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Wanderings

The sublime and the ridiculous
are often so nearly related that
it is difficult to class them separately

We are bounded by locality

I am currently pursuing my research at Northeastern University. One of the routines of that is to walk to the lab from home, which I must say is beautiful. During those walks I generally think about the tasks I need to carry out in a day's work. Generally they are quite predictable and boring. But sometimes from the myriad of confused thoughts emerges some good ones.
This blog struck me when I was thinking about the research problem I was faced with. I was trying to study the data access patterns in cache (don't go to sleep, it gets better), which people who are doing computer architecture call, locality. And it struck me that we as people also have the same characteristics. If you take us as a system whose inputs are through our senses, brain can interpret only the information which is provided by these inputs. So in a way we are bounded by these senses which provide us information throughout our lifetime.
Now, its not that simple. If it were true than by now we would have already seen machines replacing us. The key element here is the brain processing the information provided to it, and how it does it. Brain is capable of IMAGINING. It is capable of analyzing the information provided to it in completely different ways which leads to different ideas. Sometimes, these ideas are so great and beautiful that they change the world functions.
That's why I believe we should spend time doing different things and doing them differently.

Mom and dad's US visit

Life is like a Game

Its been a long time I have written any thing.
I tried many times coming back and writing something but could never got around it. Probably the content was trivial or when I had something good to write I was not able to pen my thoughts. Anyway this post will be slightly rusty, but will hopefully improve on it.
I have slightly philosophical inclination towards things. try to think and dodge lots of questions before I do anything. Like to analyze things a lot and that can be regarding anything, so it is only natural that I keep thinking about how does anyone lead his/her life. Now, I dont want to be presumptuous to claim that I have the right answer but want to make an attempt towards it. Because I feel unless we have a well-defined strategy as to how you want to lead your life it is no good.
So the obvious thing which anyone does is experiment and try out different things which suits the person well. To me it looks like it is a Game...
This whole discussion started (with myself) because of too many relationships (important ones) going wrong at the same time. Now when something of that kind happens you start questioning yourself ?? What went wrong , what the hell is going on etc etc..So even I started probing and digging deeper and deeper.
I think the problem was I was trying too HARD. i was trying too hard to keep up with it, try not to ruin it and got emotionally involved. Now you will say, what a stupid thing it is, unless you are emotionally involved how can you have a relationship in the first place. Well my answer will be, emotional yes but not trying to make it work. Because if you have to make efforts to make something work, sooner or later it will fall. This brings us to our core topic that Life is like a Game. As it is in Game you have to keep your cool and concentrate similarly in Life you should work but have to keep your cool and try not to push things. Should not get emotionally involved with things. Try to be competitive, be athletic (both figurative and literal) and have passion for what you are doing . I think thats the right strategy to lead my life...

What makes somebody GREAT...

Recently I came across ans article where the author was discussing what makes a person Great. He was of the opinion that if the person can perform his duties and tasks with 'dignity' appropriate to the task. What do you think about it?

REMAINS OF THE DAY

It has been long time since I wrote last. A lot has transpired in between. I have started office ( still can't believe). There have been moments in between, like first salary, first relationship, first break-up...actually when I look back there have been lot of firsts. But nothing stands out in my memory. I don't think its memory loss or rather loss of significant memories. But lately I have been pondering on lot of things and started spending more time with books. May be because deep down I feel lonely and feel at least books won't betray me or perhaps its longing for a relationship.
During my this study phase I came across this book "remains of the day" by ishiguro. Well I noticed this book at a fair, and to be frank with you, did not think I will end-up buying it. Primarily because it was Booker Prize winner and thought it will go over my head. But on the contrary I found it really interesting and more importantly could understand what author is trying to convey.
This book is my first of ishiguro novels. I must say he has written and conveyed some beautiful concepts about life in a very simple and tangible way. The story is about an english butler who serves at a very distinguished house-hold. His previous master, to whom he served most of his life, has passed away and has been taken over by some american business-man. He has gone out for 2 weeks and recommends to Mr. Steven( the butler) to take a motoring trip and see the beautiful english country-side.
During this trip he between beautiful places, he has time to introspect and think over the past moments and decisions he has taken. During this time he relives his past memories. Why he behaved in a particular way, why he chose the way he did. What would have been different otherwise and sort of things.
He tells about his previous master, his greatness and how people mis-understood him towards the end. But he remained loyal and did his duty to the best of his ability. He tries to justify and convince the reader about his situation and in that way how he has served humanity. There is a very engaging discussion about what makes a butler a 'great' butler, for that matter what makes a person a great person. Then towards the end sitting on a bench a short discussion makes him realize, that he should stop looking back and try to live in the present.
The novel is written in a very simple but elegant language with beautiful flow of ideas. It almost looks like the beautiful concepts are somewhere hidden in those natural beauties and you have to go there and spend some time with them and yourself to uncover the truth for you.

when few stood against the many......

It started off as any regular hostel day. Got up late and had no idea of what to do next. Had no idea whether the classes were there or not, and even if they were there had no inclination to go. We had decided long back and did our homework about the release of the movie 300. We were planning to go on the first day of the release. But i had no idea that it will be first day first show. I had my breakfast and was about to start with newspaper, when my friend came knocking on the door about seeing it first day first show. I had never tried it before, and considering the promos and trailers it was worth going for it. We stay near a town which u cant place on a map. The theater is some 17 kms away from here and its an adventurous half an hour ride in bus. The whole bus thing is a complete different story altogether , lets not mix up but i will tell you this the way drivers drive the bus here is quite an experience its something like that old road fighter game we used to play on video games. Anyway we reached early and bought the tickets for others , we killed rest of our time by hunting for babes. Trust me seeing our college females for one week is reason enough to go out for green ( its not even greener ) pastures.
Before i start with the movie let me tell you this. We all have gone through movies which are overhyped-underperformed phenomenon. We were scared that this will also fall into the same category because the music , trailers and promos were so good that it raised our bar of expectations. But this movie was amongst the very rare group which out performs your expectations. It was simply superb !!!!!!!!.
Well lets first get over the basic stuff. Its based on the frank miller's graphic novel ( read it its good well sin-city is better). Its directed by Zack Snyder ( who also directed sin city). Its based on the Battle of Thermopylae ( not sure of the spelling) where huge Persian army led by Xerxes attacked Greeks to take up his father Darius age old conquest. History has it that, this was the biggest fleet ever floated across the ocean, they say the numbers were up to million or something. Unfortunately for them they had to begin their conquest by facing Spartans. Now we all have heard about the bravery stories of Spartans on the field. Their code of Strength and Honor , their commitment towards war, their superior strategies and brilliant fighting skills. They are known never to retreat or surrender. Death on the battle field is the greatest glory any Spartan can have and this movie is all about it. Well i wont go into the details but will say, this movie certainly has raised the bar of expectations from a movie. So decide for yourself.