Aging Woes

My laptop is dying. I can sense it.

I use an almost 4 year old HP Pavillion dv2519. Something tells me it's not going to be around for long.

Some keyboard keys are gone. Scratches fill the lid with a pattern of their own. Paint is chipping from everywhere. It overheats and shuts down from time to time. DVDs don't work anymore. Webcam now works only half the time. Two USB ports have given up. Today, I saw the replaced screen also flickering from the bottom. After surviving two drops and transplants of RAM, screen, battery and hinges, it has gone through a lot. Thus, my worries.

But this is not the best time to die for my laptop. I can't afford a new one with certain big expenditures planned. Also, there are newer processors, OS refreshes and super-fast ports coming up next summer.

Stay with me, HP, stay with me. At least for another six months.

What?

This semester has been the fastest. And the worst.

After three semesters, I guess I can now state that it's getting worse with each semester. I have started caring lesser too.

It's the first placement season at my institute and every other guy seems to be caring more about CGPAs and CVs. I have stopped giving a damn. Or have I?

I will do what I want to do. What I like to do. What I feel like doing. I refuse to turn into a machine.

End-sem exams are bringing it up again- What the hell do I really want? WHAT?

Don't get me wrong. Nothing happened at my college. It's still awesome. Most of the subjects are awesome too. Just don't appreciate the system and myself and this time.

I need a break. Just one more week to go.

Pssst- Will be at the starting line of Airtel Delhi Half Marathon in 6 hours. Should be real fun.

Every 30 minutes

Did you know that around 70% of India lives on less than Rs. 20 per day? I didn't.

The average rate of suicide by farmers is one every 30 minutes.

45% of rural India's children are malnourished compared to around 25% in sub-Saharan Africa.

Most "important" government decisions like creating highly subsidized SEZs and considering airline bailouts (of the tune of Rs.6-7k crore) are for the top 1% of the population. They may affect the remaining 30% of us to some degree but what about the rest 70%? A single crore can save lives of lots of uneducated villagers.

Not the best time to be an Indian.

An eye-opening interview:

I love and hate Critical Reading lectures at the same time.

Hitched

Sister got hitched last week! It was a big fat Indian wedding and we had a ton of fun. It's amazing how much work goes into these things and how they finish in a jiffy.

But it was all worth it in the end. Returning back to college was a huge pain.

Some pictures ensue.

From wearing kurtas to suiting up, I wore some new clothes:

There was a mehandi ceremony in which a surprisingly large number of people from my family danced.

All cousins stayed up after the mehendi and sangeet ceremony to prepare a dance for the engagement the next day. Two of my cousins made us rehearse till 7 am. 

Imagine around 20 children in all shapes and sizes in a large hall. There were complaining neighbors, tickling sisters, flying pillows. Also there was a LOT of laughing for those who were witnessing us rehearse.

Speaking of the dance, it went fairly okay after just 6-7 hours of practice, considering the fact that most of us thought that dancing meant moving your limbs wherever and however you can till the song is loud.

Some pictures of the dance:

I did not realize how punjabi weddings include so much of lifting people. I lifted at least thrice during different ceremonies.

This guy was all what-the-hell first and then lifted me later:

I am behind my cousins here, lending my muscle power discreetly to lift my sister:

There was also a shoe-hiding game in which we won after around 15 people climbed on the groom's sister:

The Canadian girl in the background is going all WTF.

Photographers also click awkward and cliched poses of the bride and groom. I liked a particular one:

And to end, there was a nice picture of me with my cousins in our best clothes:

Steve Jobs

Death's a bitch. He called it "the single best invention of Life." I am not mature enough to understand this.

Like millions of others, he inspired me. He made me want to be a creator. To create something that disappears into people's lives.

Read this somewhere on Twitter:

If you want to honor Steve, don't mourn. Do your best work every day. Live your life to the fullest. Never settle. His spirit lives on.

I want to honor him.
Picture from here.

Reaction

Is there something wrong with me if I laughed more at this video than at the last 4 episodes of How I Met Your Mother combined? Probably not.

Still can't stop chuckling.

All things Apple

Apple haters, refrain from this post.

Apple announced a new iPhone today. Finally.

