Thing that I wish I did (in no particular order):
Life:
1. Cared for my health (nutritious food on time, exercise, rest and music)
2. Learned to set work aside and focus on myself
3. Stood by my love when she needed me the most
4. Got my priorities right and then worked on them
5. Told my beloved even more times than I did how much I love her
6. Gave her creative surprises more than I did.
It's only when you lose someone for ever that you truly realize how much she means to you.
Career:
1. Learned my basics well early on
2. Of the various things that I am proficient in, I ought to have taken one thing and become an expert at that.
3. Grabbed the opportunity to work with the best Smalltalkers in the world.
4. Took more risks - work with the various startups I had a chance to work with
5. Be more humble. Never let success sway me or cloud my judgement.
6. Ensured alternate career skills (music, writing, electronics)
7. Focussed on and put myself above my company.Current Mood:  contemplative Current Music: Fields of Gold - Sting |
If you intend to commit suicide, you might put your life to better use and die doing some useful stuff.
Females in Sudan of all ages (and I mean, all ages) are undergoing horrific experiences even as you're reading this. Read more here : http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engafr540762004 |
I've always suspected that my thinking is not very out of the box. I just take in all inputs, and either let my imagination run wild, or ask myself a question and pick the _first_ answer that comes up. I've to often ask myself the question again and again because rational thinking sometimes dismisses that _first_ answer which is more often than not the best way out of a given problem.
It's Sunday afternoon, I'm planning my trip to Monterey Bay, and the hotels there seem expensive. And even though Monterey is just three hours away by drive, I've to run around trying to get a Greyhound schedule in place. And Greyhound doesn't go up to Monterey Bay, it only goes up to Selenus. Plus, I've to travel back to where I'm staying which is about 45 minutes away from san Francisco.
For some time, I was busy wondering which bus to take such that I reach Selenus late at night, stay over night at some budget place, and then take the morning whale watching trip. The receptionist at the Monterey Bay Whale watch told me that I could also spend the day at Monterey after the whale watching trip - visit places, spend time at the aquarium, etc and then leave for SFO on Wednesday morning.
Since I absolutely _must_ watch whales, I resigned myself to spending about 350 USD for a meagre two nights :(
Some minutes later, I had a new idea - why not reach Monterey a day _earlier_ sometime during the morning, spend the day there sightseeing _and_ hunting for budget places for the night, go whale watching the next day, and then take the afternoon bus back to San Francisco !
I've not done such thingking in a long time, if ever. I wonder what such thinking is called. I'm sure there must be a variety of thinking processes - after all my kind of thinking is what lets me survive among highly educated programmers at my workplace (and excel at my own work). |
So I'm finally in the US. At a location called Mountain View in the Bay Area near San Francisco (SFO). I'm here to speak at, to attend, and to volunteer at the Javaone event. Here is my technical journal/blog --> http://dynamicproxy.livejournal.com.
I met some Sun folks on the air craft, and they gave me a lift to my hotel room in their rented car - they're staying somewhere nearby. The immigration was not much of a problem for me, since I was able to establish that I had enough cash to tide me though, and that there was indeed an event called the Javaone happening in SFO! A few other persons were refused entry, though.
The US is different from India.
For starters, you don't find many people on the streets in the Bay area. They're either indoors, or in their cars, whizzing away at 40 mph and above.
There's this curious smell in the air - seems like some kind of pollen to me. It's every where in the Bay area. But not in SFO.
Then there aren't many phone booths around. Regardless of what movies like the Matrix and Phone Booth would have you believe, people mostly use cell phones here. I've walked about ten miles on this main road called El Camino Real, and I haven't seen a single phone booth anywhere.
Everything is numbered, there are directions all over the place, and there is a system for everything in place. I wonder what the locals would do if they didn't have sign boards ! ;)
A colleague of mine had once told me, in effect, "In the US, there are no distractions. Everything is available on the phone or via the web. You can therefore focus on what you want to do". I think I understand what he says.
I wonder about the social life here, though. When I was a kid, we used to run around wild, meeting other kids from other housing complexes and just having a great time in general. I didn't see very many kids running about this weekend in the residential areas that I walked through. Do they all just stay at home watching TV/playing video games ?
I dealt with the Jet lag in a very exhausting way - I walked about 10 miles ! The folks from Sun cautioned me about falling asleep in the afternoon (about 3 am India time). So I decided to solve some vtable binding issues between SWT and Mozilla. And realized that I had a different power plug than what the US sockets need ! So I found out about circuit city which was "10 minutes away". What I didn't realize was that he guy giving directions meant 10 minutes by drive !! Anyway, it was a good walk, kept me awake, really exercised my feet, got me to circuit city. Midway during my walk back, I got into a bus and over shot my hotel by about four miles. So that was yet more walking and asking for directions.
