You are on Television!

I was thinking some years back, what if our life, our whole life can be recorded and watched whenever we want it. From any angle. Every damn thing you did would be on it there. 

Here I'm not talking about recording all the people around you. Only some small radius with you as it's centre would be caught. So you cannot know too many things about others, what they did at the time you were doing something, what were they talking behind your back and all those things. And yes, only YOU can watch this movie. So there is no question of censoring anything for public viewing, because there is not going to be any. 

Our world as we see it, is different for everyone. I see a red box, you too, but is it the same colour that we are looking at? Who knows? The sounds we hear, the things we see are limited by our physical and mental limitations. Our eyes can see, our ears can hear only what our mind can understand. 

How would our life look from this Recorded Version of it? You will have many laughing moments for sure. The way you fell from your bicycle. The way you cried for chocolates when you were a little kid. Beatings by the teacher. The pictures you drew on the walls. And of course, your fighting with siblings and other friends. Your innumerable lies. Your lonely walks by the empty street. Your tears, screams, laughs,winks and stares.  

So now you got all your life televised. What would you do with it? Will it help you in knowing how you are? It surely will act as an encyclopedia for your psychiatrist. But apart from that, it will ask you more questions than you can answer. You will want to skip some moment where you think you didn't do the right thing. Will your viewes about some things change as you watch this movie? There are some things in life which you don't want to have second thought about. Will you feel more guilty about some of the things you've done? Will you say all the time while watching this movie, "Oh! Gosh! Why did I do that! I should've chosen the other way. I should've taken the other choice. I should have spoken my feelings out then and there. I should have shut my blessed mouth at that time." I this and I that. Everything should have and shouldn't have. Come on now, why do you want to see what you can't change?

Your life is like a game of chess. Not the one with 64 squares. But the one with infinite squares. Your opponents, [well not exactly in that sense, you can include all the people around you in that set], aren't singular but are plural. You can't change any of your moves once you touch. There is no ctrl + Z. Everything seems like cause and effect. Except, except perhaps the moments in which you have defeated the fate. 

Initially you don't have any clue how you are going to play it. Your strategy in the game is decided more or less by your surroundings. Sometimes you have long term plans, if you think earlier and faster. Many a times you don't know what's going to be your own next move. At times, you are left stranded in the middle of the vast chequerboard. You don't know what to do next. You are completely lost. You might quit if you want but that's illegal. Also, there are times when you have reigned your game. Everything happens the way you thought it would.  

The basic postulate here is that 'this game has some rules.' Are you sure it has? Are the rules you think are forbidding you from playing something are real rules? What if you don't obey them? What if nobody actually knows the rules? 

What is the purpose of this game? Is it a game wherein someone's victory means the othere one has lost? How does this game end? Does it end with your tenure as a homo sapien? 

Is it's aim NOT to win but to play a better game than you played in the past? All the joy in the ride, none in the destination. 

I think I'm getting too philosophical, so let me stop at that.  

 * what's this picture? you might find in my next blog entry.

Tricks They Play

Yesterday an interesting thing happened during placement of an IT company [read just another IT company]. Let's call it company Y. After the last round of interview 6 people were selected.

They were called by the company people and there was a shocking announcement. They said "Actually our package is not 4.5 lpa but is around 3.8 lpa." Hearing this students asked some time for thinking. Four of them already had a job with company X, which has name in the market but is paying just 3.5 lpa. Other two didn't have any job till then. The placement rules of BITS say - If you get a second job - first one is gone.

These 4 people who had job backed off and said "No, Thank You!" 

Other two guys didn't have any option to accept the offer.

What happened after this was quite totally unexpected. Company said "We were testing your commitment. Our package is 4.5 lpa only." The 2 guys who accepted the offer got the job.

Now this situation raises a whole lot of questions.

1> Is it ethical for a company to declare some package and later deny it? Some of you might say, why not. After all it's their choice, everything is in their hand. They are the Boss. I agree. 

2>What did the company gain by doing this?

Did they get the committed people they wanted, who would work just for the company, not for the money they get. I think here they made a grave mistake. Their intention was right but execution was wrong. The 2 guys were really desperate to get a job and that's why they agreed, NOT because they desperately want to work for it for the reasons company people intended. If tomorrow some other company offered these 2 guys some better offer, they would definitely go for it. Sure. 