It's called the iPhone 4S. Some quick thoughts:

1. No iPhone 5 :(
2. Another 'S' iPhone? Really? I thought we were done with that stupid naming scheme.
3. On the other hand, it has the exact same upgrades as the iPhone 3GS- Better processor, better camera. better software, cool voice stuff.
4. Siri seems smart. Only if it gets Indian accents. Apple seems to be confident about this. From their site- "Siri makes phone calls, sends messages, schedules meetings, sets reminders, and more. How much more? Just ask, and Siri tells you that, too." This is not voice recognition, this is AI.
5. They have still managed to squeeze a better battery life. I pity humanity for battery technology.
6. This definitely has the best phone camera out there. It has a bloody 'image signal processor' built into the A5 chip! Also, real 8 megapixels.
7. Apple is quitely moving to Bluetooth 4.0 from Bluetooth 2.1 in its devices. It completely skipped 3.0. Apparently, Bluetooth 4.0 is a very low-energy version of 3.0. Classic Apple.
8. Also, there is no mention whatsoever of the processors in the specs page of the iPhone and iPod touch. No dual-core, single-core, GHz. It's the damn specs page, Apple. They really doesn't want to let us care these meaningless numbers. So different from Samsung and the other guys. It may also be that they don't want to highlight the iPod's year-old processor.
9. Why does Apple have to be awesome in everything it does? Just look at the iPhone's site. Awesome web design. Beautiful HTML5 animations.
10. Today, Apple's site seems to be down and shaky for too long. Apple has launched products before. Never has this happened. No-Jobs effect? Too soon to judge.
11. Say what you want, but at this moment, this is the best phone out there. May be an incremental upgrade to the legendary iPhone 4, but this has more than one can want. Let's make a list inside a list about the features:
• So fast that you can forget words like lag and stutter. From what I've heard, these words are remembered in dual-core Gingerbread phones. iPhone==stable.
• Best battery life.
• Best screen. I am so glad they didn't blow it up to 4 inches. 3.5 seems perfect.
• Gorgeous hardware.
• Fastest, clearest camera with 1080p video. My laptop can't even play such a high-res video properly.
• iOS 5 with free iMessage (Haha BBM), PC-free features and everything just integrated within. Also, 5,00,000 apps. 5 Lakh.
• iCloud with the most extensive and simple cloud services. Syncing and backup galore.
12. Actually, now that I think about it, the only disappointment is the lack of a new external design. Nothing thinner, bigger, weirder. Is it really a big deal or people (read: me) have started expecting more than ever from Apple?
13. I will buy this phone in 2011 with my saved money. There. I said it.

Update: Read this article. This may be the reason for Apple's 'underwhelming' announcement.

Where the mind is without fear

I am not into reading poetry but this one, pointed to me by Longevita, seemed worth posting. It's a Bengali poem by Rabindranath Tagore before India's independence. I love every line of it:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action --
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. 

Names

Names are hard. I always have a tough time naming things. What will happen if I have to name living beings?! How fun would it be to have a nameless dog!

I am also having a tough time naming sections of my college magazine these days. Any suggestions for a non-technical, non-news section having 'fun' and editorial articles?

Anyway, I finally changed the name of my blog. I was planning to do it for quite some time along with changing the design. I updated the design in an hour and the name in months. Tweaking templates is so much easier than naming.

I changed the name because "Knowing, Doing and Happening" just wasn't doing it for me anymore. So, after some soul and drafts searching, I decided to name it "Random Plans". It makes things more clear about the way I (t)roll. Also updated is the sub-heading and 'About Me' page.

Psst- For people who have added me in the Blogger blogrolls, please spare a few seconds and update the name by removing and adding my blog. Blogger has this weird thing where it doesn't update names automatically.

Idol

I heard it this morning. On the commute to college, a friend asks me, "So Steve Jobs has resigned?" Before I went all Yeah Right, he told me that he read it in his Facebook News Feed at 7 am today. I asked him if he read any article and he denied but said that there was a link posted. I refused to believe some troll's Facebook status; but within a second it did strike me. He was on medical leave after all. He was planning to retire in the coming years. Did he really resign?

Within the next second, for some reason, my heart started to sink.

As soon I reached the campus, I rushed to the lab and opened up Engadget - "Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple".

As another friend described, the sadness is physical. There is this uneasiness since morning that I haven't been able to overcome yet. So many things running through mind.

First, about the man himself. It sounds dramatic, but this guy is a part of shaping who I am and want to be. There is so much about engineering, design, entrepreneurship, communication and much more that I learnt just by observing this guy. He almost defines the word Respect for me.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with someone I met two months ago in Mumbai. He asked, "Who is your idol?" Dismissing it as concept on which 12-year-olds write essays, I said diplomatically, "No one." I actually never thought about this notion. He insisted, "Guys who discuss stuff like we are discussing, always have an idol." Listening to this, I had my answer in a second- "Steve Jobs".

