts now!

Buzz

So the new Buzz is Buzz from google. I would say it emulates twitter. (Although I never used twitter. I dont have account on twitter.) Twitter is to blogger what T20 cricket is to test cricket. Oh a far fetched imagination. But well quite a comparison. I love blogger as I love test cricket. I can write my life down on twitter. You may have a lot more followers on twitter but whats the point if you are forced to practice frugality in talking. That's not what makes a good conversation. And I can converse to myself at blogger. That's the beauty! More time to reflect. But then 140 chars means more economical in spending words. May be good thing sometimes.

Another buzz on the campus is Techkriti.  Going from 11th to 14th Feb  its a 3 day treat for guys here at IIT Kanpur. 3 and half day to be exact. Only half of first day is counted. For old people like us (yes, 5th year at IIT Kanpur and you feel old-ish type for routine things on campus) a little more than extended weekend. I'm quite involved in coding AI for a game. The idea is to develop AI for a bot which will play on its own in an areana on web against other people's bots. And not to mention I'll be there for IORC for some cubing. Though not speedcubing. I lost speed over last year or so. :)

Im also looking work around with my new cam. Just need to get the entry pass for my camera to things worth clicking. I'm not sure about the effect of laser lights on the camera lenses. How much unhealthy it. I can carry it for many other good things though. Look out fro highlights from my cam soon in this space.

Forgot to mention that I have been pretty consistent with jogging. me and a friend are going jogging in the morning every alternate day from last week. Wont we call it consistent? :P

Padhai

Tell you people something.. I am auditing a course. Although officially all course work of my curriculum is over. I chose to attend a course without crediting it on my gradesheet. And this is mid term exam 1 hr from now.

Ever since I was born exams have been a strong turn-on for me when it comes to writing blogs. And so its customary to write a post now.

If ever somebody plots scatter-graph of my blogger post versus time then there the highest density of posts would be the exam days.

As of exams its fixed. There is going to be a one-day cricket match in Kanpur and this is the last chance of watching a cricket match in Kanpur. But it seems I'll have to miss this too. It falls on 24th Feb. and the same day I have to appear at a presentation as Teaching Assistant. damn it! All my friends are going. And poor me is left with this damn TA thing...

All the gears-stackmats and displays- that we ordered for IORC has arrived with a person named Lee Sonko and this gentleman will be carrying this stuff from USA all the way down to Kanpur for us. This year they are spending lot of money on this Rubik's cube event. And I heard that someone from US is coming to Kanpur to participate in IORC. Probably this the first time we are having a participant in Techkriti coming from outside India.

Our plans of going to Orissa to attend a friend's sister's wedding is in abeyance because of people are backing off and numbers are dwindling fast. Let's see who all are left in the end.

(cant think of a title today)

SO things have been moving fast since I dropped by blogger last time. Got some results in my thesis only to realize that we need to simplify the problem statement right now. :P

This time techkriti, IIT Kanpur ordered 4 sets of stackmat timer and tournament display from Speedstacks for IORC 2010. But it seems participation is not going to be as high. Lot of cubing junta have been diverted to the new WCA competition being held in Mumbai. Seems like we are being hit by the other competition. But then its going to be good because there are more no. of good cubers from campus itself. At least 3 sub-30 sec. solvers and many sub 60. In the meanwhile I realized that I have degenerated and my timing slipped beyond 60 sec. Thats's embarrassing. I'm trying to gain speed on 4x4x4 cube. But not able to squeeze enough time from other engagement.

Also having a mid-sem exam for a course I'm auditing. Also our FEDUCON team geared up and we are working like 2-3 hrs daily on its website. We may soon expect a career counselling website up and running. Hopefully it will be of great help to students of 10th and class 12th in choosing their path when they have time. There are hell lot of career options out there apart from the ususal engineering/medical fever that is apparently infecting every second parent and subsequently every second school-going child. All this on the website soon. Our team working.

New cubes

Finally they reached me. New puzzles. Now I can solve 2x2x2, 3x3x3,4x4x4,5x5x5.

Now Im trying my hand on the other new puzzles - Mastermorphix , 12 sided puzzle, floppy cube and 3x3x4. That's whole lot of exciting pack!