Technology Tomorrow?

I was talking to a friend the other day about the next generation technologies that our kids are going to see. Interesting as it is, probably the two most interesting fields which are going to see grave accomplishments are the space technology and of course, computer science. But then the obvious question arises: are we going to have a fun trip to a different solar system? Will we be able to find life on a different planet than Earth? Will we be able to build the ultimate intelligent robot? Will we have the perfect intelligent home where we don't have to do anything by ourselves?
Questions like this are beyond doubt, very exciting. Nevertheless, as cliched as it can be, these questions are not something bolt from the blue. They have been around forever and have always been a perrennial source of figurative imagination to us all.
We have climbed novel heights today and so cliched it is to ask a question where we just laugh into thin air that "yeah, there cannot be an ultimate super human-being like intelligent robot..." But can we still answer these questions above?

The Identity of a PhD Student...

Last week was probably one of the most interesting weeks since I came to the US! It was more the ‘American way’, and much less the ‘PhD way’. So while these may sound as some weird buzzwords, let me clarify the two. Before that, let us justify the ‘meaning’ of life in the US as to me. Life can be described by two words: work and party. In the two years of my stay, I have not been able to explore other majorly engrossing avenues of passing time than these two! The ‘American way’ means in short, living for partying and for fun. Day starts with party and ends with party again. No big headaches with work, no panic, no tensions with deadlines to meet, just a chill way to lead life. Work is only done to an extent as needed and as and when the necessity arises. It is believe me, extremely alluring! The ‘PhD way’ I am sure you would say, something abnormal; more because people hold the PhD students to be something not earthly! So here comes the ‘PhD way’, of course heading to be judged the same! The ‘PhD way’ means in short, living for work and papers. There is little scope for fun, especially with too many deadlines to meet when you have a few courses to do too. The only fun is the fun at work. Although few of you would agree, but research can actually be fun!

I was mostly leading the latter life, though occasionally the former too, but strictly in the weekends. This week due to an extended deadline for a paper, got to explore the ‘American way’. So partying on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday! I was very much excited to see how this works. It started off very well, but by Saturday got bored. But the contrast in my thoughts is worth interesting enough to discuss here!

I was sick of the stereotype life. Working on weekdays and then probably sometimes going out on weekends or cooking food at home. That used to be mostly my weekend activities. This weekend was a wonderful break, a much awaited change from a monotonous life! But food for thought: will you like such a life always? Probably no! They say, “You know happiness because you know sorrow…” There it goes…

The Two Slides of the Coin....

I have always been overwhelmed at the inability of certain people to acknowledge other people's accomplishments. Undoubtedly, healthy criticism is important to the progress of any developing society. Nevertheless, I have noticed this excessive tendency of some people to constantly criticize and demean the achievements of others. And surprisingly enough, people do not even let go individuals whom the mankind is so much indebted to all the time. Einstein for example. They say he did not deserve the Nobel Prize since the greater contribution came from people like Planck and all.
This might be true. But Einstein should be acknowledged for what he did. I hate to look at the darker side of the coin as they do. There is a brighter aspect to everything. And experience says that many a times, looking at the jovial side gives us pleasure and makes us optimistic which are extremely essential for having a healthy mental outlook.
Yet, somehow these genre of people derive profuse satisfaction doing so. Or probably some of them love being different. Or may be they like blurting out some kind of a different look out towards something so widely accepted and acknolwedged!

'Time is the best healer!'

Whenever in the course of time I had been upset, the vigor was down or the days had turned to be too difficult, I have always fallen back to one and only learning that has never proved to be wrong: that, time heals it all. This might sound a bit philosophical, but it is one universal four-word line that fits in all those moments when you feel upset, lonely and insecure with the life and world around you.

Honestly, I have been through this phase time and again. And probably I await one soon. Nevertheless, unlike the other times earlier, this is I am not waiting for the last moment to come; rather, from now itself, I am trying to gear myself up to face the things upfront right away. In short, it is about making an attempt to be ‘bold’ precisely.

I have always been a woman who did not believe in the ingrained customs that women are weak, insecure, helpless and so on. One of my primary things of notice was that I was always strong enough to withstand any situation that come forth. But being bold actually is not just writing a blog on it. It is actually the toughest thing of all. Despite being through this time and again, unfortunately I have not been able to be bold enough to tackle the situation in the best manner. I just hope this time it is changed for good and I happily avert the scope to write a blog like this in the future!