This explains the uneasiness.

Then, there are concerns about Apple. I love Apple products. The kind of thought and vision they bring to the market is something extraordinary. Of course they are doing business, but the game they play and the goals they set, are very different from any other tech company out there. And Steve Jobs was Apple.

When you turn all geeky and progress to the computing industry while gathering knowledge about it, there are these faces you start to identify and associate with companies. Google brings an image of Sergey Brin and Schmidt to my mind, and in the recent times, Larry Page. Facebook brings up Mark Zuckerberg. Apple, obviously, brought up Steve Job's image. Now, its just weird. I am trying to put in some image from here; maybe Forstall or Schiller(thanks to Job's thoughtfully designed keynotes), but Apple just seems faceless now. It's like the solidness has gone.

Also, I noticed him when he said this at the iPad 2 launch:

We think we have the right architecture not just in silicon, but in the organization to build these kinds of products.

Who knew he was subtly sowing the idea of his retirement at the end of the keynote. Classic Steve Jobs.

I read this piece after this news, and its striking to see how much John Gruber gets me sometimes (or perhaps vice-versa):

Jobs’s greatest creation isn’t any Apple product. It is Apple itself. 

Today’s announcement is just one more step, albeit a big and sad one, in a long-planned orderly transition — a transition that no one wanted but which could not, alas, be avoided. And as ever, he’s doing it his way.

The next iPhone gets announced next month. While it would be great to see him on stage, I hope he's in the audience at least. Watching what he created.

Young Adult in India

I am a young adult in this country. What do I do?

I have my life. I have my to-do lists. My engineering coursework. But I also read newspapers, check Facebook and try to be aware of humanity beyond my personal motives.

There is something going on in my country. People are protesting. Against what, is debatable. But I do know a few things.

I know when I have to stand in lines so that other people who pay a 'premium'don't have to; I know when big corporates buy government licenses at 'subsidized' prices; I know when careers get destroyed when someone is unable to pay backdoor 'donations'; I know when roads outside my house don't get repaired in 10 years but patches of it being polished when a MP's nephew is married; I know when farmers and researchers suicide due to funding 'issues'; I know when land -that is bought by a serviceman's life savings- is snatched by a property dealer demanding high 'security' to pay to authorities; I know when only 'some' funds reach schools and the education of bright stars of the country is suffered; I know when a sports event that is supposed to be my country's pride gets so 'messy' that reports can fill you with disgust; I know when my family asks me not carry enough money for a challan when I drive, but enough to 'get out' of the situation.

I am a young adult and I love my country. What do I do?

They say I should join a protest that is claiming to get some things in order. They say that things have gone so bad that some strict policy-level decisions are the only way out. They say that I should support one man who had the balls to give his 100% to a cause that is claimed against corruption. They say that I should support the protest which is trying handle this menace by empowering a new body specifically for this purpose. They say the body will be as transparent as possible and will question anyone who needs to be.

But then others say that this protest is unconstitutional. That adding another layer of bureaucracy is not an answer. That this constitutional body upon which we are trusting can also stab our backs. Is there any trust or faith left in this country? How did we get here?

I am a young adult in this country. What do I do?

They say I have been given a power to vote. They say that instead of questioning the people I put in power, I should question why did I put them in power. I ask, who should I vote?

On one side there is a dynasty full of scams whose 'charismatic' ancestors have put this country in an emergency before. They have a future descendant ready who is himself confused and cannot hide his shame behind the political misdoings of his party. On the other side there is a leaderless group of non-secular, conservative old men(and some loud women) who themselves have plenty of scams in store, some of which get sprouted from time to time. My country feels screwed to not have a good alternative.

I am a young adult in this country. What do I do?

They say maybe I should wait. A third alternative will arise. Someone who will be responsible. Who knows that the answer is in the fundamentals along with some rigid policies on the top. Someones who understands that this country has become a nation of cheaters. Someone who knows that tax evasion and corruption have become a way of life and this needs to be changed.

But how long will I wait? I am certain that it's not some Baba who's trying to close the economy and thinks that homosexuality is a disease. When will this third option arise? People are continuing to get busy with their personal lives and treating their country for granted. Courage continues to die for personal 'growth'.