3> One of my friend gave a different kind of viewpoint.

'The company didn't want 6 people. But they had no other test to distinguished between them. Hence they played this trick.' I think that's a viable situation.

4> What would have happened if all six had backed off? What would the company do then? They are left with no other option to pack their bags and return without recruiting, even though there are capable guys. So it's rather risky for a company to play this game, especially if it is not that big. MY VIEW: It's alright if Microsoft plays this game. They have the name in the market. But other smaller fishes in the sea shouldn't try it.

 

5> What is the ideal choice to make? 

To each his own

 

  

Aavadati Gaani

Radha Hi Bawari (Avadhut Gupte) - .

Tu Tevha Tashi (Hridaynath Mangeshkar)

Madyantari eka site var barich juni marathi gani sapadali. 

link - http://music.coolgoose.com/music/category.php?id=10327&page=2&order=title&PHPSESSID=06a1151a40fd29b216e4c0d44da02bd5

Tyatil kahi -

1) Bhay Ithale sampat nahi (Mahashweta fame)

2) Avelich Kevha - he gane Shridhar Phadke yaani gaylele aahe.

3) Avgha rang ek zala - Ek bhakigeet 

Get some Adsense

You must have seen this.. a cement ad on hoardings.
Actor Perizaad Zorabian smiling nicely juxtaposed with an ash-white cement bag and 'CRACK RESISTANT' written in between. Now could anyone please tell me what's the relation between her smile and that mortar material? A boro-something would have been more appropriate - with 'crack resistant' tag.
These people will sell anything (Shaving Kit, omg) with beautiful ladies endorsing it.

I remember seeing an ad of shaving blade on a wall with a drawing of Shivaji Maharaj. Huh! Talk about irony.

Of Cats and printed words

If you are bored by the same kind of sci-fi novels you have been reading for all your life, do read these books, to get an idea about rebels in sci-fi.
1) River of Gods - Ian McDonald
2)Schrodinger's Cat - Robert Wilson
While holding these books in my hands, all time I wondered why am I reading this Six hundread pages Seven-star crap. Both of these books are sci-fi, but not of your usual kind. River of Gods has the scene of some future Bharat. It is a pungent concoction (never mind my lingo) of hindu politics + action + spiritualism + hi-fi gadgets (there is a gun which kills you soul). No, I cannot describe the plot. It's impossible to guess where the script is leading, and also what was it like, just two leafs before. But some chapters are just mind gripping. No doubt, you will like the coverpage which has pictures of Hindu gods, rather incongruous with the content inside.
I thought even R of G was a sobre attempt, when I read Schrodinger's Cat. Some chapters are full with Pidgin english. Literary Hell..short but exact description of the book. It is actually a trilogy, each 'logy' is the same story happening in 3 parallel universes (for those who haven't heard about the concept of parallel universes concept - Everything that can happen does happen, only in different 'parallel 'universes). The author (with all and due respect) seems to be on Absinth for months before churning out this stellar work. As per Wikipedia the author's credo is to get people into a state of general agnosticism, which is evident from his book.

Prabhavalkar Overdose

Sagle 7 Bokya Saatbande + Anudini.
Kay sahi lihito ha manus!
I recall one marathi movie in which he plays a timid young professor who curses his father-in-law with "TU LYABANT UBHYANVAYI AVYAYA!"
:)))

Aired Music

What do you prefer listening to --your own playlist from your mp3-player or --the radio?
Well, I love radio. First of all I don't have to create a playlist there. (I'm too choosy when I create one,it takes me 15-20 minutes overall.). If you don't like a song ,NP!,change the station. Here in Goa 4 stations play all time (FM rainbow,Radio Indigo,Big FM, and Radio Mirchi) Each one has its speciality. Indigo will play English only. I like their 'Time Tunnel'. FM rainbow is good. They play Hindi- marathi- konkani- english all type of songs.
Radio Mirchi has a catchy 'Radio Mirchi' tune. Wherever they open up,they come up with some new RM tune. Big FM sucks a little bit. I wonder from where did they find that gaudy name- BIG FM. They have some competitions all of which have a thing in common-the name will start with 'BIG'. Big Goyenkar , Big Maa(this was lolest. listeners were asked too send a poem about their mother, NO, Big Maa! The poem should contain 'Big Maa' all over..I had never seen such an example of marketing + Maa, except that 'Sehwaag Ki Maa' ad.)This reminds me of Bhajji ki maa(Don't take me wrong. I'm not cursing him) During the recent Bhajji-Symonds Episode these newspaper reporters flocked towards his home and took his mother's interview. How the hell is she supposed to know more about the situation? But no- they will go on repeatedly showing her interview with that repulsive RED strip at the bottom of the screen 'Mera beta Bekasur Hai- Bhajji Ki Maa Ka kehna'.