Ironically, the best and worst part of human beings is that they can ‘think’. And along with that, comes the very fact that we happen to remember certain gone-by things in life more than some other things. While some of them give us pleasure and stir ourselves to ecstasy, some others drive us into moods of being unhappy or sometimes depression. And it is at those times that the above four-word liner comes to be really the best teacher, best guide and best ‘healer’. The ‘Yaadein’ lyrics play in my mind and still I try hard to get over the mood recalling that, time is the best healer!

Nagme hain, shikwe hain

Kisse hain, baatein hain 

Baatein bhool jaati hain

Yaadein yaad aati hain

Yeh yaadein kisi dil-o-jaanam ke

Chal jaane ke baad aati hain

Yaadein, yaadein, yaadein

Yeh jeevan dil jaani, dariya ka hai paani

Paani to beh jaaye, baaqi kya reh jaaye

Yaadein, yaadein, yaadein

Duniya mein yun aana, duniya se yun jaana

Aao to le aana, jaao to de jaana

Yaadein, yaadein, yaadein

I have been swinging to and fro like a free pendulum and trying to face life in the best possible way. While I on one hand feel that this is going to be the break point in the swinging of the pendulum, I try to cling to recalling the liner and keep up the faith in the philosophy of life that, Munmun, this is just the beginning!

My Philosophy of Research...

Time immemorial has witnessed that man is not a lone entity. He is continually affected, influenced and maneuvered by the existence of other physical (or virtual) entities around himself. As a result, he develops and enhances his understanding of the world with time: meanings are structured, refined and relinquished or turn into a practice.

I am interested in learning and deciphering these semantics inherent in our daily lives. These are the semantics that emerge from our interactions parallelly with the physical and virtual world. The modern twenty-first century computing today has moved ahead from a parochial outlook of considering the physical and the virtual world as orthogonal entities towards a framework where both can be embedded, situated or visualized transparently as integral part of how, where, when and why our lives are what they are and how they move on.

This presents several grave challenges: the most obvious of which is that, the semantics are now a function of the affect of both the physical and the virtual world. For example, consider my predictions of rain tonight. How do I do that: the weather channel; a friend; whether it rained yesterday, or merely looking at the clouds in the sky? The second issue is that, the traditional computing community has almost disregarded that these semantics can actually be drawn back to some effect from the physical world. To take an example, consider the communication patterns of a person. With our existent knowledge of conventional computing, can we address why I react differently while talking to my mother and while talking to my colleague? I guess we cannot.

My goal is to focus on modeling and analyzing how these semantics which might be called hybrid semantics emerge and evolve in our daily lives and how they can enable the design of better computing systems as well as provide insights to abridging the gap that exists in merging the physical and virtual world. I foresee this might construct a feedback loop through which we might have a better understanding of the semantics of the world around us.

In order to address the two challenges addressed above, as well as to cater towards my goal, we see there is a key construct central to both. That is the context. My predictions of rain tonight are contingent upon my knowledge of whether it rained yesterday (situational context). It is also indirectly dependent on my trust of the friend about weather matters (social context). My communication patterns with my mother and colleague differ because the social relationships differ (social context, again).

I conjecture that an absolute understanding of semantics is not possible unless we have knowledge about the context of the physical and virtual world around us. But addressing context can be complex and at times ambiguous if we rely solely on traditional computing methodologies. We cannot address my trust on my friend unless we know the hidden relationship implicit in our historical interactions. My mother and my colleague are different persons; a fact which is at the core of variability in social semantics at my end.

I, therefore, intend to go beyond these limitations and peripheries of conventional computing. I want to delve into the implications of the sociological ties, exploit the several facets of cognitive implications and perception of entities, as well as explore the confluence of the understanding of the natural sciences and computing. Because, I believe, man is central to any research endeavor, but his ambient surroundings reap the harvest of rendering a clearer understanding of the semantics of the world we see today.

I Think I Am Different: A List Of What Makes It All...