Here's a question : Whom do you ask for directions when there are no phone booths around, when the shops are closing down, when there are virtually no pedestrians around, and when people looks at you warily when you approach their cars ? Of the three shop keepers I met, only the porn video store keeper and the pizza shop manager knew where my place on El Camino Real was. (Porn and pizza - stuff that hotel customers buy, I'd conclude !)
On Saturday, I met a grand total of 5 pedestrians on my ten mile walk. Each time, I was able to bid the other person a good afternoon, and then be greeted back pleasantly. I think that living in isolation, people would welcome interaction. Even if it be as simple a interaction as "Good afternoon. Nice weather !" |
Have you heard a pig squeal when its neck is about to be cut ? Have you heard a weak dog yelp in pain and in fear when it is being attacked ?
I saw a beheading video just now. The beheaders gave all sorts of justifications to the world (and I think, to themselves) on just why they were beheading the person.
And then they set about it with the victim being fully conscious throughout. And he squealed/pleaded/etc with what ever voice he could get out. While the beheaders went about their task invoking the name of God as much as they could.
If you see such a video, and then think about the parents who raise their child and then see such a video about their child, you'll definitely feel bad for them.
But before you lose your temper, remember that insensitive persons exist all over the world.
As a child, I was really interested in dinosaurs. I'd read that they ruled the world for hundreds of millions of years before dying out suddenly. And then came man. Within 40 thousand years, we've managed to screw up the world. It'll be a miracle (or a punishment, even) if we were to exist for another 500 years. |
| » Another journal now |
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I have started another journal for my tech stuff.
Mar. 11th, 2007 @ 07:53 pm
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| » Goodbye, my Lover |
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This morning, I played a lot of slow love tunes. A colleague then played Goodbye, My Lover by James Blunt.
It's incredible how closely James Blunt has captured the pain one goes through.
I took the lyrics from this link
( Read more... )
Dec. 22nd, 2006 @ 01:39 pm
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| » Ek .. Anek ! |
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Someone sent me the video of the "Ek Anek" music video that Doordarshan used to show years ago.
It brought back some memories of the nicer times of childhood.
I'd like to get the videos for the "Tree of Unity" video. (Man is asleep under a tree, wood cutter wants to chop the tree down, man fights with the wood cutter and gets pushed down, man calls/cries out to other people. Others gather and try to dissuade the wood cutter from chopping the tree down, wood cutter is obstinate. Just then an apple falls on his head. He is surprised, then he picks up the apple and starts to eat it. Soon, everyone else joins him.
Dec. 22nd, 2006 @ 01:25 pm
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| » Sagar Behere - an interesting friend |
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One of the most interesting friends I have is Sagar Behere
I share with great memories of late nights at Coffee Day, or of us both seated somewhere till 3 am, just talking away. He shares my interest in Dinshaw's interpretation of Death by Chocolate.
I've much to thank him for. He's the first person who's told me that I someday need to deal with the demons that trouble me. In just one trip home, he took away my fear of pillion-riding, and instilled in me the confidence to learn to ride a motor bike.
The saying "Bird of a Feather flock together" is true. I have another saying in mind that goes "Like minds seek each other". But after we met, something that bonded us closer together was the mutual understanding of what's cool and what's not, of ethics. And then an exchange of books helped quite a bit too. I've read his complete collection of Isaac Asimov's stories.
There's a big gap between our levels of intelligence, and I still wonder that he's not yet bored talking to me.
Dec. 22nd, 2006 @ 06:45 am
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| » toggle_ie_proxy_profile completed |
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And I've given it to Narayan. He's encouraged me to host this stuff at sourceforge. I'll do that sometime soon :)
Nov. 27th, 2006 @ 07:27 pm
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| » Why we must forgive. |
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I'm reading the inspirational stories at inspire21.com. This one The scars interested me.
( Read more... )
Nov. 24th, 2006 @ 02:23 pm
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| » Rape victim bleeds to death, rapist not killed |
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This happened in my country. I read of this in the paper today. I don't recall the details, but the rapist was given just a life. The reason being "the victim didn't die of the shock of the rape. She bled to death from the wounds". So, according to the judge, the bleeding killed her, and not the assault that caused the bleeding. "With great power, comes great responsibility". Sadly, my country's judges regularly forget this.
If you are male and can't understand why women make such a big deal about a rape, watch American History X, and see a male being raped. You'll definitely imagine yourself in the victim's place, and will hopefully understand why a rape is a terrible assault.
Nov. 14th, 2006 @ 08:06 pm
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| » Shooting Dogs |
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Rohan gave me the movie "Shooting Dogs". I haven't seen this movie yet. But I read about it here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide.