Oh where was I....Hm..Radio stations in Goa. Another thing I like about radio is the Rjs. My favourite pair is RJ Narendra and Fakruddin['Hasto ke Ghar Baste'- Rainbow] Some others include Malvika Dhawan from Radio Indigo.
When I was a kid I used to listen BBC. I still remember the Big Ben tune they played. Interestingly, we could hear a Pakistani station also! They always talked about deteriorating situation in India, Indian soldiers torturing common people, and sing songs about their leader, Mr Mush. Then there were Chinese stations. I don't know if that was real Chinese or some random noise but it was funny. We kids used to sit in front of the radio and imitate that sound. chan chan ching munh pikachi chuvano!
I had read some sci-fi book in which aliens contact earthlings through radio. I was quite amused and for some days listened to random frequencies on radio, thinking that I will hear something unearthly. But alas! No luck.
One thing I like about the radio is its connectivity. Even when you may be sitting anywhere on Earth, you are most likely to be able to listen at least one radio station. You feel connected to the world though you are alone.

Art, Death

We humans are amazing beings. Here is a photo that shocked many people in 1993.It won the coveted Pulitzer prize.
The place was Sudan,an area affected by great famine. The picture shows a starving girl child crawling towards the food center while a vulture is waiting to see its prey die. Lots of questions sprang up in my mind when I saw the photo.
Is this on earth? What were that girl's sins, so that God put her in that situation. Is God their only for the healthy and wealthy and not for the needy? And what kind of animals are we taking photographs of such scenes?
We all feel bad for a moment or two for for the unfortunate ones. What else can we do? What else do we do? Why should we do anything at-all about this. Is it my job? Is it my fault? It has been long we stopped listening to our conscience. But that is the way we are. We have evolved from monkeys,but not in all ways.

PS: I learn that the photographer committed suicide some months after taking this shot which gave him a lot of fame. To read more about the photographer,his name Kevin Carter, see http://www.thisisyesterday.com/ints/KCarter.html

My linux+NS-2 blog

just inaugurated
http://pranavjawale-ns2.blogspot.com/

A Cool World: Enjoy a rosier future as a Virgle Pioneer.

Another April Fool from Google....
This one is good. See their questionnaire http://www.google.com/virgle/index.html
The one that really zaps me is a question about some rocket.Can you make out if at all it is a question:)

logged in Ubuntu

Hushh..Finally managed to access net in UBUNTU..
As an experienced person I can tell you,if you're buying a computer with an NVIDIA lan card it it...beware. You may never find a driver for it. The LED in the LAN socket will go on blinking ,saying, "Why did you buy this computer?Why?Why?" I wasted six months searching on the internet for the lan drivers,(I've Coppaq v3155AU).
HP website is useless. They have all drivers,quick-launch button's drivers, battery check drivers, wireless lan drivers...but NO ETHERNET DRIVER!
Oh,and these HP service centers. When I called them,my call was transferred to atleast 6 peoples after which they started asking me "Which OS do you have?""WindowsXP""WHICH SERVICE PACK DO YOU HAVE?" WTF.I mean what difference will it make??"Go to this and this hp website." I told them I've already gone there,but they couldn't believe me. I asked them directly "Is my comp having a lan card or not?"They said there must be.Since you have a lan socket;)But they couldn't tell the maker of the driver.(This is rather tricky part which I came to know latter. Unless you have a driver, your lan card will not show up in Device Manager. It will be listed under 'other devices')
After someone's suggestion,I bought a chinese usb-to-lan converter for Rs.600 ; which worked fine for 2 months before blowing off. (Well not literally.It got overheated.). I had no other option but to pray..
Then one lucky day, I found that one of my friends had same comp as mine. I asked him whether he had lan drivers,and voila! He had them.Which of his friends had given him..LOL! From the driver he gave me, I learnt that it was 'NVIDIA nForce network controller driver'. I still don't understand why can't HP give an http:// address of NVIDIA site for the lan cards?? (Did you know that HP site has won awards for being Best Website for Users..Bullshit!)