Do you think your friends, your family, your acquiantances should be judged by their believing in, or not believing in the same set of principles you follow or the set of beliefs you have been holding through your life? I am not sure how you think or probably the society at large thinks. Actually this ignorance is a bliss to me. Because I think my beliefs are not biased by the world around me. Life in itself has taught me to think independently and cling to a set of beliefs which I find logical for my life.
As ironical the consequence might be, I now know that many of the things I believe are actually more like a social outcast! Nevertheless, this has never made me being judgmental about people on the grounds whether or not the person before me believes in my set of thoughts. I think as long as the person finds his beliefs to be logical to his life, reflective of his actions and not forcibly affecting to the society, things ought to be relaxed.
I am a very liberal person; but pretty confirm about what I think and believe in. I learn from experience and mould my thoughts. This makes my beliefs and principles pretty simple when I try to reflect them in my actions. Yet, time to time, I judge myself. I look back and see if my actions have been consequences of my beliefs. If yes, I carry it forward. If not, then I mould either my future actions or my set of beliefs.
But I know, each one of us are different. My set of beliefs will not hold for 'n' other persons around me. Probably, not even for my parents. Not for my boyfriend (if any) either. Not to talk of others. I don't therefore like, love or hate people based on this criteria, which answers the question in the first line of the blog.
Some of the examples (not necessarily good or acceptible to you may be) are:
1. I am an atheist. But I will not say, "there is no God". Because I don't have a proof for that. But if I say I don't believe in God, it is because certain intuitions have led me to believe this. And I find this theory reflective in my actions.
2. People say, bad times make us pray to God. If I have not done this ever, it is not because I have not faced any ill-shaped situation. Actually looking at my peers, I think I have more than many. But never looked up to pray: always believed in myself. And it worked!
3. I don't want my partner or spouse to think alike as me. Because I know it is difficult. Probably because my thinking is rare. Probably I am too radical. I think my partner should know to think logically and that should be reflective in his life.
4. I don't look back on the past and panic. I only learn from experiences. I think that has been my biggest mentor and influence in life.
5. I am straight-forward. I speak my mind. If I know my speaking might be a bad shape, I don't.
6. I don't try to put images when I meet people for the first time. I am 'Munmun'. Know me the way I am.
7. I don't recall my life as a set of ill happennings. Rather I always look through and see all the good things that have happenned to me. And so many times, I have seen that even the not-so-good events have been blissful in the course of time!
And the list can go on! I am sure you too have your list of such examples. This is natural! But I think the listing of this kind has helped me judge and rectify myself time to time...

About Human Computability...

Going back to childhood, and before landing into the "land of opportunities" I always had (or probably was an inherited) pre-conceived notion that, Indians are good at computability. While in history books we used to take pride in our Aryabhattas and Bhaskaracharyas, I never got a scope to explore the notion or cull it into a practically validated fact in reality till today.
Nevertheless, today morning came as a surprise: a proof of this deep-and-old seated notion that even if agreed Indians' computation capability is better, how is it so? How is the degree of that? Or is it something else? Well, I am not a racist or an overtly patriotic individual, but beleive me I was taken aback when I got a 'parametric' view of the difference in computability between the folks from the East and the West!
Somehow, in a class of mine where there are undergraduates too, a topic cropped up: how long did you learn arithmetic tables? Basically the professor was casually asking us, what is the highest number of whose table you had memorized in primary school. He said, "Probably 12, right?" Then someone(one undergraduate) interrupted, "No! more for me! I learnt till 15!" Then there was a big "wow"! I was sitting quiet and smiling to myself. Then I thought, okay, let me give them the shock of their lives. I said, "I learnt till25!"
And then the situation in the class: don't ask me what happenned!
Well, generally, they were telling me later, that even for 13*5 they would use a calculator! I don't know if this degree of technology dependency is good or bad, but I am sure, this is destroying the natural computability of humans. I will not talk of Asia and The West separately. Because I believe, computability is not intelligence: it can be acquired by any. And when they say, they carry a scientific calculator/PDA with them all the time which they specifically use for the four basic mathematical operations: add, subtract, multiply, divide, I can only arrive at two conclusions.
One, this is a direct affect of too much technology dependence which is interfering with people's computational growth. Or the second, am I too out-dated, old-fashioned, obsolete looking at today's undergraduates, despite the fact that I myself was an undergraduate only 2 years ago? The answer is a question to me!

Every Tear Of Mine...

This might sound ironic, but it is true, that tears are the biggest assets of life! They are your strengths when the world turns back to you with a blind eye; they are the sources of placation when the wound in your heart is too deep to be healed ever. I know, my tears are going to stay with me whatever would happen in my life!
I find my tears the sole source of sustenance when I would need my emotions to ventilate, when it becomes rather very difficult to address the unsaid, deliver the unknown and understand the unheard. And probably that is why every tear of mine is very precious to me: though selfish it is to get captivated in the labyrinths of one's own problems, yet, tears are a bliss for which I would be grateful to the Almighty, if He is there. Tears make me heal my woulds, tears vent my feelings, tears show me the way to proceed in life as it comes.
I am not being pessimist, but just wondering how difficult it would be, unless our eyes were wet or our cheeks red. My tears bear all the secrets of my life, my tears though lost, would revert back to me everytime would I be alone in life. If you are upset, you know, you have your tears to stoop by you all the time; should you be lost in the wandering roads of life, you know, for every mistake you do in life, you have at least one tear to take you back to the 'origin' point of life from where you can always dream to return. And when you know, your belief in something has itself belied on you in the course of time, you still know that your tear is never going to belie on you ever!
I know we always talk of tears when we are through the rough times of life: when we see our tear as the lone silent spectator of feeling of loss, isolation or confusion. We cry inside, hide from the world to put a cover to the 'black' in our life. Yet, is not this a wonderful yet astounding yet mystic facet of everyone of us?
This reminds me of the poem by Heather Loughton called 'Silent Tears'.

