and..................................................

well i'm back.

i spent nearly an hour trying to figure out the HTML tags. That really put my limited number of gray cells to some real agony ;) Hope the new links to the various sites are much better than the previous ones. Even the blogs that link to from this one need to be updated. i will do it now if i do get the time.

But on an entirely different note, i've begun to admire (worship is a much more appropriate term) open source software. I first experienced open source on my iPod. I used Rockbox which was actually suggested to me.

Well since i've got nothing better to do, maybe i'll share my experience on installing Rockbox on my nano.

INSTALATION:
well the installation was pretty much straight forward actually. All i had to do was download the latest build for the iPod Nano. Once that was done, i just had to unzip the package and copy the boot loader files using DOS. other than that u also have to copy the original files to make sure that the player does not end up as a paperweight.

that was how simple the installation actually was.
i was surprised too.........

then came heartbreak

BOOTING :
well when i first tried to boot Rockbox, all i ended up with was a blank screen. That really baffled me. I tried every possible combination of buttons on the nano but to no avail. Being the ever pessimist that i am, i thought i had bid my last farewell to my nano.

but........

then i realised the power of Open Source. The various forums that exist really helped me.
Some of the threads there specifically addressed my problem and i was heartened :)
that gave me hope. Finally realised that all i had to do was to keep the Menu+Select buttons pressed for about 5 seconds and VOILA my Rockbox booted on the nano.

that started a whole new Apple :D experience for me(rather a Rockbox experience).

Now i can actually play Doom on the nano and also a host of other really exciting games and that isn't all. Now the nano has its own graphic EQ with custom settings that can really spice up that Guns and Roses classic and play it as i want it :)


"Heil OPEN SOURCE, Heil ROCKBOX "

Boredom

long time.
i've been very busy(that is an understatement) during the past couple of weeks. Firstly i had my mid sessionals to contest with( i say contest b'cos they were really a challenge). Then after that, my daily workload is being multiplied with tonnes of assignments being handed out everyday and to top things off there was Carpediem '06 which was a pretty big fiasco in my words.

I realise that i seem to have the knack of attending to chores that really are worthless. I went to Carpediem when i could have been doing better things at home ;).
then the other day i wasted a day for my driving test when everybody else i knw didn't even step out to get one.

But the most depressing moment turned out to be on 10th. Schumacher was awesome as usual in the race and the icing on the cake at the Italian GP was that Alonso retired after an engine failure. But i received a rude jolt when Michael announced he was gonna retire after this season.
that was really saddening to hear. he's the best and will always be the best.
But the silver lining that i can see now is that he can probably win a record 8th drivers title and then retire (he's now only 2 pts behind Alonso). Also next year Raikkonen is gonna don the scarlet colors, so another bright spot :)

i've now received almost all my marks for the mid sessionals and they are nothing to boast about. the less that is said about them, the better.

I've finally managed to download Fedora and installed it last week. i haven't yet been able to figure out the nitty-gritties of Linux. The main reason has been the lack of time.
I hope to spare some time next week and sit for some time and meddle around with the thingy.

CBIT seems to be getting boring as each day passes on. Nothing interesting goes on. Its all the same everyday. I really wanna take a break and have phun in the proper sense of the word. A vacation of sorts would really do me a world of good but my timetable does not permit me such luxuries right now :(

Shaastra is around the corner and i'm hoping to go there. Maybe that would really be helpful. But me going there alone is boring, so hopefully someone will tag along with me.


"Boredom, after all, is a form of criticism."

Independence Day.

Independence Day.

Hmmm. That’s a real fancy term to use. How independent are we in reality ? This question has been hounding me since yesterday when I realized that today was the 15^th of August. Well for starters what has freedom achieved for our nation ? I could actually go mentioning points that I actually read in the newspapers today morning.

Most of them mentioned how our freedom fighters toiled day and night to ensure that we achieved freedom. Some of them (rather most) even sacrificed their lives in the battle for independence. But has their martyrdom been realized for a broken cause ?

I would certainly think so. I have never been anti-India ( though I always support Pakistan in sports ) but the bureaucracy and the political system here has surely left me exasperated. Things have degraded to such an extent that a return to normalcy seems like eternity.

Two months ago when I went to collect my Voter ID, I was asked by the election officer at the polling booth about my choice of vote in the elections. I was frankly taken aback by the question. I replied that my vote would depend on the circumstances and the performance of the individual parties. He turned down my answer and replied that I would have to collect my ID the next time, because this time, the IDs were being issued only to voters of a particular party. He refused to give me my ID though my name was clearly endorsed on his list. That was disgusting. My mom who was with me then, told me to forget it ( She hasn’t been allowed to vote for the last 2 elections though she has a valid voter ID ). She asked me to come again next time and if I don’t get it even then, maybe I could think of pursuing the matter further.

But I am still reeling from the shock of being denied my fundamental right to vote because I may not vote for a particular party.

This shucks. There have been many other incidents that completely rid me of any feelings I might have towards the political system in this country.