Meanwhile, careers continue to get destroyed, education continues to get hampered, farmers continue to suicide, illegal buildings continue to get constructed, science continues to get roadblocked, rules continue to get broken.

I am not impatient. But it is enough now.

I am a young adult in this country. What do I do?

I have no idea and I am scared.

Summer of '11

Semester#3 is here now. From tomorrow starts another semester of sleepless nights, endless assignments and loads of work. But somewhere down, I know I am waiting for it. Plus there are quite some things to look forward- our first tech fest, return of the half marathon, SR elections, some courses I have been waiting for, robotics workshops, some family events etc. The semester hasn't even started and I know how busy I am going to be. Work, fun, repeat.

If not something else, one thing I learned this summer was the speed of time. It was neither too fast, nor too slow. I am not complaining that my summer flew away so fast and I am not saying that it bored me to death. I have been extremely lazy and extremely productive. So below is a approximate timeline of how I spent the Summer of '11:

YES+: For the first six days of the summer, I attended an Art of Living workshop in my college aimed at young adults. It was fun and I learnt a thing or two. Didn't followup much though.

Rishikesh: After YES+ ended, we stayed that night at college and left for Rishikesh the next morning at 6. It was legendary. We jumped into any water body in sight and I ended up bathing 9 times in 4 days (my Mom still refuses to believe this). I did rafting for 4 hours, floated aimlessly in the Ganga, separated from my raft by almost a kilometer and jumped from a rock two storeys high into the water. 4 times. We also trekked, did rappelling  and climbed a ton of rocks and slopes. Not to forget the sleep deprivation, endless talks, shouting eeeeee... like crazy and sleeping on the grass under millions of star. Of course, I fell ill. But it was the Best. Trip. Ever. Except for a nickname I got after some small mammal. I don't like it.

Mumbai: After I returned from Rishikesh in the night, I left for Mumbai the next afternoon. As one may guess, I did a lot of convincing for this can't-sit-at-home schedule. And Mumbai was not for 4 days, it was 6 weeks. I went to Mumbai with two of my classmates for community work. You see, IIIT-Delhi requires you to do 80-100 hours of Community Work in 4 years of your BTech. We were planning the trip for a while and worked at an NGO called Parivartan. I'll write more about my Mumbai trip in some later blog posts because there were so many experiences that I can't fit in a paragraph. All I can say is that the whole trip was overwhelming and I learnt a lot. Much more than I had expected and I'll have to say, I had a lot of expectations. It was also a lot of fun. All the work, the managing stuff on your own, the new city, the freedom, the vada pavs, the people, the children. I know it sounds very cliché, but yes, it was life-changing.

Travelling: This summer, I traveled a lot too. Rishikesh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Amritsar. I can pack bags now. I also now have a long travelling wish list.

Movies: I watched a lot of movies too. 9 to be precise. And these are just the ones in theater. I wanted to do 10, but there just weren't any more good movies.

• Pirates of the Caribbean: Stranger Tides
• The Hangover Part II
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Pyaar Ka Punchnama
• Avatar (Finally, that too in IMAX 3D!)
• X-Men: The Last Stand
• Shaitan
• Delhi Belly
• Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

30 Days of lazying around: As I mentioned, I had planned for a different, productive last 30 days of my summer after my busy two months. But alas, I spent most of those 30 days just lazying around or hanging out. Which I do not regret because of some flaws in my planning. First, instead of setting new and different goals for 30 days, I set up a long list of regular goals. Second, I again planned much more things than I could have handled. Hence #Fail. But I don't care much, as I enjoyed the last 30 days lazying around and getting up in the afternoon after the hectic time in Mumbai. I did however manage to get a few tasks done in these 30 days, which I am happy about.

So, this is how the Summer of '11 went for me. It was pretty jam-packed yet relaxing. Ah, how much do I love three months of holidays. Also, I did not post about this but around 20 days back, my blog completed its first year. I did not have a separate post about it because, well, I did not blog that much in the last one year to celebrate or something. Nevertheless, expect a series of blog posts on Mumbai 2011 in the coming weeks.

30 days

I watched this TED Talk today and have stopped my list-making ever since. Well, I got inspired so fast is mainly because I have precisely 30 days right now till semester #3 starts and I have been feeling useless since the past two days.