A thunderous silence
breaks through my thoughts.
What was once many great ideas
is now a triumph, lost.

Baffling words tumble through my mind.
Reflections of darkness hover.
A disturbing peacefulness beckons to me,
and inside myself, I take cover.

What would it be like to stay there forever?
To be lost in all my cares?
From the inside, looking out -
I cry silent tears.

The Perfect Or The Survivor of The Fittest?

They have left the mundane Earth in quest of 'nirvana'; they have embraced the humanity at large to benefit the greater interest of 'world peace'; they have clung to their aisle of their own principles to revolutionize their ideologies; and they have disregarded all forces to delcare themselves as the 'architects' of their own destiny. These are the genre of people whom we would label as 'mavericks': the people, who, they say, are the real heroes of the world till date. These are the folks who are counted in the category of 'The Perfect.'
Then we have the genre of folks like you and me: folks who are entangled in the pros and cons, nook and corner, the pettiest intricacies of a commonplace humane life. This genre is probably not perfect, or more commonly, never ever deems towards perfection. We are just so busy with our own little lives. We are born, live to our variegated responsibilties and reach a unheard funeral. And amidst such uneventful lives of ours, we succeed and we fail, we grow and we wither away, we rise and we fall. If not perfect, the only goal we strive for is the goal for a comfortable life. Should we be successful in doing so, we are probably what Darwin had coined eons ago: 'The Survivor of The Fittest.' Not that the Survivor concept is true for our biological evolution, it is equally true for the evolution of the mankind as a whole.
Now, ask you about the biggest irony on Earth? What is an ideal goal? The Perfect? Or The Survivor of The Fittest? Neither me nor you are sure of the right answer. Or, is there really a right answer to it?
Things look blurred and bleak. Nevertheless, what we can declare in black and blue is that The Perfect is probably hardly The Survivor of The Fittest! We are human beings and not Superman! What would sound more logical to a mundanely successful life is therefore, probably, The Survivor of The Fittest and not The Perfect! Somewhere in our lives, always, we reach a point where we have these two roads to pick from. And then we would advise ourselves to stick to our ideologies and strive towards being The Perfect. But is that something we would dictate for a decent living in our little realms? Probably not!
The reason is, experience teaches us to live not for our ideologies, but for a reason to live. And that reason to live makes The Survivor of The Fittest, the winner at the very end. Now what is this reason to live? A reason to live can be as petty and mundane as my pet cat which I want to take care of forever. Or it might be a very small accomplishment as in earning 100 bucks, but, all with the sweat of my brow, day in and day out. To someone the reason might be to live for their loved ones and their kith and kin. But however small it is, it accrues a great shape when we make it 'a reason to live': the secret of strength The Survivor of The Fittest.
I believe, the biggest surge of life has to be, not the quest of the key to perfection, but the quest for a reason to live. Because a reason is the dormant storehouse of inexhaustible energies which would never part our mighty soul. A reason to live is something which would guide us through the labirynths of thick and thin, would enable us come upfront with the reality and make us bold enough to tackle it. Therein lies The Survivor of The Fittest. And the one who would always find a new reason to live, should the earlier one disappear in thin air, is the one whom our Mother Nature would select for a blissful life for ever and ever...

WHY TO LOVE.......?

The blue sky preparing to look azure,
While the rain drop accruing the shape of a pearl,
The running water of the brook sounding all mellifluous,
Every nook and corner ready to echo the love in air!

Nature as though to sing the way heart sways,
And none in the world appearing to respond against,
Impressed is then the impression of a total conquer,
With one and all of Nature ready to become a martyr!
This is the feeling of being in love,
The feeling, which drives the world behind around,

Love is most beautiful a bliss,
Which turns a simple smile into a little kiss,
To brighten up one's own day,
And to let others imbue with all gay.

Love; but not to be the victor of the conquered,
But to see how pretty the world is,
That world which springs up at a mere passionate smile,
That world which dooms itself in darkness,
Should one carry a loveless face's fascimile.

A Tribute...

Many a times, since the time I think I have matured in the perception of everyday petty yet profound things, I have been continually amazed at the relationship we share with our parents. I believe it is one of the most unique relationships a person ever cherishes in life.

