My Pensieve

An old friend had told me this - profit in business should equal to that of pinch of salt. Anything more than that can spoil taste, health etc. Yeah, he is right.

Recent time favored us by bringing some good opportunities. As pleasing as it could be, it kept us busy and happy. But then somehow it turned into some sort of pride and ego thing. No, not with the team. But me rather. Suddenly some numbers started looking magical. Me started pressing and stressing for those seemingly magical numbers insisting that we should keep targeting that. Thought that these numbers signify strategical growth. Spending sometime with self made me realize that it wasn't the case. The growth isn't in numbers. It never is. Just like how age doesn't necessarily means one's growth with time.

Funny. Quest for understanding and knowledge lost its path midway with me falling for those sorts of thoughts. One of the reasons for me not to switch to corporate side was to prevent me from becoming slave to such thoughts.

Greed is equally tough nut to crack.

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2008 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/426192.html
2007 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/372116.html (*)
2005 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/161647.html, http://peeyush.livejournal.com/161992.html

No entries in year 2004 and 2006

If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.
--- Emil Zatopek (Winner of 5 KM, 10 KM and Marathon in 1952 Olympics and one of the finest distance runners ever)

That was the quote used by the organizers of Bangalore Midnight Marathon happened on 12/13 December starting at 12 mid-night. And, it was indeed an experience. Though not a first Marathon experience for me, running in the chilly Bangalore's winter night was just awesome.

When we came to know about the event from a colleague, Dilip (remember the unborn during the Cyclothon !) and I opted for full marathon. We reached the venue at 8 PM and completed the formalities. With 4 hours to cut and a strict no-no to drinking or eating and with no movies in the near by Forum Value Mall matching the time we have, we spent the time lazily, talking some random stuff and enjoying the rock music payed by some amateurs at the venue. There were a few short runs for corporates, CEOs and women followed by half and full marathon. Marathon started at the stroke of midnight.

We are fully excited and chill didn't bother us much. It was going to be the first full marathon experience for him and a second one for me (by no means, a veteran). As the route has to be kept free of vehicles and properly illuminated, it was not a straight stretch, but a 2.1 KM long one, where we have to do 10 laps (of 4.2 KM each). I did a fundamental mistake by running at his pace (which is around 40 sec/KM faster than mine) and found my left leg and foot unusable in the first lap itself. I recovered by running slowly for a while and continued. For the first four hours, there was a lot of activity in the route. By the time I got into my 7th lap, the route was almost deserted (except for a few slow runners like me and the support staff) with half marathoners and fast marathons long gone. While I was doing my last lap, I told confidently the support staff that I was the last and they can pack-up :-) But, I was saved the credit, as I found 2-3 more going for their last lap, on my way back to the finish line. Dilip was waiting at the finish line, who finished 30 minutes before me. He clocked 5:20, a good feat for a first timer and I, a 5:50.

Our walk to the car park was again a memorable one. Hardly a few hundred meters, we limped and dragged ourselves and even avoided crossing the median, because we have to step on that (which is a few inches high) and step down on the other side :-)

I would love to end it with one more pearl from Emil:

Upon winning: "But it was the finest exhaustion I've ever felt."
--- Emil Zatopek

Of course, read 'finishing' in place of 'winning' :-)

2007 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/371525.html, http://peeyush.livejournal.com/371848.html
2005 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/160948.html, http://peeyush.livejournal.com/161166.html, http://peeyush.livejournal.com/161282.html
2004 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/59587.html, http://peeyush.livejournal.com/59720.html, http://peeyush.livejournal.com/60040.html

No entries in year 2006 and 2008

For the past couple of days, I have been manually correcting spellings in a data set for an experiment. The data is a collection of about 5-6 subjective/essay type questions answered by about 60 students.