Two days before I installed UBUNTU. (that will be a rather long story,sometime later). the same problem haunted me once again....SIOCGIFFLAGS! NO SUCH DEVICE. Thankfully there are so many Linux geeks out there to help you on the net. I'll just tell you the trick..
In the terminal type in sudo dhclient eth0 .And it will work.

P.S. Does anybody know about lan drivers for Compaq Presario V6138? My friend needs it.Thanks.

"Music is the silence between the notes"- C.D.

I started listening to the english songs in the first year of my college. Till that time I had never thought I would ever listen to them. I remember even betting with my friend about it, thanks to the Hard Days Night program on FM Rainbow, I lost it. I had always equated english songs with loudness, meaninglessness, and madness. But as they played beautiful tunes on FM,my opinion altered. And I still don't like the songs that shake my ear bones vigorously.

First english song that I liked was 'When I'm Sixty-Four' - by The Beatles. Since then I'm a die-hard fan of them. I love most of their songs.

I have developed a weird taste for english songs,or so say my comrades.
If you are bored by the same songs you hear,
try these out.

• Starry Starry Night - Don McLean (a song about Vincent Van Gogh)
• Mama look a bobo - A funny song
• There is a hole in my bucket, Matilda - both by Harry Belafonte
• Winter Wonderland - Striper
• Just My Imagination - The Cranberries
• I Can See Clearly Now the Rain is Gone - Otis Redding
• Sugar, Sugar - The Archies - Jolly good
• The Hardest Part - Coldplay
• Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
• Let It Snow! Let It Snow! -Frank Sinatra 
• Tie Yellow Ribbon to the old oak tree (I heard it first in the movie 'Julie' wherein Amol Palekar's mother in law sings it)
• I really don't like you -Plain white T's
• No Milk Today - Herman Hermits
• Thanks for the Lemonade -Chris Rice {I've listened to it only once on the Radio,but it was great.
• LSD -The Beatles

PS. Rereading this post in 2014 makes me cringe.

Past Teen

[A page out of my diary ...Written on 12th March]
Today is my 20th birthday. Oh, My God! I'm already out of my teens.
My teenage gone. Whoosh!
It's really a weird feeling that you get when 1/5th of your life is over .So much time spent on the earth.
So I got into a senti mood and pondered over what I have gained in all these years.(Am I sounding like a septuagenarian?)
When I was 8-9 years old I used to think I would do this and I would do that once I become tall and big like the people around me. I used to dream about all the GREAT things I'm going to do and how all the mortals will respect me and will talk about me all the time. As days, months, years passed I never thought very seriously about How (the hell) am I going to achieve my dreams, but I was (and fortunately, am still) sure that I will get there someway or the other.
Childhood is very pleasant. You don't have to pay attention to the realities (did someone say harsh?). You try to please your elders and earn their praise. But as you grow old and spread out your wings (cliché no. <1>) you start thinking about and working with the things you love to do. These are the things which are not forced on you by the others, these are some of your own favourite things. (This is getting too general; I must stick to the point.)
This (passing teen) is a kind of warning signal for me I suppose. I'm feeling weight of responsibilities on my shoulders (cliché no.<2>). What is it that I'm in pursuit of? It truly is the time to think about this, and what better time can it be than today?
When you look towards your future how does it feel? Do you get scared? Do you feel the adventures ahead? Are you ready to grab them? Are you curious about your future or you don't care about it? (This is what I ask myself.)
I have some idols. Feynman and P.L Deshpande are two of them. I am wondering..What these great people were like when they were of my age? What personality did they have at that time? How did they deal with the life? Were they always confidant about their future..or what I mean to say is.. HOW DID THEY DO WHAT THEY DID? Were they some dedicated normal persons or were they gifted?
I do not know answer to this question but I do hope that it is the former.