We do not realize the meaning of being a daughter or a son till a certain age or maturity level arrives unto us. Sometimes we do not at all. The difference, talking in the Indian culture, custom and tradition context, being a parent not only imparts a sea of responsibilities, but also deals with it an automatic evolution of maturity which is just enough and a lot for the grooming up of a human being of tomorrow.
People round the world spend day in and day out in search of some God, some spiritual power. The reason: God is the ultimate self. God is the one who is omni-potent and He is the one who virtually controls, rules and takes care of the world. For example, in the Hindu epics, there is a notion of Lord Vishnu, who is said to be the 'Palak' or one who rears the Universe. Now, I am not talking of looking for a God or God-like personality around us. I am astounded as to how people cannot see the God in their parents! Talking of being a 'Palak", yeah, they are the one who groom up a little kid since its birth into a complete human being of tomorrow!
Again, people in the mundane world get upset over their best friends betraying them or some of their friends not looking up to them the way they expected. No wonder, I have also faced the same set of circumstances. But I have always found my parents beside me through all thick and thin. I now know, parents are the best friends.
After all this revelation even after knowing how much they have done for us, how many sacrifices they have done smilingly and how much we owe to them, are we as their kids, really able to live up to fulfilling all their expectations or at least ensuring them a beautiful later life? Perhaps yes sometimes, perhaps not always. We get so busy with our lives that we forget about some of our responsibilities we owe to the people who have been most responsible for us throughout their lives.
The Indian kind of relationship we cherish between parents and kids is astonishing. I think it is one of the unique of its kind in the world. I do not think any relationship ever had more colors than the rainbow, more threads intertwined than the finest cloth or more meanings associated than the world's largest thesaurus! It is such a commonplace feature, but every sunrise and sunset I feel I am amazed more than I was yesterday! If you ask me what my greatest wish and tribute would be, I would always say, "to be as strong as they have been, to be as responsible as they are, to have the degree of tenacity, to cherish in myself the whole horizon of forgiveness that parents shower on us on our biggest misgivings!"

What We Mean By 'Religion'?

Many people would swear in the names of their most treasured possessions about 'it'; some will fight the world for the sake of 'it'; others will embrace departure from so called mundane world to follow 'it': yeah, you guessed it right, I am talking about 'religion'. Religion, has perhaps been the most temporally persistent enigma of human civilization since the past five thousand years.
It is a strange coincidence that all the societal rules and customs made few thousand years back had very sensible causes behind their inception. Probably, religion, defined as a set of rules, customs and beliefs that a segment of a populace follows, arose from a way to make people still continue believing in themselves and in the things around them, when education, especially science was not a way to explain each and every happenning round the globe.
But this is unfortunate that the good motive to define and reach a set of rules as a religion for the better interest of mankind, did not last long. As the human civilization grew, so did grow man's greed for status and power. The scene remains true even today when while one set of people tries to exploit others in the name of religion, the other set knowingly or unknowingly prefers to get exploited or love to dwell in some fool's paradise.
I disbelieve in this concept of religion or perception of a set of defined rules which are set by some human-identified 'God' or a set of stone idols. To me, religion sticks to a set of defined rules, but those rules are the ones which are dictated by the 'self'. The sole philosophy of all the religions of thw world is how to find the true 'self' in oneself. And leaving aside the accessory rules and customs of those religions, I completely agree with them. And I believe the road to discovering the true self in ourselves is to know our set fo defined rules in life. And that 'constitutes' his or her individual 'religion'.
With a cohesive society disintegrating towards being more individualistic, and where we say "... room for ourselves" and "... live and let live", the notion of 'personified religion' sounds to me the best option towards a more 'logical' living and as an insight to the greater meaning of our lives.

I Await...

I stand by the ocean and watch the waves come and the waves go,
I hunt for the blue wave I witnessed in the night's first snow.
The wave that stole every moment of dusk and dawn,
As its memories beam high and low in my eyes' green lawn.

Every droplet is a ray of hope,
Hope to bring back the colors in my life on the blink of a piano note.
A journey, though meandering, it was,
it got me incredible mirth in the maze of life's wildest Jazz.

So was it much beyond just another passing wave over the passing yardstick of time,
But it construed the lemon in my daily lime.
I await 'midst the sand and the water's dice,
A hope, not to find a blue wave alike,
But I wait to put together and get back the wave of mine,
Which brought for me a whole new world of sunshine.

Live And Let Live...