Almost every occurrence of "create" has been spelled as "creat". Other examples include "veribls" instead of "variables", "ptrs" for "pointers". Rarely did I come across a properly spelled "you" which was invariably written as "u". Similarly "thru" is the new "through" and "consectve" is consecutive! Can you guess what is "addly" ? Its "additionally"!!

I wonder if this is a side effect of frequent use of short text messages (SMSing) and services like Twitter on our students, which make people compromise on orthography for the sake of length of message. Whereas our generation might still be able to sensibly decide when to use formal English and "whr v cn do wth sch stff", I am afraid the next generation of students doesn't seem to be capable of this distinction.

In another answer, a student wonderfully tried to describe "encapsulation" by giving an example "If I becomes ill then i takes tablet and i becomes OK but i dont kno how this can internally work in my body".

I don't know how far can we ignore the felonies committed in orthography and grammar on the pretext of appreciating the effort or the understanding. May be its time to take a stand that understanding is not enough! Proper expression is essential. Or is it time to change the rules of orthography itself? After all everything has a shelf life. But the important detail here that we seem to be missing out is the resultant chaos in the absence of any standards for writing. If "dis" is korect so iz "dat" den or thn mk no diff ither!

Badly require that grammar and spelling checker I believe. As a side note, I think this corpus will be a good data set to capture the typical grammatical mistakes made by users!

Open the blinds on ur window, look outside and a heart warming scene greets you. Bright sunshine and a cheerful disposition. You want to go out on a bright sunny saturday. Hmm many such days is what is responsible for my fever, cold and cough. In US winters beware the sun is very deceptive, it is 0 degrees and yet sunny!

Oh man im grounded by such deceptive sunshines.

2008 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/425888.html
2005 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/160408.html, http://peeyush.livejournal.com/160556.html

No entries in year 2004, 2006 and 2007

So I was elated on sunday only to have a tough week to follow. This ones been real rough. First I'm having issues with the I9 work and their site. I dont know where I'm screwing up! Lets hope the next week has this sorted. My training plans went up for a toss because of gap in communication, no proper expectation setting, things have been sorted to some extent but hope it falls in place next week. I was already unwell, and it kind of reached its peak this week. Here I am with a slight temp and i guess my kind of luck ran to the road as well - my window overlooks the street and there s an accident and hence a jam! It is a bright sunny day however. I have no idea what to make myself, normally i let the guy running the cafeteria decide what i should have for lunch! :)

oh well i hope im done with all the upsets this week and the remaining weeks go extremely well.

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2008 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/425499.html
2007 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/370788.html, http://peeyush.livejournal.com/371026.html, http://peeyush.livejournal.com/371236.html
2006 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/270646.html

No entries in year 2004 and 2005

Edward Osborne Wilson: American biologist, researcher (sociobiology, biodiversity): A man who is devoted to the study and preservation of Biodiversity across the world...He is also the Lord of Ants, for his systematic study of ants and ant behavior.




Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKbj3ZDmvdU

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Wilson
His wish: Encyclopedia of Life: http://www.eol.org/

Remaining pics are available at - http://www.flickr.com/photos/peeyush/tags/hd2009/

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2008 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/425396.html
2007 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/369959.html, http://peeyush.livejournal.com/370214.html
2005 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/159338.html, http://peeyush.livejournal.com/159600.html, http://peeyush.livejournal.com/159953.html
2004 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/58757.html, http://peeyush.livejournal.com/59091.html

No entries in year 2006

Thought # 1
=========
She asked "Oh Sky! Where does this desert ends?" And sky drew river with clouds. Curiosity again rose and asked, "what about the river?"
Sky roared "Ocean". Before curiosity could extend her question, sky added, "It ends far before you and me".

Thought # 2
=========
When Curiosity was young, people use to pamper it with all their knowledge
Some curiosities went unnurtured and now they call it ignorance.