Today, I was watching the news on TV when a few MPs were quizzed about the Indian country as a whole. It was shocking to know how ignorant our so called “leaders” could be. One of them didn’t know what the colors of the national tricolor are. Another thought that the national song (Vande Matram ) was written by Rabindranath Tagore. Another said that the chakra in the flag is white in color; another said the topmost color in the Flag is Green. Not even one of about 4 Congress MPs didn’t know what Gandhi’s actual name was. Some guy even had the audacity to mention that he frankly didn’t care about someone who is long dead. That’s how high our leaders’ IQ actually is.

People do not know about the so called stalwarts of their own parties. Man this country is really going to the dogs.

Such incidents and the knowledge that we are actually governed by a bunch of clowns, with no sort of resemblance to sanity actually makes me wonder if it really was worth sacrificing so many lives and ridding ourselves of the British.

I have always been anti Gandhi and I think this is my best time to criticize his policies.

I really think, he wasted his time roaming around the country half naked and preaching non violence for nothing. He rid us of the most efficient disciplinarians in the history of the sub continent only to set us up to be ruled by a herd of inefficient and incompetent morons.

But maybe my generalization of politicians as a whole is wrong, and I know I do respect a few of them but once a politician, always a politician.

Today as we enter the 60^th year of independence, I am really overwhelmed by the thoughts that the British were actually good for us.

Hey I too love my freedom, which we may not have had under the British but I rather prefer the British than a group of jokers framing policies for me.

“God save the queen , nay, God save India”

Big SIR

Well I had been thinking of this post for a long time and even now, I can't decide what to write.
I always thought I must write some sort of a post on Big sir (a.k.a Mr. T.V.R. Murthy). I don't know what I want to write but I know that the man had a profound in my life.

I spent 13 years at his school and my memories of him r still very fresh. He is unforgettable.
But the reason I wanted to write this post was because, on the Harvard community on Orkut, there were pretty derogatory remarks about him which made fun of him. I would be lying if I said that I didn't laugh on reading them. But my conscience will not allow me to rest without me portraying my true feelings about him.

I vividly remember the first time I actually encountered him. It was in my Lower kindergarten, when some older guys (volunteers) asked me to step out for the morning assembly. I remember telling them that I won't and also cried, when one of them went and fetched Big sir. He asked me to get out and I was terrified to see him. He was so huge, and big I was scared (I still am). I remember his angry face, and I told him I wanted to pee and he said ok. I really had to pee cos he frightened me so much that day.
That day is etched in my memory and served as the foundation for the fear that has been instilled in me about him.

The next meeting that I remember, is when I was in class 1. That day I wrote my exam and was coming back to class, when I saw him standing there near the office. I wished him and to my surprise, he actually caught hold of my ears and took me to the library and told me to behave properly especially at home. Later that day, at home I realized that my mom actually complained to him about me being very naughty and disobeying her at home.

There have been many incidents when I was actually reprimanded and also sometimes caned for not behaving or for some misdoing of mine. There have also been incidents where he scolded me for no fault of mine.
Then, maybe I hated him. Maybe till class 9 I totally despised him.
I remember my school excursion to Goa where he treated me like a nobody most of the time.
Some times he was very good, explaining all about the customs and traditions of the Goans while for most times he was in that unforgiving mood of his.

But in class 9, when I was writing my annual exams, he actually gifted me a pen. I kept hold of that pen till my class 10 and when I lost it, believe me I cried.
In class 9, when he was taking us for a Harry Potter movie on occasion of his birthday, I didn't want to go so he came and shouted at me for not reciprocating his feelings towards students. In the evening, he told me that I had no option but to go the movie. Next day I went and apologized to him and he shrugged it off by saying that I acted like a typical moron and he knew that I would surely go to the movie with him. I was very happy that day.

Also another thing is that I went to quizzes only at his behest.
He was the one who really encouraged me to participate in quizzes. Whenever I lost, he was disappointed, but he always gave me one very valuable piece of advice which was to never give up. He always used to tell me, try and try again till u succeed. Those words I think have always held me in good stead.
To me that also revealed how valuable his lessons were.

One incident that could never be erased from my mind is when he hugged me when I won the Group Quiz at Harvard. He wanted me to win, but after the first round, when we were trailing, he left to his room. And to his surprise when, we won he just hugged me and that meant a whole lot to me. That was the most memorable moment of my 13 yrs. in school
Also when I wanted to participate in the TCS quiz, he actually convinced my Principal, to allow us to take part in it. I was really happy to repay his faith by coming in 4th out of 600 odd teams.

All these incidents surely make me feel nostalgic, but I can't bear to see his face since I haven't met him in 3 yrs. now. I don't know what he would say. He might actually shout at me. Well I'm ready to face that. But will he feel hurt that I haven't visited him even once in 3 yrs.
well I really want to go but my brain says no. I always thought I would only follow my heart and not my brain. But my feelings r really mixed. Maybe I will go but I'm scared that it is now too late to actually repair the broken relationship but am I distancing myself even further, I can't decide.

Whatever, I may meet him in the future or not, but I will always have a special place for him. He was the one and only person, who could change my day with one lecture of his.
Many people have told me that he actually misbehaved with them, but I want to tell them "horse shit". I know what sort of a person he was or at least I knew him much better than them. I know that he was special and the best teacher I ever had.
I don't think I would be wrong in saying that, I wouldn't be the person I am today, if it wasn't for him.

Sir, you were special and hope that u will continue to mold lives as you molded mine.
And lastly I would like to say a big Thank You for all that you have done for me.