This post is basically a repercussion produced as a result of reading this post from Ramblings

Basically a lot of hue and cry have been going on about banning the social networking site Orkut because of allegations like there 'exists' some community or the other which 'hurts' the sentiments of people due to some 'anti' behavior. And this is not the first time, but we all know that even Blogger was banned in India for sometime due to some insensible allegations.
The grave issue is not whether the petitions are sensible or not. Nor am I encouraing the spread of anti-shivaji or anti-india or anti-hindu or anti-sikh or anti-communist behavior. But I think in all of the successful democracies, a key authority that the people have is their freedom of speecha nd expression, irrespective of whether it is India or US. A person does have the right to express what his or her points of view are, even if they are not amiable to certain group of people. And we should respect one's freedom of expression.
History bears the proof how politics and self-interests have debarred the advent of computers initially and then Internet in certains states in India: the 'dumb' reason being cited as, computer automation would cut down the need for employed people and thereby create unemployment (although now time and the sensex bears the proof of the contribution of IT to India's GDP). And secondly Internet was strongly discouraged because it was labelled as a source of depiction of derogatory elements like nudity and pornography. And lastly, social networking sites like Orkut.
There can be two reasons behind such a parochial outlook on the part of these people who have submitted petitions. One, they are really parochial. Two, the political benefits. Althought he latter seems more likely, yet I do not find any good reason why they cannot look at the brighter side of the coin!
Needless to say, Social Networking is the answer to tomorrow's questions be it commerce, employment (Linked In), dating (Friendster), generic public interests like photography (Flickr, Blogger) or even more generic maintenance of social ties between people (Orkut, Myspace, Facebook). I agree everything is not so red and rosy: courtesy, hike in spamming techniques (Gazzag). But yeah, no doubt, the notion of social networking on the virtual world is bound to take newer strides in different walks of our life.
Let us look at the brighter side of the coin. I personally agree that Orkut has worked wonders for me: I could find so many long lost friends whom I was probably never destined to meet otherwise, as well as could make new. And I know so many other people who would agree with me.
I have seen Orkut 'grow' in the Indian intellectual class, since early 2003. I know how much Orkut has delved into being a part of the lives of many today (including me). Is it justified to punish 95 people for the sake of 5 bad elements?
The answer is of course NO. These 5 elements exist in our real physical world too! Are they conflicting and/or hurting our thoughts and views? May be or may not be. We are not really concerned. We just need our little space to live: live and let live is what we believe in. So why cannot we do the same for those 5 bad elements on Orkut?

Analysis 2006... Wishes 2007...

Although it is not yet about time to analyze 2006's accomplishments, draw in the 'not-achieved's, swear in the new goals or pragmatically single out the wishlists, still I think I know what to analyze and they are pretty simple and straight-forward this time.
This is has not been too bad; probably better than 2005. The reason being, I believe I have made some of the good decisions in 2006 which I think can cull into being 'better' in the long run. Also was I finally able to do/accomplish some of the nicest things I always wanted in life. And what tops the list is the 3 month stay in New Jersey, at stone's throw from New York City: the city I always wanted to be in! And this great experience is all attributed to the summer internship: an experience which both academically and professionally has boosted my confidence by leaps and bounds. Today, given a task, I know it is anyhow 'do-able' however difficult it might be! And yeah the joy in my research. I think it is one of the best things that has happenned in my life! I think I am close to the saying 'research is life...'. Now fingers crossed about some of the most interesting experimental results that I am awaiting in early 2007 from my current research endeavors.
Also although not a very calculated step, but I think my joining the AME lab has been another good happenning for me. I think it perfectly fits in with my philosophy towards research: the inter-twining with the practicalities of life.
Going to core academics, yeah you consider grade-wise, this year has not been anything extra-ordinary.I am still away from clinching a 4.0 GPA. But I am not really worried about that. But may be one of the good things I would like to happen to me in 2007 is probably a 4.0 soon.
And the India trip coming up. Really excited to meet parents after such a long time. And then my very own India: the food, the land, the placidness reigning everywhere. And then my home, sweet home back in Agartala! Too excited to wait till December 25th!
And other than cooking and writing, I think I have discovered two more hobbies for myself this year: a constant source of pleasure, captivity, placation, comfort and satisfaction. And they are photography and reading. I find tremendous boost in my daily life activities with indulgence in some active hobby always. Hope I continue with them for a long time, after this experimental phase.
And lastly but not the least, my wish lists for 2007. Wait, till my more relaxed 'happy-go-shopping' mood post for that! But I can say precisely, they are also pretty straight-forward: a car and a DSLR.
Neither of them is a necessity. But yeah I need both probably. A car makes life easier, and probably open the door for me to explore another hobby: travelling. I have enjoyed travelling in summer and so I am positive about that!
And then the DSLR. Although I am a bit confused if it should be a DSLR or one of the very good non-SLR-point-and-shoot ones like Canon S2 IS. But I would definitely like to explore the options of a Canon Rebel XT or a Nikon D50 or D70. And sufficed with a decent raneg lens like 18-70 mm...
Wish, wish, wish...!!! Lets see what 2007 has in store for me!!