Courtesy "Poke my name" services -

Your First Name:

Despite respecting Gandhi for many good things as an individual, there were still a few things as leader which I could not understand of him and could never like about him. For example, if I remember correctly from history books, he agreed for Indian Army to participate in both the world wars. Who was he to decide something like this? Who gave him that right to decide about fate of those soldiers who went on unknown wars in unknown territories? But then we will never know what were the circumstances of those times or if at all it was his decision. Decision of Indian army to participate in the second world war was more disturbing than the first one considering that people didn't learn from the earlier mistake and repeated it yet again even after having betrayed by the authorities of those times. I hate those who make verbal commitments, try become gods at good times and then disappear when time comes to deliver on their words. But then Subhashchandra Bose wasn't smart either. He ended up doing same thing for Japanese folks. Waste blood of local Indians, hoping of getting freedom as alms versus hoping someone else to rescue them from slavery. Wonder if anyone remembered the panchatantra tale where a crow/crane sought help of mongoose to get rid of snake only to become food to mongoose on some later date.

Kings won't change and so the history will keep repeating itself.

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2008 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/425016.html
2007 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/369433.html, http://peeyush.livejournal.com/369865.html
2006 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/270196.html
2005 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/158963.html, http://peeyush.livejournal.com/159004.html
2004 - http://peeyush.livejournal.com/58388.html

So finally yest started visiting places, madam tussauds and empire estate (the tallest bldg) marked the first one with Shweta and Yogesh. Shud thank Yogesh, cause he said no matter what the weather was like he'd go :)

I wasn't too keen on madam tussaud's after having visited the one in London, but then when u have company u generally go along. The wax models as usual were very life like. They had a small bollywood section with bollywood hits playing in the background and Big B welcoming u to visit the Taj. There were a bunch of models i really liked - a girl taking a snap of some guys. So out of courtesy everyone would wait, and in a couple of mins when there is no movement only does one realise that all of them are wax monuments! I too was taken in and kept looking at the guys to figure out which guy would be real, the one who'd accompany her and I had sort of narrowed down. That was really cool. The scream section, a shorter section as compared to the London one, was really not so scary except that the mind plays tricks when u read the board "Scream". It was a dark passage with a good load of turns, and people jumping out in white masks. For me Shweta put her hand on my backpack and so I thought something was pulling me back, and so I screamed not knowing whats next. LOL. but that sort of made the trip worth.

The sky ride, a virtual ride was nice with the special effects thrown in and a good way to get to know NY if ur not the kinds who'd read pages/books. It was an ariel view into the city and a small part under water and on land. Went to both the 86th floor and the 102th floor. 86th floor is an open balcony and we were really lucky to get the sunset. It was cold and windy and my chin was the only thing that was freezing as the rest were well packed. It was fun. Thanks to the early sunset, we also got to see NY by night. Macy was well lit.

Other places were Times Square, Madison square garden and lunch at Chipotle (the mexican cuisine), starbucks coffee and shopping at Macy's. I finally got a good fit jeans for a person like me at Macy's - Nine West. I was so tired and ready to drop when we entered Macy's but I left highly energized and on cloud nine when we left Macy's :). In Mumbai I had tried some 10 outlets to find a good pair, what a nightmare. It was as if this lady was appointed to guide me, cause when I returned from trial she was no more to be seen. I love my jeans and just love the way it feels on me. Yipppppppeeeeeeeeeeee.

So that was a good start and hope my explorations continue to be fun, considering its going to be snowing and I'm here only till feb!

Finally, I have my own room. It feels strange to not be sharing space with another person after all these years. Right now the room is totally devoid of furniture and all I have is a nice sleeping bag that makes for a comfortable bed. The room is on the top most floor of a five storeyed structure and has a skylight in place of a window. (A sky light is a window in the roof). It's not very high up though and I can see the top of the Empire State building across the Hudson river if I look out. There's no light in the room either except for the solitary bulb in the closet that keeps the room from plunging into total darkness. And, of course the light on my computer screen as I type out this post.

