Science Phiction

Long time ago, whenever someone asked me "How much is your weight?", I had this silly habit of asking back, "On which part of the universe?" This was during the time I was introduced to Einstein and his extraordinary concepts in the field of science.

It was amazing to know that I would weigh 20% less on moon because moon's gravitational pull is less than that of Earth! Yay...for all the over-weight-tending-to-be-obese chaps like me, this tidbit was just a bliss...believe me!

So that was how it all started; when someone, a relative or a friend or an enemy questioned me about my weight, I was ready with my retort that weight is just a myth..People used to give me skeptical stares and almost advised my mom that it was time to consult a doctor!

In all this, I totally forgot that even if weight was a myth (a relative measure), MASS would still remain the same and in my case mass always worked in terrific contrast to Einstein's energy.

While energy can neither be destroyed nor created, my mass usually is created in a pace only Usain Bolt could match and destroyed in a pace even a snail could surpass!!!

Phewww...never did I have the liberty to quote a previous bill to my tailor for the measurements. Each new dress was sewed with a unique measurement and my disappointment usually mounted up by the time I actually wore it, thanks to my mass science!!

Now while energy is hyper active and takes many forms like thermal, electric, gravitational and so on, my mass, just as lazy as I am prefers to sit at predefined places in my body and once settled, it so much feels at home!!!

I was reading some hypothesis today on expanding Earth and some geologists claim that our mother earth is continuously expanding in volume but it's mass remained all the same and so there is a partial drop in the gravitational pull! Confused???

Well, for starters like me, gravity is inversely proportional to mass it-seems!!

I am only waiting for this hypothesis to be proven right for then when Aravind points it out, I can attribute my weight fluctuations to Earth instead of blaming it on my chicken biryani!!!

R.I.P. Dennis Ritchie

"Like the code he has written, his death goes unnoticed too"

How pitifully true this is for a man who co-invented and designed C and UNIX that are pivotal in revolutionizing computing in a way beyond imagination.

Essentially, any application/server/tool, be it big or small on today's computer, or any handheld smart device we haughtily show off, owe to C and UNIX and eventually to Dennis Ritchie big time!

The data structures he built into C are an epitome to high-level, object-oriented languages such as C++ and Java.

Take a bow sir, for I am one of such millions of engineers who are still benefiting from the open source revolution UNIX has paved way to.


#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>
int main()
{
    printf("GoodBye World!");
    getch();
    return 0;
}

A factual obituary here

A dinner that's cherished

I was reading 'A thousand splendid suns' and was so immersed in it that it took me few moments before I realized that Britney Spears had been tirelessly humming 'Oops, I did it again..' for me to answer the call.

For no reason, my face was lit up looking at the caller's name. It was HIM.

"Hey, wazzup?", I greeted.

"Mmmm, lets see. Where are you and what are you up to?"

"Where else? At my place resting on the couch and reading a book."

"OK. I know girls can never say yes to this but I will still try; Can you be ready in 15 minutes?"

"Err..I will try if you want me to but WHY?"

"Great. Your 15 minutes had already begun and you don't want to waste your precious time asking stupid questions, do you?"

"Fine. What after 15 minutes?"

"Wait for my call. Bye", and he disconnected the call.

I had guessed enough that he probably wanted to come down and meet me and the thought of it had excited me so much but failed to understand the sudden urge. I got ready under 15 minutes as I had told him and there was his call again, as he had promised.

"Ready?", he asked.
"Yes."
"Terrific. Now walk down the street, take an auto and get down at so-and-so place"
"What?? Is this a joke?"
"No it's not. Trust me and you won't be disappointed", and 'Klichkk' goes the call.

More than excitement for the surprise or shock I was about receive, the fact that my guess-work hadn't worked with him and that he wasn't here when I was most expecting him, had irked me more. Puzzled yet, I did as he instructed, walked almost a kilometer before I could get an auto muttering curses sometimes under my breath and sometimes out loud. To my relief, I finally found one auto and was able to reach the place he had asked me to.

And here again, the call. "Are you there?"

"Yes."

He had begun saying "Now, you.." when I abruptly cut it and screamed,

"Please, no more treasure hunts. I walked more than I could have imagined for a damn auto and now I am sweating like a pig and look even more worse than I was when you first called me today."

He smiled and said, "If you are done venting out your frustration, then just turn around."

I turned around only to see him leaning against his car right behind the auto I had taken. I was little surprised, I must admit, but I wasn't amused and went almost running towards him and asked, "If you are here already, why hadn't you come and picked me up yourself??"

"Well, that was actually what I had planned for. But I suddenly had this urge to see this I-am-not-amused look on your face and how much you wished for to see me today and cursed me for not living up to it."

I wasn't all convinced but I had smiled the moment he added, "I did not plan a surprise today but I am glad that it still worked. And hey, I had been following you right from the moment you stepped out of your place."

"Get in. We are going to a place."