Find Which Celebrity You Look Like!!... Cool Stuff!!

http://www.myheritage.com

Well this is what they (www.myheritage.com) guys' Face Recognition System judges that I look like!! I am pretty amazed!! Try it out yourself!! Fun stuff. But really like this kind of applications of pattern recognition aspects on the open web. Research unfolding newer realms!!

An Excerpt From My Live Diary

Probably the most complicated of all the things whether a boon or a curse on this Earth are relationships; of any nature, parents, children, friends, partners or spouses! One can slip being too bad or even too good at them. And I am one of all those persons who has seen the latter thing happen more often in my life than the former.
Yeah, I mean all the times when you tend to be really good, caring and sweet at somebody and the person on the other end of the table would not interpret it that way. And then one fine day, you would come to know that the other person was simply conforming to the care and goodness just as a part of giving a vent to your goodness and not really appreciating it. Even if you have the slightest emotional attachment to that person, you are bound to feel as doomed as it can be knowing about this.
I am not being pessimist after these dooming experiences. Because I am know I am happy yet pensive since I have lived up to the expectations of a relationship as I think it to be. Nor am I the kinds who would get to the bar tomorrow and get drunk and 'bitch' about those relationhips. But yeah, I think my age-old notion that guys are a genre I do not like, is probably strengthened after this. The next time I get drunk I will probably be more critical about the masculine folk: if not I get too feminist!
The proper ventilation to this: 'abstract' photography! Yeah, I think I can ventilate all my thoughts through one or the other mundane object around me. And yeah writing. These two are the two blocks which have never belied me since years; writing more, since photography is more new.
Needless to say, this blog, unlike the generic, thoughtful and issue-centric ones which I generally cater to, is more like a personal note from an excerpt from my live diary.

A Temporal Transition

One of the most cherishing and coveted experiences I always wanted to have after coming to US was the Football here. Well yeah, I am talking of 'american' football, which is supposedly the 'heart throb' of both young and the old here: much like cricket in India. So finally grabbed this opportunity to go and watch the ASU vs UCLA game yesterday evening at the Sun Devil Stadium. It was a totally instantaneous decision by me and another friend and we were very much excited! What was just putting us away from the 'football fever' here in the weekends all through the Fall was that we are going to be singled out in the match crowd because we did not wear the Maroon-Gold Tee (read, supporters of ASU). But that was not good enough a reason to subside our sudden decision to go. The evening when I was skeptical to spend even $10 for a drink or dinner, the thought of going to the watch the game threw all the economizing strategies to thin air! I was ready to spare $15 for a first time real football experience!
Leave aside what the result of the game was. It was very vivid to me that ASU will lose to UCLA since it has been really a bad season for us this time. But the only pushing factor that kept me captivated all the time was the experience.
The first thing, it was my first 'stadium' experience of any match. Even though being a huge cricket fan back home in the nineties, never came in lines with an opportunity to watch a cricket match in any stadium. So this footbal thing, though not my 'yet' favorite cricket, was going to be interesting for me! The second thing was of course, getting the 'feel' of the Football in US!
So many times had I heard about the profuse popularity of Football, but I only got to gauge it qualitatively and quantitatively watching the game in the stadium. The most interesting thing is, even if your team is playing badly, you can pass your time watching at the people, rather the attires of them! And I am serious. How weirdly people would dress up to show their support to a team! It was amazing! And then the entertainment that comes in between the quarters and at the half time. Impressive stuff: you can always have something exciting beyond the game! The feel of the 'fever' was great indeed!
Coming back and jotting down my feelings here, I am kind of feeling nostalgic now. I feel like going back to those times when a cricket match playing India as one team used to be one of the nerve-recurring actions and events for one and all of us; those times when we would put cricket on top of probably everything else! And then the joy when Sachin would score a century! A feeling as though of 'self' accomplishment!
I was actually surprised that I literally went back to those memories; more because after the match-fixing thing, I was totally heart-broken and left watching matches for good. But I think this time, trying to enkindle the passion for Football as an ASUrite, I managed enkidling my old passion for cricket to a great extent. I would now agree, "Old habits die hard!" A frivolous event has struck a 'temporal transition' in me...