Apparently, the US "over charged" the UN - 6.5 million USD - for transportation, etc. The UN got into an argument over the costs, etc. Hundreds continued to die every hour. Just imagine - two diplomats are eating cakes and drinking tea. During that one hour conversation, hundreds of children are slaughterd, young girls are dragged out and subject to horrific sexual assault.
How much is 6.5 million USD ? A good actress in the US may be paid USD 15 million for her role in a hit movie. Armies may spend that much in a day training their troops.
And hundreds died waiting for the "powerful" citizens of earth to come to their aid.
Imagine a father who's barricaded his home, and who's crouched in a corner hugging his wife and kids. And perhaps without a knife to slit their throats first before the soldiers break in.
"It is in your nature to destroy yourselves" - The Terminator, Terminator 2 - Judgement Day.
Nov. 14th, 2006 @ 08:00 pm
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| » GWT 1.1.12 |
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I'm trying to get the command line tools to work. But I'm unable to get Eclipse to recognize the project artifacts.
The past week has been great. I've been doing something new every day.
Antlib's performanceListener is a great tool. I've already identified some stuff with this :)
I think I'll go to sleep now.
Nov. 14th, 2006 @ 07:49 pm
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| » LOL !!! Indo Pak Wars !! :)) |
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http://www.exile.ru/2004-December-10/war_nerd.html
http://www.exile.ru/2002-May-29/war_nerd.html
Everytime I decide to relax and just "surf the Web", I end up having about 12-15 Firefox instances open - with around 18-22 tabs open in each instance (I just counted). These are links that I find interesting, and which I right click open. And when I suddenly discover some cool term/event/incident that I'd wanted to read upon more, I load up a new FireFox instance and get started there.
I then come across these "interesting links" mentioned previously, only as I start to close all FireFox instances. So I don't recall whose blogs I got these links at, but they're a hilarious view on the India Pak wars.
Aug. 19th, 2006 @ 08:08 pm
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| » The Protector |
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He gazes at the screen, lost. The figures flash by through the screen and through his mind. He doesn't care at the moment, doesn't notice. His fingers roam over the keyboard, lightly and rapidly tapping keys. A close watch would reveal that his finger tips touch a key and move on to the next without waiting for the key to be pressed and released; they keys seem to do that all on their own, as if his and their timelines were different.
His supply of the Tree-Of-Life root is dwindling. He wills himself to pull on, to keep up the search. Somewhere, it must exist. He has only to last long enough to find it.
He punches in one co-ordinate after another, waiting for the next time scene to pop up and then scrutinize it for sign of the root. He's been disappointed for months, but he cannot give up the seach, his survival depends upon it.
"How did Biroc do it ?", he wonders. "How did he visualize across time lines so well ?". The ancient Tharil legend was fresh on his mind as if it had occured moments ago. To sit in chains, weighed down more by despair than by the dwarf-alloy bounds of responsibility, and to get find that inner peace of mind to visualize a singular chain of events that would lead to liberation. That was the dream of every warrior. It was rumoured to be only a matter of tapping into one's intuition, of freeing the soul from the body, of focus.
A self-proclaimed Pak, a carer, he could not give up. For the sake of the sunshine, the Tree-of-Life Root.
Jul. 23rd, 2006 @ 05:10 pm
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| » Lost it.. |
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Hmm.. there are two things that I've lost.
Some days after my previous post (or more specifically, last week), I realized that what was right wasn't happening anymore. I'd become lost, listless, and disinterested. But this loss is insifnificant.
Especially after losing a night's sleep for not taking as tough a stance as possible when Sunshine needed it.
Lesson: Defend, protect and cherish the sunshine - it's necesary for life.
Jul. 23rd, 2006 @ 05:03 pm
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| » It's lost... |
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A few weeks ago I decided to contemplate about what was going right. I'd just refused a very excitin offer, since I left comfortable with what I have right now (and I have a huge list of complaints). However, there was something that held me back, and I was eager to know what it was - after all, if I don't keep watch over it, I might lose it someday !!!
Well, I realized with a shock that was ever this mysterious thing was, which kept me interested, doesn't seem to be around anymore..
So:
1. I assume it's on leave for a few weeks.
2. I try to create it myself.
3. I go an that vacation to the land of activity..
Ah.. is it activity ? Is activity tat mysterious thing ? Naah.. I'm self motivated enough... (damn, yeah... for e.g., I'm happily progressing on Solaris AND I'm interested in courses on embedded solutions :) )
So.. what is this mysterious something ? I need to know.. What went right all those weeks ? (It's _definitely_ _not_ the people factor)
Jul. 14th, 2006 @ 09:01 pm
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