I spent this summer doing a lot of stuff I did not imagine I would do, visiting and lot of places and learning so much that I never thought I could learn. So after two months of jam-packed abnormal fun, I thought I would love  just laying back and sleeping the next one month. But as these lazy days are passing, I am feeling more and more uncomfortable and bored.

So, this 30 day thing seems worth trying. I have made my list but will not share it right now. I will share tasks as they become relevant or complete.

Another added bonus: I get to make tickable lists.

Starting tomorrow, let the ticking off begin!

Darkest Things

Some incredible lyrics from one of my favorite songs:

And it's funny how the darkest things
You only find when you've been searching
Don't back down from what you need
Guiltiness it only makes you mean

Busy Choices

Yeah, the title does not make sense , I can read it too. But the past two weeks have been so overwhelming in being busy and making choices that these two words have just become intermingled in my brain. I read(rather heard) somewhere that while you need to have plans for the future, some events in life are like dots, which connect themselves in the future in ways that may surprise you. Now knowing this fact, its irritating when your brain starts to already explore ways in which these dots may connect. And this has started affecting my decisions which is, again, irritating.

I always looked at some people and thought, "Man, this guy always remains so busy, why does he need to, can't he relax". I vividly remember even once scolding a person close to me about remaining so busy and not taking out time to chill. The bad part comes when one day you realize that you are in a position worse than that. Its even more frustrating when you have a ton of work and realize that you haven't done it as fast as you could. Its then that I realize that why can't I relax. Do I need to be that guy? What's the use of it? What will it give me at the end of the day? Is it worth it?


Decisions. Choices. You need to make them. But when? Probably what caused all this were two simple lines by one of my college faculty:

You have to make choices in life and take a stand.

You can't be good at everything. You can't do Science, Commerce and Arts together.

Reading it like this, it seems nothing you are not aware of. But for me, it is probably the timing of these words. At a time, when I am overwhelmed with stuff. And confused about what I want. And silently realizing that I can't do it all. But again some stuff for me seemed so mixed up, that making a simple choice led to a series of serious big-time decisions which will affect my future actions and intentions.

I knew that I have to make these decisions at some point, but why now? Why do you have to think of so far even to make a small choice? Why have you screwed up your brain in a way that its making you do this? But then you start to get the feeling that maybe this is not bad. Even if I have to decide now, it probably for the best. Its time to finally face things and clear out your head. Optimism is beneficial only when you know when to use it.

So, finally I faced it. Took decisions. Made choices. At the end of it, I finally know what I want. Which is a big thing itself. This was not a dot that will connect itself in the future. This was two dots from the past that got connected themselves now. The whole thing was a line being beautifully drawn. And the feeling of satisfaction after drawing the line, by taking some decisions, is enormous.

Bottom-line: Being busy is okay if you enjoy it. Make decisions asap. They help.

Resolutions

Its a new year. I won't do a year review now. Birthdays are good for that. Its time for some resolutions. Some say they are meant to be broken. But I'll leave that phrase to promises and begin optimistically. To sustain them, my list is small:

1. Initiate Project Y. Its been on my mind for a long time now and its finally time to start with a codename. I won't let this one become a procrastinated sulk. Its too big in my brain for that. I have started on the right note with weekly time allocations(This week is done!) and keeping it just in my head. No expectations, pressure, questions or answers. My only fear is managing it with my semester studies but I think I'll be able to do it. Rest is planned and I'm not looking back. More updates will come as it progresses but I'll not define any timelines!

2. Lose it. Here 'it' simply means some(more) body fat. This is definitely must be the world no. 1 in new year resolutions to be listed and cheated on. Let's see how good I'll be at keeping it.

3. Time. Need to control it, manage it, use it. This is probably the most bugging thing in my head of all time now. I've always cribbed about this to myself but this year I really want things to be different. Using a planner or anything doesn't work and I always end up wondering why I am not doing anything when I have a million things-to-do. This is also my most feared resolution that I may not be able to keep up. But habits change aaand we're back to optimism.

4. Read and learn. These two words here are to be used together and separately. I actually freaked out these holidays after realizing that there are so many books with me to read and so many more to be discovered. Its something I enjoy yet have no idea why I don't do. And learning also means learning new things. Guitar classes are good to start with and I'll probably start in a week or two. 

5. Blog more. This post may be six days late and there may be seven drafts in my Blogger account, but I will blog more.

P.S. WHOEVER you are, don't ever ask anything about Project Y, coz it won't be any good. Also, after the feedback, the comments bug is now fixed which creeped in after the template change.