Cultural Mismatch

I do not know why, but it is so true I miss my days back in India. They were not the best of the academic days or may be that was not the best place for the best career or the best opportunities, but there was a 'life'. I have a laptop, an apartment and a lab now, nothing else...
It has been 14-15 months in US. Initially I used to feel very bored whenever I did not have any work to do in the weekends. I then thought that may be this because it is a whole new place, new people, new culture and new lifestyle here; may be it is because I did not have enough friends till then to hang around with. But surprisingly enough, I undergo the same mental block even today after so long, whenever I am free and do not have many deadlines to meet.
This eventually goaded me to discuss the same issue with some of my close friends. And it seems, they too think alike!
I concluded that there is a basic difference in the perspectives of 'enjoying' or spending good 'life' in the two cultures. Life in India bore a different color and wore a new hue everyday, every hour. There was a very closely knit social clique of very good, good and okay friends. And whether or not all of them thought alike, there was a common goal: the affinity for fun together. And fun was hanging out, eating out, riding bikes, going to long rides, sharing the same aaloo chat roadside, visits to the beach, long walks, bunking classes for movies, late night TV browsing, night long talks, 24X7 yahoo messenger and what not! The list can go on...
'Fun' in America is very different and has only a few dimensions. When people here would say they enjoyed the weekend, they mean they party'ed last night. Yeah, parties with drinking, smoking, girls and may be doping. I do not say drinking, smoking, girls or doping are bad. It is foolish to be so judgmental and I believe it is a personal choice and I do not have any problems in any. But it is both astounding and sad at the same time that fun has so less of meaning in America. And when you talk of friends, mostly you will end up with people aired with an artificiality.
I know I will not ever have the kinds of friends I had in India. I know I cannot ask out a friend for a pani poori session by the roadside some Saturday evening. I know I cannot go crazy and start off on a bike ride at 3 am in the morning. I know I cannot spend the whole night near the dam with friends waiting to see the sunrise. But this is what I sought for...
I know I can ask out a labmate for a drink together. I know I can call in all my acquiantances some Friday night and party together with Corona bottles. I know I can go shopping with my female friends a Sunday afternoon. But this is 'not' what I sought for...

The Much Cliched Debate: Man vs Machines Revisited From a Different Perspective

It has been an innate desire of the human race since the very inception of its civilization, down the times of Adam and Eve, to explore the Nature and tame the surroundings to suit their needs. While human civilization coming down through the apt hands of Galileo, Kepler and Newton in the medieval ages had struck to explore and in a way revere how the Universe is, Einstein, Maxwell and today Stephen Hawking entended the realms of exploration and have bound the human race to think beyond all boundaries of time and space and that it indeed is the most intelligent and superior entity on Earth.
But consider the scenario of today. Flip through the pages of the science and technology sections of any leading magazine or newspaper. It is no longer the news of the 'awe' about the Nature, Earth or the Universe. Rather it is all geared around our achievements how we have taken over all these three: be it taming them to our needs or an attempt to beat the very way the Universe is created or even falsify the notion of 'three' dimensions with 'seventeen' dimensions or even think of time to be cyclic and periodic instead of the long believed belief that time is uni-directional and linear. We, the humans have emerged to be the most powerful entity in the Universe known.
In spite of all climbing to the zenith of success in all these areas of basic sciences, the man of today is not placated with what he has. He wants more control over everything around him. He seeks everything in his environment to be automated and adaptive to his own personal needs. And the most powerful tool that has given man all these options to think about is 'technology'.
Today we are living in a world booming with all the hi-fi electronic gadgets and applications that tend to make our lives easier, smoother and our tasks more adaptive to ourselves: the much hyped concept of personalization. And herein the human race is faced with a whole new challenge!
We are surging ahead on our way to make everything adaptive to what we mean, need or want without any requirement to specify it explicitly. In a sense, the machines of tomorrow will be intelligent enough to automatically get our stuff done in our own way. The question arises: to what extent?
There has been a lot of debate and fiction element on machines taking over man. I am not talking on those lines, but I am definitely suspicious of the hyper-execution of adaptiveness of machines. The only reason man has reigned five thousand years on Earth is because he had his own 'control' over what he wanted to do and he could accomplish that sooner or later. But with these adaptive and intelligent machines storming inside our lives today and tomorrow, it is not far away when man will have little control on what he wants to do, because the machines will be so intelligent and adaptive that they will start taking decisions on our behalf which we might have little control upon to strike a change.
I am not kidding! This is a grave-serious issue. Even though I am one of those folks who is contributing to making those systems more intelligent and adaptive, but honestly I do not want to get counted in tomorrow to be one without enough farsight about machines taking over man.
All the HCI (human computer interaction) research is overwhelming beyond words. But we always need to take care of the subtle thing that we leave enough traces or loopholes in building our systems which can bear the proof and carry ahead the legacy of our being the most superior entity on Earth in the years to come.