He took me to a splendid restaurant that day, "Our Place". He had booked a candle light dinner table on the moonlit terrace for us and just then it struck me what he was trying to do and why of all days, TODAY.

"Listen, I appreciate it but you don't have to do all this", I said recollecting all that small and big things he had been doing for me for as long as an year just to make me feel better and normal and loved for I had been in my all-time-low life that time.

He smiled and replied, "This has nothing to do with anything. All I wanted is to be with you today and spend some good time. You always dreamed about a candle-light dinner. Din't you? So here it is now and you better enjoy it."

I did enjoy the dinner, the place, the food and most importantly, time with HIM, and it was probably the best till date.

On the way back, I asked him, "Of all, TODAY, isn't meant for U & I to be together."

The day was the 14th of February, 2008 and we were what people called 'The best friends'.

He understood it but just said, "Chuck it. I don't care if each one of us aren't that special someone in other's life. I just wanted to tell you that we are still very special to each other now and remain so hereafter, PERIOD."

"Hmm. That holds true only until you find a girl for this passenger seat I occupied now.", words escaped even before I realized what I was saying and 'sscrrreeeeeech' stopped the car.

He looked at me and I knew he was hurt but he shrugged it off and quickly, smiled.
I smiled back too and said, "OK. I don't know why I said that. Forget it and thank you so much for the time today. I loved it."

"Mmm..I loved it more than you can understand.", he had said before he left.

***

Present: Its an altogether different story that we eventually fell in love with each other after this had happened and got married the same year in October against all odds. HE was, is and remains the love of my life and I cherish that evening's dinner for it had changed both of our lives for good.

PS: Back in Hyderabad, Our Place was our only choice when we wanted to celebrate an occasion, how trivial it might be. Aww...Look at me for I din't spare endorsing at the end! :)

How Kamal Hassan came to my rescue

Holidays are always the gayest (err..refer thesaurus for there are other versions of being 'gay') days in a school-calendar for any school going kid! The happy days when the tantrum-throwers are tolerated and pampered by the grannies!! It was no different for me with the only exception that I get to be featherbed by mom n dad in holidays for I used to stay with my grand-parents during my 1st grade.

It was the New Year Eve, early in the morning of Jan 1st and all the kith an kin gathered on the streets of the colony wishing each other with colors and hugs. Oh don't be puzzled, Holi never came on the Jan 1st but who cared eh?

My sister and I had a group of friends in the colony with whom we joined playing Holi..err..celebrating new year.

"Hey deepu, happy new year", wished Pavan, my fellow 1st grader (no..he wasn't my crush).

"Wish you the same", I beamed.

"Know what, ask uncle to take you ppl to 'Indrudu Chandrudu'. Amazing movie"

My parents never were movie buffs and if at all we went to a movie, it was only after it got a super-hit talk and it was past silver jubilee and most importantly, only if it had Venkatesh in it. Those were the days when Venky SELDOM fought, NEVER romanced and ONLY made non-slapstick humor on-screen!

"Kamal Hassan donned Bugs Bunny in it", he added.

"Really?? How on Earth did he? I mean he is not a bunny, is he?"

"No silly, he exchanged his teeth with bunny for the movie and now he got them back". Pavan knew so much and we were always astounded by his knowledge. "Nudge uncle for it and off I go, mom made me vermicelli for break-fast. Bye."

I kept muttering 'Vermicelli' and 'Kamal Hassan' while we walked back home and soon after I saw my parents, I threw up saying "Mummy, I want vermicelli for break-fast"

My mother turned sharply and snapped at my father, "I told you to bring vermicelli yesterday."

My dad, who was very good at sensing troubles, retorted, "So what now?", turned to us and said, "Deepu, take your sister along and get a vermicelli packet from the store right across the street. Sweety knows him very well for we buy all the groceries from him. Now is the time you learn to do things by yourself."

Bang On! My dad got my pulse right coz "Doing things by yourself" meant "You are a grown-up" which is what I am sure any first grader would love to hear from his/her parents.

In no time, holding hands, my sister and I set off to shop for vermicelli with a tiny basket and a glittering new 10/- note. On the way, I did not miss touting to Pavan and co that I am out on shopping 'alone' and I was damn sure of those envious stares behind me.

We walked down the street, and turned right and walked a little more only to find that the shop was closed on the eve of new year!

Phewww...Even before I showed the signs of disappointment, my sister hastily said, "Akka, don't worry, I know another shop a little farther and dad had bought vermicelli from him once too". Sweety always had solutions even if they weren't the best of the kind.

"You sure?"

"You bet. But ofcourse, I know this place better than you eh!"

I sensed a slice of pride in my sister's voice but I choose to ignore as my longing for vermicelli got better of me. And so we continued walking with my sister leading the way, turning lanes and twisting routes at will. On our way, I spotted a 8X6 poster of 'Indrudu Chandrudu' that was almost swamping a wall across the road and Voila!, Kamal Hassan din't fit in the poster!! He looked distantly familiar and so very resembled bugs bunny!! I was lost in thoughts on how to get dad take us out to watch this film when my sister finally stopped at a grocery store and looked up at me (Yeah, those were the times when she indeed had to look UP to catch my eye!) with a 'See-I-Told-U' glare. We made the purchase, collected the change (Surprise!! Vermicelli costed less than 10 bucks then!!), and started to walk back home.