Even then,everything just seems so right. I guess, this is just one of those rare moments when you feel completely blissful and content with the way things are. So what if it's Sunday night and Monday mayhem awaits just a few hours away. :)

Year is about to end in a few weeks. There are some leaves that I have to use during this calender year itself. My parents are of the opinion that I have enough time to visit all the godforsaken places on earth, running or cycling, as if the world is going to end, but no time to spend a day with them at my home town. So, I ended up at home this weekend (making it an extended one).

Dad is away on a south-India pilgrimage tour with his friends and Mom is alone at home. I had been anti-social till my post college days, so absolutely no friends at my home town. 3 days with nothing to do is pathetic. Luckily, I have my laptop and Tata-Photon+ wireless modem (borrowed from a friend).

I have gone for a long walk today late evening in my home town where I did all of my schooling. Nothing much has changed. It is as poorly lit as it used to be 10-15 years back. All business areas are as chaotic (or more) as they used to be. Only major change I could notice is growth in business. And, I understood what relativity is.

All the places that used to be so distant, appear now so near. My school is just a few minutes walk from my home and I used to go on cycle at that time, and used to feel that I have to start early, if my dad was going to use that cycle on some days. Library is the farthest place in the town that I used to visit and I reached there in another few minutes now. There is a huge statue of Buddha near my home, which used to be a land mark. Now, it looks so small that I can even have it on my desktop. My grand parent's place is 20 KM away from this town and we used to visit only during Dasara, Pongal and summer holidays. Once every 3-4 months. We used to eagerly wait for these holidays. Office in Bangalore now is 18 KM one way from where I stay. So, relativity it is :-)

today in an email dad sent, really had me shaken. dad mentioned, i'm learning to live w/o u, u learn to live w/o me. that line sort of shook me. i hope he joins me soon. its abt to snow here, today shud be the first day of snow. so shud he be here, in this bitter cold or back in mumbai where the weather is at its best?

i just realised ur job, ur salary has no meaning, no value if you dont have it to share with folks u love. i miss my dad and after moms gone its like a portion has been cut off. how silly can we be running after materialistic stuff, like ur desig, ur salary, all the luxury. the true luxury is in ur relations - ur family and friends. when i return, its more quality time with my dad before i miss spending time with him!

with all that ive done in the last couple of years, i've surely grown stronger and more confident. yesterday when traveling by train alone, i had no discomfort, or uncertainess abt myself. i remember when in london i was so consious of what i did and behaved. i was pretty chilled and felt i was just one with people around me. im happy. cheers to landmark program.

Well I've been told the place we are staying is not all that safe and US in general is not safe for indians what with the recession. So a colleague of mine, who has a vehicle is responsible for driving 2 lady colleagues (which includes me too) to office and back.

Today I was the last to finish work and people had been coming and staring at me to get me out of my room. So when I finally packed fo some reason I felt they would be waiting downstairs for me. Alas there was none and no one in the other wing. I checked the car park and there was no one. So i decided to head back home via the metro. I didnt know the route and I hoped that I had gotten the station right. The worst part was that I had to change trains at Newark Penn station. Another thing working against me was the US accent. It was really hard to make out what they were telling me. Anyways I got home on time and safely.

In the meantime however, my colleague who owns the car and some other folks got really worried on not seeing me at my seat. For some reason I didn't check this persons cubicle. They searched high and low for me. Yelled my name out in office corridors, loo and parking lot. If I had been delayed by 5 mins, a call to 911 would have been made.

One of the flat balcony looks over the station. So frustrated was my colleague that he started yelling. It was embarassing with onlookers looking at him as if he were mad.

Well folks were surprised to know i had no issues in crossing the road and get to my hotel w/o any issue. Some of the guys found it difficult to come on their own. Hey but im used to traveling on my own, London, Paris, Hyd and now New Jersey. :)

Some little adventure, and im sure its not done yet. Morrow morning I'm going to have more curious people and advisors. :D