To our shock, the streets got more crowded meanwhile and standing at a x-road, we could hardly remember which road we took to come here => we forgot the way back home.

Panicking, I turned to my sister and asked, "Which way is home?" to which she coolly replied "Any of them, Oh come on...'A' and 'a' both are pronounced alike...so whats the big deal when both roads look similar?"
It takes only a highly intelligent brain to confront her and so I quickly realized that this wasn't for me. Horrified, I could not figure out what to do and what pained more was the uncooked vermicelli in the bag. I was trembling and my sister this time had one more suggestion, "Akka, let's go the Police Station!"

This time, however, I chose not to regard her suggestion and so, together, we decided on one of the streets and continued our stride. My mind was racing, "If this isn't the way, how long before I get to wear my new pink frock?", "Pavan will now laugh at us for being scatter heads", "Does dad knew we lost our way?", "Will mom still make vermicelli for now that we got this late?" Not even once did it occur that we could have been lost forever kudos to the innocence!

And then, there it was, the 8X6 poster of Kamal Hassan with bulging tummy and protruding teeth beaming at me and in a flash, I remembered the wall and the road that ought to be taken to be back home.

Thankfully to him, we did reach home safely only to find my dad beginning to head for the police station!!
My sister still had something to boast about, "See, police station wasn't a bad idea after all!"

PS: Then on, not one new year passed by without we laughing at the missed mishap and thanking kamal hassan!

Time Travel

When I was in school, the only thing I ever wanted was to get rid of heavy school-bags and grumpy home-works. And, bingo, the only way out then, at least to my faintest of the sorts of wisdom, was to finish off the school as soon as I can (though later I learnt that you actually need be to 15 to complete your SSC and my loving dad had relented to my wish 2 wind off the schooling and had my age compromised....oh yeah..welcome to India!).

And this devilish thought of mine never really stopped with school. Now that I was in Intermediate, I dreamed of being in a place where I did not need to mug up things and there I was, landed safely into an Engineering college. And the saga continued for I always dreamed of a job while I was in the university, of a Mr.Right when I ought to be working my head @ work and of job again when I actually married my Mr.Perfect!!

Now when I think of my time-travel marathon, I see that many a blissful moments came and went by in silence  mocking at my daftness of having missed enjoying those moments to their fullest. Or is it just the way we are programmed right from the childhood which goes on something like...Study hard for there are exams tomorrow...Do your exam well for only the rankers are privileged...Mug up things for these aint gonna help you in your job...Google the solution for the fix had to be gone by now!!!!! 

Pheww...If only we were taught "Follow your intuition" and "Live the moment" much before we had the brains to understand Dale Carnegie!!

To-read-list!!

"Let ppl around u know tat u have quit smoking if u r really serious abt givin it up!"

Now I want to implement a similar strategy to keep up my reading pace...Well....So that sums up this post is meant for I, Me and Myself!!

Need to fix a target completion date but I guess it can wait till I jot down the list...These were pending for a looong time now...:((

To kill a mockingbird
Catch-22
The social contract
David Copperfield
The grapes of wrath
Anna Karenina

All the entities in the list have 2 things in common, all of them are classics and I dropped all of them midway while reading for infinite reasons!

Picked up the first one now and I sincerely wish I get over with it..!

Farewell Time

Phhhheeeeewwwwwwwwwwww....
2 years flew by in a wink!! Realization only comes at da end...dis has always been my whole n sole problm in life n it continues 2 b...I only realized today dat I am left with ONLY ONE working week @ Intergraph...

Derz a W turn awaiting ahead....I am all excited, anxious n sad!!...GOSH...my poor heart moans @ having 2 live with my perplexed brain!!

I bid my gudbye 2 one of my very good frns here....Amit..thnks 4 bein wat u are...2 b honest..i dont think ne human being wudnt b happy lukin @ deir best photographs...Pics bring all smiles coz dey remind us of da sweetest of the sweet memories...I never saw a person who craves so much 2 capture such memories n feel extremely happy 4 da ppl who r in it....heheh...miss all da fun we had...Wishing u Mishty n Vibha a very happy life ahead....

LBW

-:Weekend Gyan:-

• Oppurtunity strikes, but once. Whether we grab it or not depends purely on our conviction.
• Love can happen more than once.
• It is never too late to start afresh.
• Life is quite simple but its we who complicate it unnecessarily.
• Whatever happens, Life should go on and there is a good awaiting in store.

Well...Loved da movie to the core...Nice portrayal of all the characters n well played by the artists too...Thank you so much Praveen for trying to bring out a change in the stereotyped telugu cinema!